Review: The Pretty One - Cheryl Klam

The Pretty One
Cheryl Klam
Series: N/A
Genre: Young Adult, Romance
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Word Rating: Bland
On Goodreads

Hello hello! Today, because of my shocking lack of ability to get to a new book (lets blame finals shall we), I have decided to review a book I read a little while ago.

The Pretty One centers around a girl named Megan, who is chubby and lives in the shadow of her beautiful older sister, Lucy, who is the darling of the school. Sounds alright so far right?

So then Megan (after hearing Lucy criticize her looks) runs into the street and gets run over by a car. LOL, what. Then, miraculously, after a year, she comes back to school after lots of facial reconstruction surgery and forced weight loss, she's prettier than her older sister!! (Isn't beauty a subjective thing, rather than objective?) Here is one of my major annoyances with the story. It treats beauty like it is one, definitively objective thing -- this just serves to ruin self esteem for people everywhere, not only young, chubby, Megan-aged women such as myself. I take this moment to remind anyone who is reading this that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes, and that Megan's chubbiness did not make her ugly just in the same way that her new found weight loss did not make her beautiful.

Although it is almost impossible to get over that wtf body shaming aspect of this book, there is the flaw of the main characters. Megan is positively annoying. She spends time wondering if it's alright to say "hi" back to someone who says hello to her. She ponders the blueness of blue eyes. She wonders if boys are just all turning their heads and falling for this newfound, surgery given beauty or whether they have loved her personality from the very start. It's almost impossible to like this character. I find characters with low self esteem to be interesting and often insightful, but Megan was worse than a low self esteem, as her entire personality was consumed by her doubtful demeanor and complete lack of understanding of beauty.

Klam also kept bringing up Lucy, as though her little sister now being "wow so much prettier than she is" (it's not a real quote from the book but it might as well be), trying to make us sympathize with her. If anything, wasn't she complaining about her ugly duckling sister that got her into the accident which made her so beautiful in the first place? Also, doctors don't even change the look of your face in those type of accidents so I'm not totally sure what kind of random metamorphosis Klam tried to explain.

The beginning of the novel had so many wtf moments and poor writing that I could not deal. While the ending was written much better than the first half, the story ended much too quickly and tried to hit like 18 birds with one stone in just that one concluding scene. The ending is weird and seemed to be thrown hastily together, neither of which are cool by me.

Another note. Beauty never makes someone popular as it did for Megan in this book -- neither does it bless them with acting ability or the ability to draw in like tons of different love interests all in the span of a few weeks. This book places too much emphasis on one set, restricted definition of beauty, and all in all, it made me dislike the book even more than I already did. The rating given is for the writing and plot of the story, but if my thoughts on beauty and perception were to be accounted for, this book would probably rank as a 0.5-1. Would not recommend.

- Amrutha

How do you feel about objectively defining beauty in novels?
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Review: Call to Arms - Elle Casey

Call to Arms
Elle Casey
Series: War of the Fae, #2
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Paranormal
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Word Rating: Easy
On Goodreads

After a bit of rehashing and reflection that Jayne does in the beginning, our story begins.


Tony's gone, Jayne's fae race is mysterious, and Casey allows us glimpses of the Dark Fae and what may take place in the war to come. See, Jayne might be what is vaguely referred to as an Elemental, possibly of Earth and maybe, just maybe, of Water. But the Dark Fae have a Fire Elemental.

What I love about Call to Arms is the intricacy of the issues at hand. It follows the apparent structure (at least in the beginning) of the fantasy action sequel: the mysteries of the main character start to be divulged; the stakes are raised; conflicts of interest and of potential are introduced to further complicate things . . . you get the point. However, the underlying factors are what keep me reading. The structure of the books is particularly deceiving in that the apparent conflicts exist as they should in the typical novel of its kind, but one or two things throw it off enough to make my predictions crumble. Especially around the end of the first half of the book . ..  all the things that make Jayne the apparent typical protagonist make her dangerous as well.

It's rather rare, I suppose, nowadays to see a sequel that does a good job of not only entertaining the ideas of the first book but expanding on them, making everything go absolutely bollocks. This is where the stupid love interests should be, this is where the bad decisions should be made, this is where all the crazy gets crazier and doesn't just repeat the first book or reject it. *Cough cough The Matrix cough cough*.

Harry and Voldemort have to face off. The Ring's got to be taken to Mordor. But how? That's what gets us as readers and Casey does an excellent job of designing the 'how' around her characters individual interests. For instance, Jayne's desire to be extraordinary is deeply embedded into who she is and how she acts.

When she's told she might be an elemental, a part of me backed off and thought, well damn, this might just turn out like I predicted. But then there was the added dilemma of Jayne being either weak towards the Dark Fae Elemental or, if the Water affinity turned out to be correct, strong towards the Dark Fae Elemental. But Jayne immediately turns on herself:

'I had wished to be extraordinary. And my mother had always told me be careful what I wished for.'

And later

'But still, I was no warrior. I think it would be more appropriate to call me . . . a 'lucky klutz'.'

