Once in a Full Moon by Ellen Schreiber

I was so glad to finish this book. Between its ridiculous insta-love, and shallow, pointless characters, I found myself skimming through the second half of this book. Having read and loved Vampire Kisses by Ellen Schreiber when I was younger, I really wanted to like this book. And in some ways, I did. However, there were many blatantly awful aspects to it that really had me just wanting to be done with it.

The best thing about this book was the writing. It has the perfect amount of description, and really sets the mood for each different scene. Starting this book was like snuggling up in a cozy blanket and drinking tea. But as I read on, its problems really took a toll on me, making me want to just throw the book at the wall.

It was obvious from the beginning of the book, who the werewolf was going to be- (it’s Brandon). Along with that, many aspects of the book are also extremely predictable. This is aside from the fact that the psychic character, Dr. Meadows, practically reveals the whole plot from the beginning.

There is an extreme lack of character building. The majority of characters, including the main character, were really shallow and kind of stupid. Celeste has absolutely no backbone or sense of self respect. She even refers to herself as one of those people who won’t do something for fear of hurting someone else’s ego or social standing. She never even stands up to her snobby friends or stupid ex-boyfriend, to defend herself or her relationship with Brandon. She is quick to blame herself, and claims she wants to help Brandon, but only seems to focus on what she did wrong. In the story, they come nowhere near ‘curing’ him, and her search for help is pathetic.

The only character I actually saw potential for, was Brandon. He seemed the most normal and real character in the story. Also, admittedly, the main character had potential. If she had perhaps stood up for Brandon near the end and told Nash to lay off, I would have appreciated her more. Instead, she barely mentions that he’s not as bad as her friends expect. Mr. Worthington, the old man Celeste visits sometimes, was probably the best character in the whole book.

Nash is just a dick. Yeah, I’m actually saying that in a review. He is clearly a terrible boyfriend, who doesn’t give Celeste any attention, UNTIL she stops caring about him. And then he does a really stupid thing, that ends up being a major part of the plot, to try to win her back.

Though the lack of character development was very frustrating, the biggest flaw to this book was its insta-love. I have never seen a ‘love’ form so quickly in a book before. Celeste sees Brandon one day at school, later he somehow miraculously saves her from wolves, and boom- she’s in love with him. It’s not just a crush, or lust, she is obsessively in love with him, and even admits that!  They have one encounter after he saves her, and they both are 100% head over heals in love with each other. While Celeste at least explains why she loves him- (his outdoorsy-ness), Brandon literally has no reason to love her back.

I am so done with this book. I feel bad to have to give it such a terrible review because I really liked Ellen’s books when I was younger. And also, as I said, the actual writing is actually quite good. Perhaps this book would be better for a younger person, like a middle schooler. However, I still think calling what Celeste and Brandon have ‘love’ is not at all accurate and a bad example for kids to read. I don’t know how this continues as a series, but I will not be reading the rest to find out.

Wake by Amanda Hocking

What I expected to be a fun summer read, ended up falling flat with its bland writing and cliche’ characters. It was a mermaid story without the lure and believability, turning it more into a boring teen drama. There were only a few small points which helped the story out, but they couldn’t make up for the overall failure that this book was.

Randomly switching between sisters Gemma and Harper, we follow the pair as they deal with their stereotypical problems, focussing on Gemma’s encounter with ‘those pretty girls’, who clearly are bad news, as told by everybody.

The writing was disconnected and blunt, the author overusing the characters’ names. Because of this, it was impossible to forget their names, as most of the sentences started with either ‘Harper’ or ‘Gemma’. Everything, it seemed, was told, not shown. Even things that could have been explained without being so blunt had unnecessary sentences in front of them that stated the obvious. It was like hearing a story written by a child, with their tendency to repeat the same sentence structure over and over. It felt like I was simply listening to a story, which made it impossible to connect with the plot or the characters.

