Just A Snack: Wicked Lovely

Marr, M. (2008). Wicked Lovely. HarperCollins.

As apparently the only person left on earth who had not read any of the Marr's Wicked Lovely series, I felt like I at least had to check out the first book.

I'm... undecided.

The writing was actually fairly good, and I liked Aislinn's desperate, albeit useless, attempts to remain a Normal Teenager.

However, I found pretty much everyone to be profoundly unsympathetic and/or uninteresting.

Keenan? Keenan the harem-owning stalker, plucking innocent girls from the streets and condemning them to a life of either a) suffering as the power of Winter floods through their veins, or b) flitting around desperate for his attention and requiring apparently a diet of nothing but sunlight and sex? No.

And Seth? Seth the stereotypical pierced and tatted bad-boy-with-a-heart-of-gold, who lives in a set of train cars (one of which is filled with nothing but a bed and dim lighting) and who doesn't appear to have independent thoughts outside of Oh My God I Love Aislinn I Wonder If She Has Eaten Today?

Even Beira just read like a Disney villain. I kept expecting her to steeple her fingers and cackle wildly. Meh.

So in summary, okay book to skim, would recommend to anyone who was gripped by the torrid passion of the Edward v. Jacob fight for Bella... but not interesting enough for me to read the next seventeen novels in the series. As tempting as it would be to hear more about Seth's gorgeous navel ring (really?), I'm just not up for it.

Oh, and on a final, semi-unrelated note. No one in the book seemed as squicked out as I was to discover that Keenan had, you know, tried to get all up on Aislinn's mom.... I realize it came during a pivotal and fast-moving action sequence, but you'd think at least SOMEONE would point out how kind of twisted it is that Aislinn is now marrying Keenan. Keenan, who apparently used to be in love with her mother. Her mother, who subsequently died from her unwillingness to be with him. Because he's a creeper. No? I'm the only one, here?

Tasty Rating: !!!

Just A Snack: Trapped

Northrop, M. (2011). Trapped Scholastic Press.

This is a cool looking book -- the cover makes you claustrophobic right from the start (and the almost-buried "Winter Wonderland Dance" sign is a nice bit of dark humor), and each chapter is headed with an illustration of snow rising... and rising... and rising... until finally there's nothing but white.

The kids act exactly like anyone would expect a group of freshmen and sophomores to act. They worry about their folks, but also about their zits. They go through technology withdrawal and wear the batteries on their phones out sending useless texts and playing video games. They don't really get along, but in a Breakfast Club sort of way they're willing to put up with each other since they've got no other options. It was easy to put yourself into the mindset of the main character, hormones and all.

That being said, I got a little sick of the ominous, Something Terrible Is Going To Happen foreshadowing that the author insisted on throwing in. It was tolerable on page eight ("Looking back on all this, I shiver a little.... Images creep in: black smoke and blue skin"), tedious by page thirty-four ("From here on out, the number would only go down") and irritating from there on out. Yes, yes, someone will die, we get it.

Plus, despite the foreshadowing, the book doesn't actually explain the outcome of the storm. We know in a loose sort of way that the narrator survives, because he's the one prophesying DOOM all over the place. But the rest of the kids? Their families? The state in general? Not so much.

Upside? It was a GREAT book to read on a snow day.

Tasty Rating: !!!

Just A Snack: Wither

DeStefano, L. (2011). Wither. Simon & Schuster.

Guys, if I could star this book based on cover alone, it would be TEN WHOLE STARS. For real -- did you see this thing? Wedding ring leading to caged bird flanked by gorgeous teased-out girl in poofy ball dress, with dying lily petals drifting down the back? Love it.

As for the book itself, I had more mixed feelings. It was full of topics that I normally would be all over. Tragic dystopia? Sure! Scandal and child brides? Why not?! Twins? Yes! But when they were all combined, it seemed overdone and under-explained.

Why, for example, are only the wealthy concerned with the future of the human race? If they need babies like a fish needs water, why are they wantonly shooting girls who aren't hot enough to marry rich stupid sons? How did every other continent on Earth manage to be blown into teeny tiny pieces whilst the US apparently continued on unscathed? Are the orphanages in the pay of the Gatherers, and, if not, why the heck are they teaching impressionable kids that it's awesome to be pregnant by thirteen? And, perhaps most importantly, why must the love interest in this book be so blah?! (Sorry Gabriel. You're just not cutting it for me.)

I did enjoy reading Wither, don't get me wrong. Destefano writes like a dream--I'd be willing to be Gathered myself if it meant wearing some of the outfits she describes. The next two will be on my To Read list for sure and, presumably, all of my burning questions except the last will someday be answered. I just don't expect that the plot will stay with me for any longer than it takes me to put the book back on the shelf.

Tasty Rating: !!!