Books I’m Never Going to Review: Part Two

binrSo for awhile, I planned to write these reviews. They were on a few of my random lists of books I needed to review. I even wrote them on my calendar (more times than one, I should add). But never did they get reviewed. At least by me, I am sure someone else somewhere has done a lovely job. But alas, I still felt like I should give them a mention, so why not? You can catch Part One here. And guys- this includes my very first official DNF. Exciting stuff.

The Young Elites Series

 Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

Series: The Young Elites #1

Hardcover, 355 pages

Published October 7th 2014 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers

 Synopsis: 

I am tired of being used, hurt, and cast aside.

Adelina Amouteru is a survivor of the blood fever. A decade ago, the deadly illness swept through her nation. Most of the infected perished, while many of the children who survived were left with strange markings. Adelina’s black hair turned silver, her lashes went pale, and now she has only a jagged scar where her left eye once was. Her cruel father believes she is a malfetto, an abomination, ruining their family’s good name and standing in the way of their fortune. But some of the fever’s survivors are rumored to possess more than just scars—they are believed to have mysterious and powerful gifts, and though their identities remain secret, they have come to be called the Young Elites.

Teren Santoro works for the king. As Leader of the Inquisition Axis, it is his job to seek out the Young Elites, to destroy them before they destroy the nation. He believes the Young Elites to be dangerous and vengeful, but it’s Teren who may possess the darkest secret of all.

Enzo Valenciano is a member of the Dagger Society. This secret sect of Young Elites seeks out others like them before the Inquisition Axis can. But when the Daggers find Adelina, they discover someone with powers like they’ve never seen.

Adelina wants to believe Enzo is on her side, and that Teren is the true enemy. But the lives of these three will collide in unexpected ways, as each fights a very different and personal battle. But of one thing they are all certain: Adelina has abilities that shouldn’t belong in this world. A vengeful blackness in her heart. And a desire to destroy all who dare to cross her.

It is my turn to use. My turn to hurt.

Short Version: I liked it, but I didn’t love it. I was fine with Adelina being dark and almost villain-esque in nature, because it made sense in the book. But I didn’t completely understand the world, and maybe that will be explained more later, but reading this first book, I was a bit lost. And it was so, so dark. I need a tiny bit of happy with my depression, please and thank you. I will probably pick up the second book though.3star


20529769

 Goodreads | Amazon

Series: Hummingbird #1

262 pages

Published January 11th 2014 by JGP

Synopsis:

Burying the truth in the snow can’t conceal it forever.

Leona was born a survivor—one of the few sheltered in a prison that withstood the plummeting temperatures of the frozen days. Now, as the weather slowly warms, she struggles to understand a culture and society vastly different than the one created by her elders. Standing on the cusp of her seventeenth birthday, the day she will officially become a woman and eligible for marriage, the tiny world she had long since accepted suddenly seems stifling. Conflicts and curiosity propel her beyond the fences of her home into a barren and uncertain future, with one asset that just might keep her alive.

Short Version: There are a lot of twists in this book that I most definitely didn’t see coming (except this one huge spoiler that some jerk posted on Amazon without warning, which I saw while buying the book, NOT looking for reviews, so beware!) and I honestly don’t know how to review it because I kind of don’t want to give anything away. It is really dark and messed up too, but I had to keep reading. I might have wanted a bit more connection with Leona, but the story made up for it. Definitely excited to read the second book! 4hstar


15562682

 Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

280 pages

Published November 6th 2014 by Last Syllable Books

Copy Provided From Publisher via Netgalley for review

Synopsis: 

Based on true events, MELT is both a chilling tale of abuse, and a timeless romance. MELT will hit you like a punch in the face, and also seep through the cracks in your soul.

MELT is a brutal love story set against the metaphorical backdrop of The Wizard of Oz (not a retelling). When sixteen year old Dorothy moves to the small town of Highland Park, she meets, and falls for Joey – a “bad boy” who tells no one about the catastrophic domestic violence he witnesses at home. Can these two lovers survive peer pressure, Joey’s reputation, and his alcoholism?

