theresidentbookworm's reviews
3256 reviews

*looks embarrassed at the crappy quality of summer reading thus far* Okay, so I haven't exactly cracked open Hemingway or Salinger thus far this summer, but my brain needed to recover for a while, and almost everything I've read has been late at night when I should have been sleeping on my iPhone. Novellas like Untouched are quick, easy reads and cost me nothing, an added bonus. I guess you get what you give because Untouched really did absolutely nothing for me. I did not enjoy the instant love connection, the smut, or really anything other than Emerson's moments with his little sister Brittany. I will maybe read Melody Grace's full novels to see if she can do anything to impress me, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

Let's tell this story with a couple of familiar characters.

First, there's Charlie.



Charlie is a girl who's been made to feel so insecure in her own skin by her father that she doesn't believe she's worthy to be loved by anyone.



And then she meets Maverick...



Reaction (or at least mine)?



Maverick is not your typical jock in a new adult novel. He works hard in school, hoping to receive a football scholarship, and doesn't have a new girl in his bed every night. The moment he meets Charlie, however, he's interested...

Eventually, Maverick manages to get close to her. Their chemistry is awesome, and this is probably the first time in her life Charlie has felt loved by someone.



And of course I can't forget to mention Tori, Charlie's new best friend.



Tori's not afraid to tell Charlie the truth or give he a confidence boost.





And while most of novel, particularly character development, was good, it got increasingly dramatic towards the end, stealing the spotlight away from what I actually liked about Love Notes: the romance, Charlie growing into her skin, etc. Next time, scale back a bit, and you've got a hit.

*Side note: Yes, I know the casting of this is totally off. I just know I pictured America Ferrera when I read this, and then when I started googling images of her from this my Sisterhood loving brain took me to that place. That's where Amber Tamblyn fits in. Of course, I didn't like any of Carmen's love interests in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants so they didn't make the cut. I do like that guy from Wizards though.

Throwaway is on the very short list of actually decent free romances I've read this summer. I've probably had it downloaded on my iPhone since I discovered iBooks, but the cover and synopsis turned me off. Throwaway is actually much better than it looks, and here's why.

1. Jessie is a strong woman who is trapped in a desperate situation and tries make the most of it. She faces some troubles and challenges in love and life, but she never pulls a Bella Swan (okay, maybe for a moment, but she actually thought Gabe was dead. It's allowed.). She sticks up for herself and never lets Gabe push her around.

2. Gabe is no slouch either. He's just as stubborn as Jessie, and that makes for some great chemistry. He's tough enough that you believe he is a cop and former military, but at the same time he is funny and sweet to Jessie even when they first meet.

3. All the supporting characters were great! From Milo to Vance, everyone added to the story and served a purpose.

4. There is a great mystery/thriller subplot thrown for those of you who require that with their romance. I don't, but it's always fun.

5. Three words: Happily ever after. There is one.

A List of Problems with Falling Into You

1. My actual reading format.

I downloaded Falling Into You and its sequel Falling Into Us as free epub files onto iBook. It was a terrible reading experience. Words and sentences were interrupted by series of numbers, and there were no chapte separate in contents.

2. The uselessness of everyone in Nell's life.

For some reason, no one thought that they could convince Nell to get help, and none of them seemed to try to hard. Yes, I understand she was eighteen and could make her own decisions, but she was also still living at home. Her parents still had some power over her, and the way she seemed to be functioning sounds like grounds for forced psychiatric help to me.

3. The weird fight Colton gets into with Nell's date

I'm not even sure what to say about this. He nearly beat a guy to death, and it's just shrugged off like, "Yeah, whatever."

4. Colton's super complex past.

My reaction



Oh honey, go back to that soap opera you escaped from. In fact, much of Faaling Into You reads like a really bad soap opera your grandma is addicted to. From Colton's past to Nell's cutting to the absolutely ridiculous ending, this is a bad soap opera. I refuse to say anything else. This list would just get too long.

There are a few salvage bits in this novel, but it is mostly smut and junk. If you like those things, go for it. If not, take a hint and go find something better to read.

Honestly, I had very low expectations for Forever and Always after the last three of Wilder's books. There just always seems to be too much sex and not enough of things that actually make a novel good like plot or character development. Unlike 99.9% of the world, I do not believe having sex with someone gives you some kind of intense undeniable connection or love. Relationships are built on more than that, which is why I continually have a problem with Ms. Wilder's books. The premises aren't bad themselves, but the smut factor needs to be 15-25% of the novel instead of the overwhelming 30%-60% it is now.

That being said, I surprisingly loved Forever & Always. Ever and Cade had an actual deep relationship built through (be still my beating heart) hand-written letters. I loved this because they could've exchanged phone numbers or something, but instead they wanted the comforts of words written on a page. No one does this anymore, and they should. Both Ever and Cade's back stories are incredibly sad, Cade's more so, but you see them lend comfort and support to each other through their letters and artwork. This book is what Jennifer E. Smith's This Is What Happy Looks Like should have been. Ms. Wilder effectively used her letters to develop her two main characters and their relationship. I never get the feel of insta-love in this novel even when they see each other again for the first time in years because they do know each other so well.

Forever and Always lost a star for a few minor quibbles I have over some of the later plot, nothing major. The marriage thing felt a bit weird and rushed, but at least Ever and Cade knew it. The loss of a star is also because I was so flipping mad at how abruptly it ended. Now I must get the next book in the series. If Ever's not okay, I'm busting heads!