The characters had minimal depth to their personalities. Even as we start to learn more about them, it still seems like they all only hit one note. Appearance takes up too much of the story. Right from the beginning, Gemma is stated as being the prettier sister, which we are told several times. Harper is the overprotective, nosey older sister, which was annoying and over the top. Alex is a self-proclaimed geek, which is totally fine, except that we are reminded of this countless times. Marcy is, quite honestly, a shallow, poser bitch. She’s not only sexist, but cruel to the girls, commenting on how they look bulimic. Luckily, she doesn’t grace us with her presence that often (‘cause she’s too good for that). Gemma and Harper’s dad, Brian, is terrible. He seems to play at being a father, making rules only when he feels like it, telling Harper to let her sister experience things on her own, but then getting upset at her when she actually does.

Daniel, to me, seemed like the only real character. He immediately comes off as a standoffish player, but he quickly proves to be more. Not only a good-hearted guy, but a mature, wise person. He held the story together, in my opinion. There even was a subtle bit of mystery about him, which is possibly addressed in the later books.

The two romances in this story were one of the things that it actually had going for it. Though Alex and Gemma’s was kind of sudden, it was still pretty cute and enjoyable to read about. Harper and Daniel’s relationship seemed a lot more real. Despite being one of those stereotypical ones in which the girl first hates the guy, ends up resisting him, but then falls for him, it managed to sound plausible and honest.

The girls’ mom was an unexpected twist, one of the few good things about this story. Their visit of her toward the beginning is brought together with Gemma’s visit near the end, a really important addition to this story. The only fault in this is that their mom is rarely mentioned other than those two times.

The three creepy, siren girls act as predicted. They are mean, and not at all alluring, as they are described. They force Gemma to make a decision that is not very fair, which leads to a predictable ending. They were what the story was based on, yet they held no intrigue.

The ending moved quickly, making the scene in which Harper and Brian visit Bernie’s Island rather delayed. This ended up making the ending easily predictable, which took away from a satisfying close. Naturally, the ending was also left unresolved, as it leads into the second book of the series. Daniel is the sole thing making me want to find out what happens, but unfortunately I will not be picking up the next book. I was quite disappointed by this one.

Surrender the Sky by Meradeth Houston

*I was given this book by the author in exchange for an honest review.*

Following Gabby, an angel-like creature called a Sary, this story is a decent YA read. Although it ended up being not quite my cup of tea, I was able to get through it pretty quickly. On personal opinion, I am giving it 2 stars because it didn’t capture me the way I had hoped. I felt no emotional connection toward the characters. However, as a light, paranormal teen read, I am giving it 3 stars. I think a different reader would appreciate this story a lot more than me.

I love the idea of the Sary. Essentially, these winged people’s sole purpose is to save suicidal humans from killing themselves. It’s very unique, and I really enjoyed how the positives and negatives of being a Sary are explained throughout the story. However, the rules of being a Sary were not very clear, especially the rules about love, which took away from the impact of the story.

The writing was quite good, especially when Gabby’s blunt way of thinking didn’t interfere. It has a really great combination of description and dialogue, not over or under doing it at any point. The beginning was very quick and exciting, a great way to start the story. The first few lines drew me in instantly. 

Gabby is very much like a teenager, despite actually being decades old. Her way of thinking is very frank and sarcastic, which hurt the narration, in my opinion. She is also, at times, quite childish and bratty. There wasn’t much character development throughout the story with any of the characters, but especially with Gabby. She remains confused about what to do most of the time. Also, in the beginning, it doesn’t seem like she makes much of an effort to save Chad, which is her sole job.

As expected, there was a bit of insta-love between Gabby and Jassen, as well as Nathan and Bree. However, it was bearable. The relationship Gabby and Jassen have, seems more like an unrequited crush at first, and it takes a while for anything serious to happen, which was good, at least.

Overall, this was a nice story. Being a YA book, it is definitely meant for teens, in my opinion. There wasn’t much depth to the characters, but the plot was enjoyable, and the writing was very good.