Jayne's disposition to want to be anything but that high school girl she used to despise being is internally thrown into the pit against the idea she has of herself that she is not extraordinary in a certain sense. She's not a warrior, but she still wants to be a Fae.

But a war's about to happen.

Do you get what I'm saying?

This is just one issue. Never mind the ever-deepening sexual attraction Jayne has to Spike, never mind Chase's odd visit in the middle of the night to say that, though Tony's gone, Jayne can still talk to him. Never mind Jayne's lingering hatred for the Fae for putting her through such a test, though even the stubborn dissenting dwarves agree she shows 'reason'.

And that's just the first three chapters. The plot landscape and character development are completely intertwined. The plot isn't just incidental to the characters and the characters are not just subjects of a wonderfully woven plot. The internal and external factors just make me go insane I love it.

A lot happens, and yet, it doesn't feel like infodumping, which is fantastic. It's simplistic, neat, and easy to follow. Though I might go so far as to say sometimes the reflection is unnecessary, it's only because I follow the story so closely. Most people might need the first chapter to think about all the hell that broke loose during the length of the first book.

I think that's all that needs to be said. There are just as many plot twists as in the first book (I won't forgive you for that cliffhanger, Casey!) and just as much cursing, if not more (shoutout all my B*tches in the lake and my dumbass faeries). But, like the first book, it doesn't take away from what happens. I won't spoil anything for you, go read it yourselves! GO AND LOVE SPIKE, THE CUTE, DREAMY MOTHERLOVER. AND CHASE IS SO ADORABLE BUT hey can we just talk a minute about how Elle Casey still does not make these romantic undertones something that hinders Jayne's psyche or somehow makes her incapable of logical decisions.

And Maggie. YES Maggie! All hail Maggie and her sass upon the loathed Tim! Also what the crap, Tony?

I do have a bit of a problem in that I wanted more people do just die and go limbless and suffer great psychological trauma . . . but hey . . . that's just me.

 Mother Nature is a bit psychopathic. Trees are not to be trusted. These novels are twisted.

- Marlon

Can you handle life without your best friend?

Let us know in the comments!

Review: The Changelings - Elle Casey

The Changelings
Elle Casey
Series: War of the Fae
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Paranormal
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Word Rating: What is This I Don't Even. So good.
On Goodreads

What's so scary about faeries? What could be? They're cute and pink and wonderful right? Even if you're clever and have read Artemis Fowl . . . well, you ain't seen nothing yet.

First of all, the diction is so sharp it could tear down the YA industry's general 'teenage voice'. It's extremely clear and no sentence is at all fluff. Casey is never ambiguous, never too florid, chooses precisely when to rain down her more poetic voice and most of all, she never infodumps, even in the beginning . . . instead, there's a bit of a pattern:

"I write and eat with my left hand but do just about everything else with my right. My body is confused with what it's supposed to do."

That's in the context of having a mini existential crisis in a history class. Very fluid, very helpful feel of what the narrator thinks of herself . . . plus we now have the tiny fact that our narrator is multidexterous. This pattern is brilliant and Casey uses it throughout most of the beginning to paint a brilliant internal and external picture of the main character, Jayne. This is such a rarity . . . in the introduction of even the best books I've read, there have been infodumps out of utter necessity (or in the case of City of Bones, a clever trick to make you think certain things are important when they're all lies). So I commend Casey for being able to wriggle out of that convention.

Now let's talk about Jayne. This girl. Oh gods. There aren't enough curse words in the English language for her, I assume she'll learn a few more languages to sate her thirst. She's just angry, and confused, and generally you do not want to piss her off. She's Percy Jackson if he'd stayed in the public school system, a little bit of a 'glutton for punishment'. She's relateable, in that most teenagers have felt like she has about parents, school, their bodies, and life in general. After all, I've always felt the itch to tell off my worst teachers. But what I like about her most is the absolute downplay on the romance. I mean, really? THANK YOU. In any YA, even friggin YA's that don't have a smidge of romance tag on it, there are still romantic conventions just looming around. But Jayne's not having any of that nonsense. She's tough, independent, and she shows her emotions like her skin, despite being inclined against both. Jayne also handles situations quite . . . wonderfully:

"Sonofabitch!"

"Shhh, Jayne, not so loud," said Tony, Panicked.

"What?! Those assholes put us in this forest with humanoid creepers that like to suck the life outta people! You know what that means, Tony? Vampires! And not the hot, Twilight kind either. How am I supposed to remain calm about that?"

I don't think I need to talk about anything else because the word choice and Jayne literally just make the novel. This girl will have you laughing constantly because she does not just accept everything, she acts like her inner ten year old and loses her marbles. She clings on to her friends when she's desperate. She faces her enemies after deliberation and you have no doubt she's going to rip them a new one. When stranger things start happening to her, she doesn't just take that either. She rampages. I love it. This girl reacts. Percy Jackson reacted like any regular kid would. That's why I fell in love with that series. Jayne is just brilliantly portrayed as not just someone you could be, but more along the lines of someone you're actually rooting for and you don't want to be because she's so clearly getting screwed over. I wish I knew her in real life.

Oh gods read this book for the tree hugging. Seriously, you'll know what I mean.