Told in dual first person, Joey’s words are scattered on the page – reflecting his broken state. Dorothy is the voice of reason – until something so shattering happens that she, too, may lose her grip. Can their love endure, or will it melt away?

Short Version: Oh, this book. I tried. Twice, in fact. I got to 35% before I decided that I valued my sanity too much to continue. Maybe it gets better, who knows. It might! (But I skimmed the last few chapters and well, not really.) It is the definition of insta-love, and then a lot of talk about Dunkin Donuts (true story). And I only really got to the beginning of the abuse stuff before I couldn’t keep going, so I can’t tell you too much about that. I felt bad DNFing, but I think I’d have felt worse reading the whole thing. Some people loved it, and there are a number of 5-star reviews on Goodreads, so if it seems like your thing, let me know if it got better!DNF


I usually find middle of the road books hardest to review, but this contained both a book I really liked and a book I DNFed, so there goes that theory! Which are the hardest books for you to review? 

Posted December 5, 2014 by Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight in Quasi-Review / 26 Comments

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26 responses to “Books I’m Never Going to Review: Part Two

  1. The hardest ones to review are definitely the 3 stars! Those middle ones that I liked but had problems with much of the story. They usually take me the longest because I never know what to say either. I mean, they were good but not great and I’ll probably forget all of this in a few days anyway. And I HAVE to write a review for all the books I read, whether it’s a full-on one that gets posted on the blog or a couple short sentences or paragraphs on Goodreads. However, I’ve realized that I don’t review nearly enough books on my blog that aren’t ARCs or review copies, and I want to change that since I read more than that obviously. I want there to be more a mix. And I love that you’re still mentioning these books even though you won’t review them! I need to start doing something like this so I can spotlight those books I loved but didn’t review on the blog (which has been way too many these past few months, unfortunately).

    And ooh, I still gotta read The Young Elites! So excited for it. 🙂

    • I agree, I think it is good to review the books somehow (hence this feature!) because I was forgetting what my thoughts on books I read ages ago even were! Now, I just need to copy these to Goodreads, ugh!

      I think you’ll probably enjoy The Young Elites, maybe I wasn’t in the right mindset for it? I was waffling between 3 and 3.5 too. Maybe I’ll bump it up someday 😉

  2. I have this problem from time to time as well – I read the book, I prepare everything for review and I never get to actually writing it. 🙁

    Oddly enough, it’s the hardest for me to write a review for a book that blew my mind. Especially if I don’t write it as soon as I finish reading it.

  3. Interesting hearing your opinion on The Young Elites – most reviews I’ve read have been raving, but I totally understand why you don’t feel the same way. I was expecting this to be quite a dark novel, but I don’t know why. Maybe because of the cover? I don’t know. Loved reading your thoughts on TYE, Shannon. 🙂

    • I mean, I knew it was going to be dark for sure, but it just didn’t let up! I like just a bit of lighter moments with dark books, it’s almost like getting a breather. It wasn’t a bad book by any means, I just didn’t love it as much as I’d hoped!

  4. I agree that books I only felt so=so about are the hardest to review. Also the hardest to review are books I stopped in the middle of because it was so bad. How can I completely review a book that I wasn’t even able to finish?

    • Good point! I don’t mind doing a brief DNF review, just to point out why I stopped reading, but I could never do a full review, it doesn’t seem fair, unless I read a significant portion.

  5. I should do a post like this too. I review almost all the books I read, but I occasionally skip over a couple (like The Giver and Pride and Prejudice – I keep thinking I’ll eventually do a quick mini review of each of those). And I agree that usually those middle of the road books are the hardest to review.

    • Yeah, I think it happens a lot with older books too (like The Giver) because I feel like everyone else already read and reviewed, so why bother? But it makes me feel better to acknowledge them!

  6. Yay more mini reviews!

    Yeah Young Elites was a strange book. I agree, it could use more light-hearted moments or maybe some comedy. I have no clue where she’s going for the sequel, but I still want it!

    Some books are so hard to review without spoiling something. I hate it when someone spoils it for me. (Totally different than when I go looking for spoilers)

    Yeah, I would’ve stopped with the abuse stuff too. Thanks for the warning.

