Couture By The Pages

My summer so far:

Should I:

a) play nancy drew

b) read

c) watch netflix

d) sleep

sarahplaysnancydrew:

I got some of these from a website (4 FOR YOU ANDY YOU GO ANDY), so I don’t know if those ones work. The untested eggs are italicized. If you have gotten those to work, let me know! Also if you have any questions, I’ll do my best to answer. 

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shedisenchants:

shedisenchants:

so every year after the juniors finish reading The Great Gatsby my high school english teacher throws a Gatsby party at his huge house and everyone shows up in period clothing and Charlestons to 20s music and my english teacher just wears a suit and stands off to the side staring wistfully out the window the entire night

you guys think I’m joking??

Everything about my high school experience has now been invalidated.

(via conformityatitsfinest)

I’m a sucker for paranormal angel books. It may be the religion major, or the Catholic, in me but I find this concept so much more intriguing then the vampire/werewolf/etc realm, probably because it is based in a concept that so many people believe in and it’s interesting to see what an author will do with an already established belief in a fantasy genre.

Yet so often the YA angel/fallen angel stories fall flat. The only series I have found that catches my interest is the Hush Hush saga by Becca Fitzpatrick. Not that I love the protagonist, but the world building is done well and the author is good at harnessing male voices. I was hoping this series would follow in the same vein, but I honestly was majorly disappointed for about the first half of the book. There were so many YA stereotypes and cliché’s from the helpless female character who’s voice falls flat to the completely ditzy and boy-crazy best friend to the conveniently absentee parent (or in this case, adoptive parent). There is not much improvement once the two guys who comprise the “love triangle” with the protagonist enter the narrative, with Devin being pretty much devoid of personality and Asher seemingly a poor imitation of Patch Cipriano from Becca Fitzpatrick’s series. The “love triangle” angle was also a disappointment, for it’s incredibly one sided and not believable at all that the protagonist is torn between both guys.

Now, there were some aspects of the book that merited the 3 stars (it probably should’ve been 2.5 stars, but goodread’s doesn’t allow it and I figured it deserved to be rounded up). I thought the mythology and premise were really interesting, but poorly executed and delivered. There’s not a stark heaven/hell, angel/demon dichotomy, rather the “Order” and the “Rebellion”, neither which is inherently evil or inherently good. There is not a “demonic” side which I appreciated, both were still seen as factions of types of angels, the Rebellion simply more in tune with the earth since leaving the Order. Deeper issues are explored which blur the lines between which is the more righteous side, such as is it ethical to predestine fate? And if it does exist, does interfering with it equate to freedom? There are so many interesting possibilities and potential here, but then it is poorly delivered in the narrative- for example, Asher drops the bomb about the Order and the Rebellion during a “spooky storytelling” around a campfire in front of the entire junior class. It’s painfully juvenile and seems to suggest a lack of creativity in plot devices.

I also really wish other aspects of the stories had been expanded upon, because they’re made to seem relevant but then are never explained. Such as the constant reference to the protagonists “evil” ex-boyfriend, Jordan, who is constantly referenced as though he is a shadow constantly haunting her. Yet an opportunity to perhaps discuss abuse or the misogynistic treatment of women in our society is glossed over and his scarring impact on the protagonist never really explained (aside from a brief mention of him cheating on her). Or the implementation of one of the protagonist’s human friends having a steadfast and loyal desire for her, to which she just continually brushes him off. Again, what is the point of this?

Overall there were some good ideas in the story, but it was congested by a thoroughly boring main character, shallowly written love interests, a love triangle that falls flat, and forgotten plot devices and loose ends throughout. The last few chapters did provide an upturn in the reading experience, moving out of the human realm and showcasing the deeper issues and quite frankly the things that were actually interesting instead of shallow love triangles: the interaction between the Rebellion and the Order, the severing of an important truce, the true implications of having no free will, as well as the mortality of the main character. Though irritating as it is that the book ended in a total cliffhanger, the cliffhanger is probably the main reason I’m willing to spend my time reading the second. If you’re looking for a quick and easy read, like the genre, and aren’t too picky with your character development, this should prove to be an interesting enough read

I had SUCH high high hopes for this book. I’d patiently waited all semester until I had time to really sit down and read it. I was literally jumping for joy when I found it at my local library on the first try.

However…

Now, it’s not that it was bad. I devoured it in less than 24 hours (it’s slimmer than I expected) and can’t wait to get my hands on the sequel. But I was expecting so much MORE. MORE horror, MORE fear, MORE complex of a story and way MORE of a believable romance.