(Also every secondary character bar Tim is fabulous and you sort of hope no one dies but you realize they're all probably going to die. The plot and tonal shifting are on point and easy to follow. Jane is stubborn and doesn't develop much until the end where she's forced a bit out of her skin. The enemies were frightening, just about every conventional beast is thrown in . . . werewolves, vamps, etc, but it doesn't stop there . . . everything is an enemy in the "challenge", which takes up most of the novel.)

Tree hugging, though.

- Marlon

What mythological monster have you been dying to read about?

Let us know in the comments!

Waiting on Wednesday: The Blood of Olympus - Rick Riordan

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week and for many weeks after, I am and will be waiting on City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare. However, Kiersten's graciously done that already. So this week, I'm waiting on The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan

The Blood of Olympus
Rick Riordan
Series:  The Heroes of Olympus, #5
Release Date: October 17th, 2014
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Waited on by: Everybody and their Mothers (Marlon)
On Goodreads

Though the Greek and Roman crewmembers of the "Argo II" have made progress in their many quests, they still seem no closer to defeating the earth mother, Gaea. Her giants have risen-all of them, and they're stronger than ever. They must be stopped before the Feast of Spes, when Gaea plans to have two demigods sacrificed in Athens. She needs their blood-the blood of Olympus-in order to wake. The demigods are having more frequent visions of a terrible battle at Camp Half-Blood. The Roman legion from Camp Jupiter, led by Octavian, is almost within striking distance. Though it is tempting to take the Athena Parthenos to Athens to use as a secret weapon, the friends know that the huge statue belongs back on Long Island, where it "might" be able to stop a war between the two camps. The Athena Parthenos will go west; the "Argo II" will go east. The gods, still suffering from multiple personality disorder, are useless. How can a handful of young demigods hope to persevere against Gaea's army of powerful giants? As dangerous as it is to head to Athens, they have no other option. They have sacrificed too much already. And if Gaea wakes, it is game over


Unlike City of Heavenly Fire, I DON'T EVEN HAVE A BOOK COVER TO BE HAPPY ABOUT. No excerpts, just the ability to re-read House of Hades and cry over literally every other page for frack's sake. Percy Jackson has been my hero . . . I didn't start off as a Harry Potter kid, I started off as a Max McDaniels kid, but while Max only had one book out at the time (The Tapestry #1: The Hound of Rowan), Percy had three. And they were amazing. And it's been a very long ride and I'm almost unwilling to let it go. Words cannot express precisely how much I strive to be the Rick Riordan to at least a few people. That would be the greatest gift of which I could be capable, because these books, these freaking books have made my life so much more worth living. When I heard about The Lost Hero, I jumped on the excerpt like it was the dropped hot potato and I was a stereotypical Irish person. It was the absolute best transition book, that had the best elements from the first series with new faces. Son of Neptune? You better bet I was going bananas that Percy was back, even without his iron skin. We're not going to talk about Mark of Athena because you know it shattered hearts. House of Hades seemed to tie knots that have been loose for years, closing chapters, realizing and actualizing characters. Preparing for the end.

So let's do this people. On October 17th, we'll go down together. 

- Marlon

What are YOU waiting on?

Let us know in the comments!

Stuffed Animal Saturday [10]

Stuffed Animal Saturday is a meme that we post here at We Live and Breathe Books every two weeks to showcase the book we're currently reading with one of our favorite stuffed animals and discuss our stuffed animal's opinion (well, it's really our opinion, but that's besides the point). We hope you enjoy our quirky feature as much as we enjoy writing it!

Hey guys! It's Jeremy again, he likes to read a lot so he wants to hog the spotlight/camera lens. This week, we're reading an ebook and since the Nook was hiding on a very high shelf, he decided he wanted to take a picture with a Frozen coloring book instead. The book we are actually reading is Rematch by Janine Caldwell. It's the first book in the Vortex series and I will be reviewing it as part of a book tour, along with the next two books in the series. 

So Far: I'm only a few pages in, so I can't form too concrete of an opinion but so far I like this book quite a bit. Even though I haven't gotten super far into it, the beginning is very interesting and I really want to keep reading, especially to see how these two characters will collide and how everything will play out, especially the central conflict.

A Sneak Peek: 

Since I haven't read too much of the book, there isn't a specific passage I would like to put here so I'll just paste the description blurb so you guys can see how interesting this book seems.

Trent Astor is many things—orphan, runaway, musician. But what’s most extraordinary about Trent is that he’s a time traveler. His supernatural gift sends him on missions to the past to save unsuspecting victims from harm. However, when he fails to save the life of a young girl, his life changes in ways he could never have dreamed. 

 At eleven-years-old, Cassie Moore suffered through a horrific shooting. Tragically scarred from the ordeal, the once promising tennis prodigy was forced to throw away all hope of a future in tennis. Now, as she begins her senior year of high school, the past continues to haunt her. She struggles to find herself, her self-esteem at an all time low. If only she could resolve the past, she might be able to move on with her life. She never imagined that could be possible until she meets the gorgeous new student in her PE class.

-Noor

Are you and your stuffed animal reading anything interesting? 

Let us know in your own Stuffed Animal Saturday!