Category: Romance
Reincarnation by Suzanne Weyn
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
It starts in prehistory. A young man and a young woman fight over a precious jewel. Their time together is short, but the reverberations are lasting.
Years pass. Generations pass. Centuries pass. But fate keeps drawing them together. Whenever their paths cross, there is that strong attraction. That unexplainable affinity. That feeling that they’ve been together before.
Theirs is a love haunted by history. From Egyptian slavery to Greek society. From Massachusetts witch trials to Civil War battlefields. From Paris in the 1930s to the present day. Circumstances will fight them…but a greater force will reunite them. Because some people are meant for each other—no matter how long it takes.
This is not a book you read for historical accuracy, fast pacing or an unpredictable plot. This is a book you read for guilty pleasure. And as long as you keep that in mind, you’ll enjoy Reincarnation.
Suzanne Weyn’s novel is by no means historically accurate. For example, when they are in ancient Egypt—she a singer named Tetisherti and he a Nubian slave called Taharaq—it made me snort aloud when he called Thebes ‘Luxor’, claiming that was its ancient Egyptian name. Bull crap. Thebes was called Weset. And the idea that Taharaq saw the pyramids when he was coming up from Nubia to Weset is enough to make an Egyptologist cry. And for reasons unknown, Suzanne Weyn calls Abu Simbel ‘Abu Simpel’ and Sekhmet ‘Sempkhet’. I have never, ever seen those names translated in such a way (even in the Wikipedia articles I’ve linked to). Utter nonsense. But again, this is not meant to be historically accurate.
One thing that actually made me enjoy Reincarnation was the characterization. All of the different reincarnations are three dimensional and sympathetic. The attraction between them was very real and the romance actually didn’t feel forced. There were certain traits that stayed with the characters in all of their lifetimes, but their circumstances in those different lifetimes were very different.
The plot is predictable, no doubt. Come on, you know how stories like this are going to end. However, because of the nice writing style and interesting characters, I actually enjoyed Reincarnation as a sort of guilty pleasure. It’s never going to win any literary awards (nor should it) but as long as you take it as what it is—light reading—you’ll enjoy it.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
Dash & Lily’s Book Of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
[Book review by ForTheLoveOfBooks–CS.]
” I’ve left some clues for you.
If you want them, turn the page.
If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please.”
So begins the latest whirlwind romance from the bestselling authors of Nick & Nora’s Infinite Playlist. Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on a favourite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. But is Dash the right guy? Or are Dash and Lily only destined to trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations across New York? Could their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions? Or will they be a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions?
This is the first book I’ve read by collaboration partners Rachel Cohn & David Levithan. I’ve read Will Grayson Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan and The Lover’s Dictionary by Levithan. At first I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book because a lot of bloggers have raved about this book, and I’ve come to realize that I don’t fall into the category where “everyone likes this book.” I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. Clearly I’ve got a date with this book again at the end of the year! And once again my cover gushing continues, but I really can’t help it! The cover of this book is adorable and I like all the colours of the buildings and lamp posts. Of course I can’t forget the heart-shaped crossing sign and snow flakes.
First off I will say how the book is written. David Levithan wrote all of Dash’s chapters while Rachel Cohn wrote Lily’s chapters. The story takes place in New York City, where Dash is spending Christmas by himself, he’s told both his divorced parents that he’s spending Christmas with the other, when in reality he’s by himself and quite happy with this arrangement. Lily on the other hand is upset and angry with her parents celebrating their 25th Wedding Anniversary in Fiji and Grandpa spending Christmas in Florida whilst she’s stuck with her brother Langston and his boyfriend Benny. The Red Moleskin Journal of Dares is Langston’s idea because he believes Lily needs a boyfriend and thus the story continues with the journal being passed back and forth between the two protagonists. Of course not everything goes smoothly with journal passing in New York City, but are Dash & Lily meant for each other? Read the book to find out! Continue reading
Tomorrow Land by Mari Mancusi
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Can true love survive the end of the world?