I loved all of the back story on ghosts, especially hearing about Cas’ past conquests and his childhood growing up with a ghost-hunting father and a Wiccan mother. I loved hearing about all of the ghosts’ stories, about the humanity behind the hauntings. I devoured these background stories, especially Anna’s, because they gave so much more life (no pun intended) to the actual ghosts Cas came into contact with.

But. Oh, there’s the qualifier. I was really and truly disappointed how religion was so misappropriated in this book. As a religious studies major who just spent this past semester extensively studying voodoo, it was beyond infuriating seeing it stereotyped so negatively in the book. Yes, there are mal-practitioners of Voodoo, but the book completely managed to neglect the fact that Voodoo is a RELIGION, a widely practiced one at that, and a majority of it is used for purposes of healing rituals. Not too mention Wiccan was treated as more “magic” than an actual religion as well, though I don’t have the extensive background in Wiccan to call out whether is was misappropriated or not. Overall, I was disappointed to see that there was no qualifying statement in the book that Voodoo is not a malicious practice in a majority of circumstances and that it is a widely, and positively, practiced faith to many of Afro-Haitian-Carribean descent. So it would have been nice to see the author not take such as Western, Orientalizing view of religious traditions alternative to the typical white, Northern American because it is misappropriating an entire religion and culture.

ANYWAYS…

If you’re still reading, and my rant didn’t scare you away, Cas was an extremely refreshing character to read because a) he’s a male protagonist in YA fiction and b) his serious and no-nonsense attitude don’t make for the annoyingly average teenage heartthrob male character. True, I loved Cas, but I loved him for his complexity, his self-imposed isolation that he’s aware of and doesn’t brood over, his determination, and his realism (his statements and internal monologue may seem cocky and arrogant, be he’s really just honest to the point where it makes most people uncomfortable. He doesn’t play games).

I DO wish the romantic element had been more developed, because reading this it’s like BOOM one day the protagonist goes from morbid interest to complete obsession with the love interest with little believable development. But I can forgive this because honestly the pretense of the entire novel, with all of it’s ghost-hunting, rich backstories, and paranormal activity make this a book I’d have loved to read even without a romance.

I will definitely be picking up the sequel.

This book had such good reviews among the goodreads community that I was disappointed when I finally picked it up.

I love the idea of basing it off of the myth of Persephone, and there’s so many directions the book could have gone in. I loved the glimpses into the world of the Everneath, and the idea of the Everliving, but these bits were few and far between compared to the mundane high school events that comprised a majority of the book. It felt disjointed and was hard for the reader to settle into, because the author just throws you into the story with little world-building and background and reveals things in small pieces later, by which the reader has already had to make their own assumptions or has lost interest in the author’s original intent.

I enjoyed the use of the anti-hero in Cole and while Jack is loveable and a seemingly genuine good-guy, a lot of the relationship drama felt weak. For example, the “falling out” with one of the males that drove the protagonist to make a life-altering decision was nothing more than a simple misunderstanding that was rather cliché and easily detectable. Had the situation that she thought she saw been real would have made the book much more complex and interesting, as it would have given the characters actual issues to work through and a realistic portrayal of the flaws in every relationship.

I was also frustrated with the shallow character development of the two main males in particular. In a YA series where there is so obviously a love triangle being employed right from the get-go, depth is needed with all love interests involved in order for it even to seem remotely interesting or dramatic. Cole’s story is obviously going to be expanded upon during the sequel, but I was so disappointed in Jack. He’s a likeable character, but he’s reportedly some major heart-throb and known for being a player in half of the book and in the other half portrayed as the most steadfast, one-woman man there is with a serious, if shallowly explained, emo streak.

Also, many of the plot drivers in this book are just too convenient, you can see where the author blatantly came up with a solution rather than intricately weaving a story. I mean, at one of the climactic and down to the wire moments at the end the characters just happen to know someone who knows a leading expert on anthropology and apparently Egyptian archaeology as well who can be conveniently called on his cell phone to answer a bunch of vital questions that gives them info on the existence of Everlivings…

Overall I came into this book with way too high of expectations. It was a quick read once I decided I may as well finish it because there were some mythological details and world-building I so desperately wanted, but was never really satisfied with. I did enjoy some of the peripheral characters, finding Will especially likeable and hilarious, as well as the barely mentioned subplot of his PTSD after spending a year in active military service. But alas, as with most of the novel, an interesting idea was presented and then never expanded upon or properly explained.I may pick up the sequel for a quick read if I happen across it at the library, but I’m honestly glad I didn’t spend my money investing in this particular YA series.