Finally, Jasinda Wilder, finally you have done it! You have written a book that lives up to its summary. I was actually able to enjoy and even savor one of your novels. There was literally nothing I didn't like about Wounded. Every character was spot on. Rania was both strong and vulnerable, and her story made me want to cry. I felt close to her for some reason even though we could not be more different. She's an Iraq women forced into prostitution to survive, and I'm a privileged American teenager. Hunter made me swoon because I just love a hot alpha Marine. It's just always the best way to go if you want a sweet but overprotective book boyfriend. The romance was slow-building and sizzling hot despite the fact they don't even speak the same language and Hunter was seriously injured. I'm not even sure how Wilder managed it, but hats off to her for making being stranded in war-torn Iraq both realistic and sort of romantic. And of course, the sex ratio was actually balanced. There was just enough smut for it to be sexy and not make me seriously uncomfortable.

I really cannot believe I am saying it, but I really did love Wounded. It lived up to all the hype, and it might be the best romance I've read so far this year. Definitely recommended!

Alternative Titles For Teasing Trent

Taunting Trent

Dude, That's My Sister!

A Birthday Gift

Do You Want a Plotline with Your Smut?

Whoa, Girls Like Sex Too?

Need I really go on? I am so over this type of read, but if pointless and ridiculous free iBook romances are your thing, who am I to stop you?

I have to say something. I feel very odd having read this and now writing the review of it without the first hand experience of its inspiration Wuthering Heights to back me up. I'm sure it bothers very few of the other people who have read You Make Me, but it bothers me. I like to be able to read a retelling of a classic and make those literary comparisons and judge how well it reworked the original novel and to what extent it differed (as all retellings have to a bit). I like to pride myself on being able to do that. I think all book nerds do. I have to tell you that not having that is not a good feeling (even though I do have a copy of Wuthering Heights. I just have no time and more entertaining things to read.).

So now that I've exposed my inner book snob, I'll actually talk about You Make Me. It's a fairly good read. I liked Cat and Heath, and their relationship was exactly the kind of toxic and yet all consuming passionate romantic affair I love in my fiction (and hope to avoid in my personal life). There was plenty of drama, which I did admit to my friend on the phone the other day I secretly like because to quote myself, "Sadness is inherently more interesting than happiness." Geesh, what a future English teacher I am. This book hit every one of my fairly good new adult romance requirements. Even the smut was kept to a minimum (thank God! My corneas have been crying at the words I've been reading lately in some of these things. Sex is scary! I'm not sure I want to have it. Ever.) but was still steamy.

So you're probably saying, "What's the problem?" Well, that tiny voice inside my head is reminding me this book's ranking and review might be different if I had actually read Wuthering Heights, and yes, it probably would be. I could've discussed all the similarities and differences and made a probably pretentious judgment on this new adult retelling of a book whose author would probably faint if she read any of You Make Me's smut scenes, but that's not what I did.

Of course, this brings me to a few intriguing questions that really have nothing to do with whether or not I recommend this book (which I do, by the way). How much does a retelling or reworking of a novel owe to the original, and how fair is it to hold a novel written today to a classic beloved for years with scholars dedicated to it? Is this a system of setting authors up to fail in our judgmental eyes? And really, why do we read retelling and reworkings of our favorite novels?

If anyone wants to start discussing these questions, I'm game. And yes, I do recommend!

With the quality of my recently read young adult fiction being so good, the universe has sought to balance my reading experience with very badly written new adult fiction. I feel like I complain about the quality of new adult fiction, and maybe it's partly my fault because you do get what you pay for (and I never pay much for this junk), but I'm still going to complain about it. Like so many before it, Unbreak Me's reviews are more enjoyable than the actual story.

Unbreak Me suffered from a few of the common new adult tropes: damaged heroine, famous love interest, love triangle, and secret past tragedy. If you want to know more commonly used cliches, see my review of Just One Song. More annoyingly, however, there are three different point of views: Maggie, Asher, and Will. Will's point of view felt very forced, and I genuinely didn't like any of these characters. I felt bad for Maggie, but I also thought she never stood up for herself and claimed responsibility for her actions. Asher was a good book boyfriend, but I actually preferred Will. He was sweet, solid, and totally in love with Maggie (though he definitely had his jerk moments, and it does seem a little sudden to want to marry Maggie's sister so soon after their wedding was called off).

I did think the plot unfolded in a very interesting way, and some of Maggie's past was unexpected and very sad. I just wished the novel had been put together in a more original and cohesive way. Also, someone looking over grammar and spelling a couple more times would have been nice. Not recommended!

I have to admit I had higher expectations for Forever Black. Maybe I read too many praising reviews (including Marina's review with references to Sweet November, a movie I adore), but I expected more.

I did like the novel. Ellery was a good main character, definitely a girl I could root for. She's a fellow Michigan native so there's prop points for that, but she was also kind, smart, and spunky as heck. She wasn't about to let this man she barely knew order her around, and I found that refreshing. I didn't like Connor initially, but he grew on me (kind of like mold). Peyton was a friend I wouldn't mind having. In fact, I have several Peytons in my life. Denny made me laugh a lot of the time too, and it seemed like he and Ellery were the only people who called Connor out on his crap.

That being said, there were more than a few problems here. The relationship between Ellery and Connor drove me crazy. They always fought over little things and then left each other for a while, but then things would go back to normal, and the cycle just repeated itself. It's not really a stable relationship.

Spoiler

Also, why would Ellery hide her illness? Why no treatments? What kind of cancer does she have? These questions were never really answered.

There were slight grammar and punctuation issues as well as a few spelling mistakes. Forever Black wasn't very well edited.

If you're going to read Forever Black, don't buy it in paper. It's cheaper on an eReader, and that way if you don't like it it's not too much of a lose.