Imagine finding your first love, only to be ripped apart by the apocalypse. Peyton Anderson will never forget the day she was forced to make a choice–between her family–and Chris Parker, the boy she’d given her heart. Now, four years later, as she steps from the fallout shelter and into a dead and broken world, he’s the only thing on her mind.
All Chris “Chase” Parker wanted was to take Peyton away and keep her safe from harm. But he waited for hours in the rain on judgment day and she never showed–breaking his heart without ever telling him why.
Now the two of them have been thrown together once again, reluctant chaperones to a group of orphan children in a post-apocalyptic world where the dead still walk…and feed. As they begin their pilgramage [sic] to the last human outpost on Earth, can they find a way to let go of old hurts and find the love they lost–all while attempting to save what’s left of the human race?
(Book blurb courtesy of Mari Mancusi’s website.)
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
For all of you zombie lovers out there, be warned: this is more of a romance novel with zombies than a zombie novel with romance. Like Feed, it focuses on how people are affected after a zombie apocalypse. It doesn’t really get into the nitty-gritty of how the virus works (much to my dismay), but it does give a nice explanation, unlike in The Forest of Hands and Teeth, which doesn’t give any explanation at all.
The story switches between Peyton’s and Chris’ points of view to keep up the suspense, and I think this works well. Both characters are well-developed and you can really feel the raw pain they experience when they see each other again. Chris’ addiction to painkillers heightens the suspense even more and I love how he is ready to quit because of Peyton. The only thing that didn’t sit well with me was how long it took from exposure to death and re-animation in this book. In Tomorrow Land, it can take up to 2 weeks before you actually turn! Since most common viruses take 4-7 days to incubate, that seems a little ridiculous to me.
The plot moves along at a fairly fast rate, in spite of all of the backstory scenes about how the outbreak began and Peyton and Chris’ respective choices. Personally, the ending seemed much too rushed, especially because of the big twist the plot took. Otherwise, Mari Mancusi has penned a nice romance with zombies thrown in for fun. If you love naturally developing romances, you will love this book.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
Amazon (Kindle)* Barnes and Noble (Nook)*
*If you want the paperback edition, it is called Razor Girl and is only available through used book sellers.
The Goddess Test by Aimée Carter
(Cover picture courtesy of Reading Angel.)
It’s always been just Kate and her mom—and her mother is dying. Her last wish? To move back to her childhood home. So Kate’s going to start a new school with no friends, no other family and the fear her mother won’t live past the fall.
Then she meets Henry. Dark. Tortured. And mesmerizing. He claims to be Hades, god of the Underworld—and if she accepts his bargain, he’ll keep her mother alive while Kate tries to pass seven tests.
Kate is sure he’s crazy—until she seems him bring a girl back from the dead. Now saving her mother seems crazily possible. If she succeeds, she’ll become Henry’s future bride, and a goddess.
If she fails…
I love the Greek myths, so I thought I would love The Goddess Test. It had an interesting premise, with the promise of a good light read. But I have to say my overall impression of the book can be summed up in one word: meh.
Kate is an interesting protagonist and a decent enough character, but I had a hard time getting inside her head. Aimée Carter truly needed to add more emotion to her writing to pull off a romance like this one, but she didn’t. The chemistry between Henry and Kate was thoroughly unsatisfying because there was little to none of it. Henry remained too distant and enamored with his lost love, Persephone, and it still seemed like Kate was only there out of a sense of duty, even toward the end when she supposedly ‘loved’ him. For me, the characters and the romance they had just didn’t ring true.
The whole premise of the book had a lot of promise, but it too fell flat. I was expecting actual test, rather than just completely secret ones that weren’t really obvious until the end. This is a spoiler, but Kate actually failed one of the tests, but still got to be a goddess because of a loophole. It is probably my own fault for expecting The Goddess Test to be more like Ever by Gail Carson Levine, but I feel like I was let down when I read this.
If you love fast-paced plots and romance, you will love The Goddess Test as long as you don’t pay much attention to the characters.
I give this book 3/5 stars.