~Mini Reviews- where I get out a few thoughts on a bundle of books Ive read~
Dearly Departed by Lia Harel
October 18, 2011 by Del Ray
Review Copy
Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid’s arrow pierce the hearts of the living and the dead—or rather, the undead? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie?
The year is 2195. The place is New Victoria—a high-tech nation modeled on the manners, mores, and fashions of an antique era. A teenager in high society, Nora Dearly is far more interested in military history and her country’s political unrest than in tea parties and debutante balls. But after her beloved parents die, Nora is left at the mercy of her domineering aunt, a social-climbing spendthrift who has squandered the family fortune and now plans to marry her niece off for money. For Nora, no fate could be more horrible—until she’s nearly kidnapped by an army of walking corpses. But fate is just getting started with Nora. Catapulted from her world of drawing-room civility, she’s suddenly gunning down ravenous zombies alongside mysterious black-clad commandos and confronting “The Laz,” a fatal virus that raises the dead—and hell along with them. Hardly ideal circumstances. Then Nora meets Bram Griswold, a young soldier who is brave, handsome, noble . . . and dead. But as is the case with the rest of his special undead unit, luck and modern science have enabled Bram to hold on to his mind, his manners, and his body parts. And when his bond of trust with Nora turns to tenderness, there’s no turning back. Eventually, they know, the disease will win, separating the star-crossed lovers forever. But until then, beating or not, their hearts will have what they desire.
Give me a good zombie story and Im all over it, give me Dearly Departed and Im running away as fast as I can....mostly Im running from the Super Volcano, the floods because of global warming, the nuclear war, the disease thats wiping everyone out or mutating them into zombies or the monstrous disasters that have my head spinning because guess what, this story starts after all this has happened. With the overload of backdrop information I kind of felt tossed into a hurricane with no plot.
Perhaps the hardest aspect was suspending disbelief that human beings would still be alive after all this...or that Conservative extremists took over the world (LOL-seriously?) or that a world of advanced technology still exists after those catastrophic devastation's but lost all capabilities of creating modern clothing and had to revert back to the Victorian ages....or that the main character was a handsome (HANDSOME) zombie!
Needless to say a plate full of too much selection overwhelming the pallet.
While DD was a tad promising in originality, I found the mixture of so many genres take away from what could of been a great story.
2/5- YA- Zombies, Dystopian, Apocalyptic, Steampunk, Paranormal Romance, Sci-Fi
Pure by Julianna Baggott
Feb 8, 2012 by Grand Central Publishing
Review Copy
While I didn't enjoy this novel, Im sure others out there will love this, due to its beautiful cover, hype status and some stellar reviews, Pure for sure has an audience....
DNF/5- YA-Dystopian
DNF/5- YA-Dystopian
The Pledge by Kimberly Derting
November 15, 2011 by McElderry
Review Copy
I feel right in the middle with Derting's The Pledge. I found the concept of language and the Tower of Babel theme to be a true book definer...however that's really the only thing that stood out for me in this story. Im a character driven type of gal and I had no shred of connection to anyone in this book. The prologue confused me and never tied to the end of book and even the romance between Max and Charlie which was promising at first just fell flat...it made no sense to the story and wound up being left undeveloped, for a relationship that was driving the plot for a third of the book....Im left wondering why? Im actually left with too many questions, not enough resolutions and stumped by most of the characters.
2/5- YA-Dystopian- (Fantasy?)
Zombies should not be a handsome hero. No, no, no. This has gone too far, LOL. Zombies are dead, their flesh is rotting off, they EAT people! Thanks for the reviews, I know which one I'll be skipping ;)
ReplyDeletePretty much hit the nail on the head for what I've heard about these books. Too bad, because most of their plots were unique...
ReplyDeleteSounds like three I won't be reading. Thanks for the to the point reviews.
ReplyDeleteYikes! I'm sorry to see that you've been slapped around by less that exciting books lately, T! But I remember some early reviews for The Pledge that said much the same as what you pointed out, so I lost interest in it early on, and Pure and DD really don't sound like they'd do anything for me. Thanks for the minis. :)
ReplyDeleteLove the quick reviews. I have read the good and bad on DD, I hear the big problem is 5 POV. I am still curious about that one.
ReplyDeleteJust finished Pure. I know a lot of people can't get past the dark tone and the cruel deformities. It was a pretty good read.
The Pledge I read it and was underwhelmed it was just ok. Not bad not great, Hope you have better luck next time with your minis!
Wow. I can't believe you didn't like Dearly, Departed or The Pledge. I really enjoyed both of those. Hopefully you're on to something a bit more to your liking! :)
ReplyDeleteGreat honest reviews.
ReplyDeleteDD sounds mega annoying and far fetched! Handsome zombie? Ick. Seriously? And conservative extremists? Grrrrr
Thanks for the warnings.
I felt the same way about The Pledge...and now this is the second blogger whose opinion I trust who has indicated that Pure may not be what all the hype leads one to believe. I may give it a go anyway...but we'll see!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the honest reviews!!
♥ Melissa @ Melissa's Eclectic Bookshelf
I love Kimberly Derting, so I'm sad you didn't like it because I have similar taste as you and I haven't gotten to this one yet. I think I'll wait a bit until I give it a try because I've heard similar feelings from some other people. *sigh*
ReplyDeleteAs for Dearly Departed, LMAO! Yah...I don't think that one's for me. I never was too excited about it and I love Zombie books. But, I just can't imagine a hot zombie. Um...they're supposed to be rotting corpses.
And as for Pure...never read a book by her. I want to read this one, so I hope I can get into it.
Love your minis, Tina!
@Lily-I know I thought I would love The Pledge and I did enjoy the first half it was just off for me towards the end...:(
ReplyDelete@Jen- Im going to try Pure again...down the road, I at least want to finish it, but its for sure a MOOD book!! I hope you like it then we can hash out our differences...:D
Missie- Hmmmmm, I think you might like The Pledge....so you should try it....however Pure, its totally up in the air...I mean Jenny loved it so you never know..:D
@Melissa- for sure try it!! You might see something I couldn't..
@Juju- LOL- I know cute zombies...not my thing!!
@Heidi- glad you liked Pure, I may give it a try again someday....
@Barks and Libreads- Yup, great premise on all but no connection for me as the reader...:(
I love genre mashups so Dearly, Departed worked for me but I have to agree about The Pledge-the characters didn't do anything for me so even though the plot swept me away, I didn't fall for the book.
ReplyDelete