Sooooo, once again nothing has been written on our upcoming review for Side Effects May Vary. Actually at this moment, we both have not even read the book. I'm not sure why I thought maintaining a blog would be easier.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Review: The Impossible Knife of Memory
Stephanie: ★★★
Lauren: ★★★
The Impossible Knife of Memory tells the story of a high school senior named Hayley who has spent most of her life on the road with her veteran father. Hayley is snarky and bitter, with good reason, and her dad is suffering from alcoholism and some pretty serious PTSD. She is in the not-so-unique position of taking care of the person who should be taking care of her. And then, as per usual in YA fiction, enter the boy. Finn, the grandma driver and complete doll who totally knocks Hayley's world off its axis. They help each other deal not only with normal high school drama, but also with problems way beyond what they should be dealing with at 17.
Stephanie: Generally I would say we liked this book. The setting and people make sense but there's nothing that pops in the story. I don't want to go back and reread this all the time, which is something I, personally, mark as a great book. That doesn't mean I can't reread it, something that marks a just okay book. I couldn't reread Twilight. I put it down and then gave all my books away after the second chapter.
Lauren: Agreed on the rereading comment. This was a book I enjoyed, but definitely would not return to again. It didn't really stick with me in a long-term.
One thing LHA really does well is banter. There isn't a wasted line of dialogue, there isn't a way that one line can be transferred to another character. She has this way of artfully crafting the dialogue to fit the personality of each character so it's unique to them. SO GOOD and for real necessary.
Also, side note: Hayley and Finn's first "date" was just the sweetest. I won't ruin it. But trust me.
Stephanie: Agreed. It was a little cheesy and completely adorable. Without Finn, I probably would not have liked this book as much as I did. He tried to bring a much needed reality check to Hayley, who I didn't NOT like, but definitely had issues with.
Lauren: I was a little surprised she gave into Finn so easily. She seems more like a girl the guy has to work for.
Stephanie: More like she wants to at least put out the vibe that she doesn't need anyone but she's really just a girl that wants to be loved.
Lauren: ★★★
The Impossible Knife of Memory tells the story of a high school senior named Hayley who has spent most of her life on the road with her veteran father. Hayley is snarky and bitter, with good reason, and her dad is suffering from alcoholism and some pretty serious PTSD. She is in the not-so-unique position of taking care of the person who should be taking care of her. And then, as per usual in YA fiction, enter the boy. Finn, the grandma driver and complete doll who totally knocks Hayley's world off its axis. They help each other deal not only with normal high school drama, but also with problems way beyond what they should be dealing with at 17.
Stephanie: Generally I would say we liked this book. The setting and people make sense but there's nothing that pops in the story. I don't want to go back and reread this all the time, which is something I, personally, mark as a great book. That doesn't mean I can't reread it, something that marks a just okay book. I couldn't reread Twilight. I put it down and then gave all my books away after the second chapter.
Lauren: Agreed on the rereading comment. This was a book I enjoyed, but definitely would not return to again. It didn't really stick with me in a long-term.
One thing LHA really does well is banter. There isn't a wasted line of dialogue, there isn't a way that one line can be transferred to another character. She has this way of artfully crafting the dialogue to fit the personality of each character so it's unique to them. SO GOOD and for real necessary.
Also, side note: Hayley and Finn's first "date" was just the sweetest. I won't ruin it. But trust me.
Stephanie: Agreed. It was a little cheesy and completely adorable. Without Finn, I probably would not have liked this book as much as I did. He tried to bring a much needed reality check to Hayley, who I didn't NOT like, but definitely had issues with.
Lauren: I was a little surprised she gave into Finn so easily. She seems more like a girl the guy has to work for.
Stephanie: More like she wants to at least put out the vibe that she doesn't need anyone but she's really just a girl that wants to be loved.
Lauren: Yeah, she did want someone to care for her, since her dad clearly couldn't. But on that note, I LOVE the supporting characters.
Stephanie: I also love the fact that everyone in the story had some kind of problem. They didn't need to be fixed, just acknowledged, like people in everyday real life. It's absolutely shitty when the heroine is fighting to stay afloat and all those near her are living in candyland.
Lauren: Yes, exactly. For those reasons, I liked this book a lot but I can't say that I loved it. I feel like I wasn't able to truly understand or empathize with Hayley, especially not like I did with the protagonists while reading Speak or Prom. I read it in one sitting, but there wasn't the sense of urgency I usually feel when I'm super loving a book.
