Book Nerds Across America

Book Summary
Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

Flo's Review
When I first started blogging many ears ago, I borrowed the concept of breaking up with a book that I could not finish. I like the analogy. Me and my current read are both giving and receiving to/from each other, but sometimes we cannot synchronize and we have to go our separate ways. That happened with I'll Give You the Sun and I HAVE NO IDEA WHY.

I loved, loved, loved The Sky is Everywhere. And I heard from multiple people that I'll Give You the Sun was even better. I couldn't wait to dive in. And honestly? This book has everything going for it. First, the cover is beautiful! Look at how pretty and colorful it is! #coverlove. I listened to the audiobook and the narrators were awesome Jesse Bernstein and Julia Whelan, both who I've listened to perform audiobooks before. The writing is incredible. It is so unique and full of life. Jandy Nelson paints with her words, filling up a while palette with every single hue and direction under the sun. 

But I was struggling. I told myself to give it to 100 pages, which is my normal cut off. (If a book hasn't grabbed me by then -- NEXT!) I made it to about 120-something with a little extra push on my part. And, honestly, I'm not completely sure why. Could it be because it was so overhyped for me that my expectations were unrealistic? Maybe. Could it be because I was listening to the audiobook, and sometimes that slows down the story? Perhaps. Or maybe the twins were just so eccentric that I felt I couldn't relate to either one of them? Could be.

I think, however, we just didn't connect. This is what scares me as a writer, but is the honest truth of any relationship. Have you ever dated that boy who was "good on paper"? He had all the qualities on your checklist of a perfect mate, but there just wasn't any attraction, any spark between you two? I'm guessing that's what happened here. Jandy Nelson did everything right, but I just didn't connect with I'll Give You the Sun. It makes me sad, but it's all a part of life. There are many other books in the sea. 

I wanted to love The Vespertine because I love the cover. Look at this:


Isn't it gorgeous?! I love the richness of the colors -- the brown tones provide depth. At the same time, it is an action shot -- but an elegant looking one.

*Sighs*

Anyway, here is the official summary:
"It's the summer of 1889, and Amelia van den Broek is new to Baltimore and eager to take in all the pleasures the city has to offer. But her gaiety is interrupted by disturbing, dreamlike visions she has only at sunset—visions that offer glimpses of the future. Soon, friends and strangers alike call on Amelia to hear her prophecies. However, a forbidden romance with Nathaniel, an artist, threatens the new life Amelia is building in Baltimore. This enigmatic young man is keeping secrets of his own—still, Amelia finds herself irrepressibly drawn to him. When one of her darkest visions comes to pass, Amelia's world is thrown into chaos. And those around her begin to wonder if she's not the seer of dark portents, but the cause."

There were two main reasons I had to break up with The Vespertine. First, I couldn't identify or sympathize with Amelia. I understand that I personally cannot identify with all the protagonists I read. That would mean they are all like me, or similar to me, and where's the variety in that?! Even so, it is usually easy enough to identify with the main character at least on some level. And if that's not the case, I can still feel for him or her, as s/he leads us through his or her story. I never found that with Amelia. As the story is moving along we are discovering Zora and Nathaniel and other characters....but not Amelia.

Secondly, I've said this before and I'll say it again -- if I am reading a love story, I have to buy the romance between the man and woman. And I just couldn't with Nathaniel and Amelia. It felt very forced to me. Love at First Sight is (I believe) very real -- and also very hard to portray convincingly.

I also thought that the history aspect would give this book a unique spin on things, but it just further confused and complicated the story.

Thoughts on the story? On the gorgeous cover?

This Advance Reader's E-Proof was provided to me by HarperCollins and netGalley.

I can't take full credit for the concept of breaking up with a book -- I read it somewhere in the blogosphere and thought it was just a perfect analogy. Because we've all done it. We've all started to read a book and just couldn't make it through. For whatever reason, we had to break up with it.


Angelfire trailer from the author's website.

Even though Angelfire was just released a couple of weeks ago, it was a book I had hearing a lot about for quite awhile. I received an ARC from netGalley and HarperCollins and was eager to jump right in.

I *love* the concept of Angelfire. Monstrous creatures called reapers devour humans and send their souls to Hell. (Yep, like Grim Reaper.) Ellie is the reincarnation of the only human warrior who can stop these reapers because she can conjure swords of angelfire to defeat them. When we start the book, Ellie is rediscovering her powers with the help of her immortal protector Will.

While the concept is wonderful, the writing was lacking delivery for me. I found it quite shifty -- it read to me like a series of scenes as opposed to a story. I felt there was a lack of detail in many areas and no build up to the plot, no sense of anticipation of what was coming. All the talk about the fancy cars and the shopping and the clothes seemed unnecessary to me.

But I think the straw that broke the camel's back for me was the relationship. While I found myself feeling a little bad for Landon, I was not buying Will as the sexy, mysterious boy. I could see the tension between Will and Ellie, but I couldn't feel it.

It's a shame. I really wanted to like this one. Has something similar ever happened to you?

This Advance Reader's E-Proof was provided to me by HarperCollins and netGalley.