How I Live Now

I thought I should probably get around to writing down my thoughts about Meg Rosoff's How I Live Now before I forget them completely!

This is a book that got loads of attention in the blogoshpere at one point, one of those that everyone was reading and it consistently got good reviews. Perhaps my expectations were set a bit too high because of this and I didn't like it as much as I thought I would, nor as much as I wanted to.

The story is about American Daisy, who is sent over to England to stay with her cousins for a while and ends up having to live through war and occupation as England is invaded by an unnamed enemy. The cousins are separated as soldiers take over their house and are all sent off to work. Obviously the situations they have to live through are horrible and they need to all do a bit of growing to manage.

The storyline is interesting and after reading and absolutely loving Susan Beth Pfeffer's Life As We Knew It, I really, really thought I'd enjoy this. But. I did NOT like Daisy at all. I thought she was whiny and two-dimensional and I didn't really care what happened to her. Or to her cousins. And the relationship between her and cousing Edmond, with whom she falls in love, just creeped me out. It just seemed implausible and stretched and, well, creepy.

The ending was abrupt and didn't explain as much as I wanted to. I ended up feeling cheated!

Maybe I missed something, but I have to admit that I was very disappointed. Anyone else??

Challenges: A-Z, Dewey's Books, It's the End of the World

I've gone off reading!

Can you believe that I was just at the library returning a stack of unread books and I couldn't find anything that I wanted to take home with me?? I think that all the new books I bought in the past year are overwhelming me... As you know, I seem to have gone off reading for a while anyway. And blogging too... I want to assure whoever still reads this that I do visit your blogs, even if I don't always comment. Just in a strange place at the moment.

Anyway, I'm about halfway through Girlfriend in a Coma by Douglas Coupland, my first book by this author. He is fantastic!!

Hope you're all having a good summer and I hope to re-connect properly real soon. :-)

Wicked Lovely and another challenge down

Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely is my favorite audiobook so far. The narrator, Alyssa Bresnahan, was fantastic and totally brought the story to life for me. I will certainly look for other audiobooks that she has narrated.

Wicked Lovely was a great book. Magical and dark, fast-paced, with realistic characters that I really cared about. Ainsling is the story's central figure - she is not entirely a normal teenager, because she has 'the sight', meaning that she can see fairies. When she realises that a whole bunch of them are following her around and not letting go, a wondrous tale of the merging of two world unravels.

Although the setting is different, what with all the fairies around, the story has plenty of teenage issues, including young love. The development of Ainsling's and Seth's relationship is an aspect that I really enjoyed. The descriptions of the growing sexual tension between them and the problems related to their reluctance to do anything to ruin their friendship - well, it was beautiful. And refreshing!

Really, if you like fantasy then this is one for you. I loved the ending too, I was wondering how the author would resolve everything! I heard that the next book in this series, Ink Exchange, is even darker, but I think I'll have to try it anyway!

Challenges: YA Romance, 1st in a series, 999 Challenge, Audiobook Challenge

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This book completes the YA Romance Challenge for me. It was hosted by Becky of Becky's Book Reviews and was great fun. I'm reading so much YA lately, so strange!

Here's what I read - to see my original plans, see my initial post.

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
Anatomy of a Boyfriend by Daria Snadowsky
Sweethearts by Sara Zarr
Vegan Virgin Valentine by Carolyn Mackler
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr (scroll up for my thoughts)

I couldn't pick just one favorite, these were all good! I guess this genre just appeals to me! :-)

Thanks Becky for hosting, looking forward to the next edition!