Stephanie: Ahh...Hayley. She is a pretty tough independent girl. BUT she's also a VERY judgemental person. She refuses to look at all the facts and doesn't forgive until almost falling of the cliff that's barely keeping her up. And I think she should be aware enough to know when she's acting like a brat.
Lauren: Exactly. Maybe we're just removed too far from our teen years, but I feel like 17-year-olds are more self-aware than Hayley. And even if she was an exception, as in an exceptionally un-self-aware teenager, I find it hard to forgive a character who repeatedly takes their problems out on other people. They can do it in the beginning, by all means, but they have to learn that hating on the people who have done nothing to make their lives difficult is not how to deal.
Stephanie: For someone who is supposed to be taking care of her father, she doesn't do much. PTSD is beyond most adults' scope to handle so I didn't expect her to try and fix that. But grocery shopping? That's something a 17 year old can accomplish. Making sure there's food in the house. Avoidance is the easiest way out and it happens too often for me to really appreciate some of the hardships that Hayley as to face.
Lauren: So while this wasn't my favorite LHA book, that woman goes balls to the wall every time out and because of that, I'd still read anything she writes.
Stephanie: I barely remember reading Speak, it was so long ago. I DO remember the feelings that came with it, but honestly could not give a summary that didn't sound like 'It's about a girl who, you know, went through some stuff'. Unfortunately, I may only remember the details of Impossible Knife because, you know, this is the first post of our book blog and not because it was the most amazing book ever. Yay?
Obviously, we are very new to the blogosphere (please note that Stephanie originally referred to it as the 'blogger sphere'). (THAT'S why Lauren's the editor cause I'm pretty sure its the same thing.) Please bear with us as we learn to mesh our styles and write something thoughtful.
Next we will be reading Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy. :)
Lauren: Yes, exactly. For those reasons, I liked this book a lot but I can't say that I loved it. I feel like I wasn't able to truly understand or empathize with Hayley, especially not like I did with the protagonists while reading Speak or Prom. I read it in one sitting, but there wasn't the sense of urgency I usually feel when I'm super loving a book.
Stephanie: Ahh...Hayley. She is a pretty tough independent girl. BUT she's also a VERY judgemental person. She refuses to look at all the facts and doesn't forgive until almost falling of the cliff that's barely keeping her up. And I think she should be aware enough to know when she's acting like a brat.
Lauren: Exactly. Maybe we're just removed too far from our teen years, but I feel like 17-year-olds are more self-aware than Hayley. And even if she was an exception, as in an exceptionally un-self-aware teenager, I find it hard to forgive a character who repeatedly takes their problems out on other people. They can do it in the beginning, by all means, but they have to learn that hating on the people who have done nothing to make their lives difficult is not how to deal.
Stephanie: For someone who is supposed to be taking care of her father, she doesn't do much. PTSD is beyond most adults' scope to handle so I didn't expect her to try and fix that. But grocery shopping? That's something a 17 year old can accomplish. Making sure there's food in the house. Avoidance is the easiest way out and it happens too often for me to really appreciate some of the hardships that Hayley as to face.
Lauren: So while this wasn't my favorite LHA book, that woman goes balls to the wall every time out and because of that, I'd still read anything she writes.
Stephanie: I barely remember reading Speak, it was so long ago. I DO remember the feelings that came with it, but honestly could not give a summary that didn't sound like 'It's about a girl who, you know, went through some stuff'. Unfortunately, I may only remember the details of Impossible Knife because, you know, this is the first post of our book blog and not because it was the most amazing book ever. Yay?
Obviously, we are very new to the blogosphere (please note that Stephanie originally referred to it as the 'blogger sphere'). (THAT'S why Lauren's the editor cause I'm pretty sure its the same thing.) Please bear with us as we learn to mesh our styles and write something thoughtful.
Next we will be reading Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy. :)
Saturday, March 15, 2014
A First Attempt
Lauren and I decided to stop procrastinating and finally review The Impossible Knife of Memory. We started out okay but our first attempt didn't go exactly as planned. Hopefully our second try contains more depth.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
OH HEY THERE
Welcome to our awkward book blog. If you're an actual person, thanks for stopping by. If you're some weird spammy internet site, thanks for boosting our page views.
Stephanie and Lauren will be participating in the Standalone Reading Challenge this year and you should too! We will read 15 standalone young adult books that come out in 2014 (from this Goodreads list) and we'll discuss them here.
Stephanie and Lauren will be participating in the Standalone Reading Challenge this year and you should too! We will read 15 standalone young adult books that come out in 2014 (from this Goodreads list) and we'll discuss them here.
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