    Both! Both really good and really bad books are hard to review! (And those in the middle)

    • I want the sequel too, because in my experience with Marie Lu’s series, each book gets better, and the epilogue kind of won me over on continuing.

      The worst part about the spoiler was, it wasn’t even a full review. It was just one sentence that was basically “I hate this book because HUGE SPOILER”. Which is ridiculously unfair. I get why this spoiler could upset some people (personally, it didn’t upset me, because it made sense in the story, but it could be a trigger for some people) BUT there is a way better way of reviewing such things. Like “something happened in this book that would be a trigger for some people, and I was upset by this and did not like this book” would have been fine, and I would have not known. And they could have even then said SPOILER AHEAD so that people who wanted to look could. I am obviously angry about this still!

  7. The Young Elites! Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. But totally get it, All the Bright Places was pretty depressing, but it had it’s happy moments and hope and everything it should have. I’m kind of on that scale right now with The Winner’s Crime (which I finished like 2 days ago and have no clue where to start with it) but it was emotionally draining without the happy and I have a love hate relationship with it. It was completely amazing, but so frustrating.

    Ugh, spoilers without warning, MEAN PEOPLE. MEAN.

    But Melt, really, a lot of talk about Dunkin Donuts? Haha! But I try to avoid abuse stories (and it’s more than likely it got worse later in) haven’t read it, probably won’t now.

    • I know, I know. I did like it though. I feel like I need a bigger middle ground between 2 and 3 stars. Like, maybe I need 6 stars total. Then this would have been a 4 star, because it leans more on the good side than the bad for sure. Maybe I will bump it to 3.5 for the sake of fairness. But then I compare it to other 3.5s and it wasn’t AS good. Maybe it’s a 3.25? Ugh, ratings.

      I am so irate about the spoilers. I thought about commenting to this person and asking them to at least try to let people know it is a spoiler, but I know and like the author and I wouldn’t want it to come off as like, something shady that she did. Because she has no idea the review is even there, and I purchased the book of my own volition, but I worry it would come off differently, you know? Like I was attacking the person for the one star rating (which I am not, everyone is entitled to their opinion!) instead of spoiling the whole damn book!

      And YES. Melt was SO WEIRD. They met up a lot at a Dunkin Donuts, which is fine. But there was SO much detail about the donuts, and the coffee, and even the WAXED PAPER they give you the donut in! WHY!? Especially since it was a shorter book, there wasn’t time for such nonsense. The only purpose Melt served was making me crave a latte. True story.

    • I cannot wait to get the second book! I need some “me” reading time, and I am all over it! I was so impressed with all the things I definitely did NOT guess, I stayed up all night finishing it!

  8. Dang you Amazon reviewer, how dare you place a spoiler where everyone can see it??? =)

    I tend to find books that I just feel meh about the most difficult to review, if only because I don’t feel particularly one way or another, don’t love it, don’t hate it, so I either make it sound way better than I thought it was, or way worse. Though sometimes I have difficulties reviewing something I really really loved with the actual review being more than just me gushing! 😉

    • I think gushing is fine sometimes (I say this because I do it too, haha). Sometimes if a meh book had a lot of positives and negatives that weighed it out to be “meh” the review is easy, but then if it was just overall blah, then I don’t know what to do with that!

  9. I used to not have that problem at all, but I’ve found that the more books I read, some just aren’t reviewable for me! I did end up writing a review for The Young Elites, but I think it was just a longer version of what you wrote, with a few extra gifs and some caps lock thrown in there.

    Congrats on your DNF by the way 😉

  10. Oh you can tell a book is deep when Dunkin Doughnuts is #1 topic of conversation… WHAT EVEN?!! I would be super frustrated with that too. >-< I really want to read The Young Elites though! I like villains. *mwahahhaa* I'm sure that surprised you, right? I mean I am a totally nice pure lovely angelic person.
    *grabby hands at dark evil books*

  11. Oh no I wanted to read Melt because I downloaded it from Netgalley, but maybe it will be better for me? Maybe. I mean I probably won’t get to it until break though.

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