Category: YA

YA

Review: Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: White Rabbit Chronicles #1

alice in zombieland -gena showalterShe won’t rest until she’s sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.

Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. But that’s all it takes. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real.

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies.

3.5 Drink Me Potions

Don’t take a look at my rating and think to yourself, “Oh, it’s not that great. How can it be when she gave it a 3 or so stars?” It’s become increasingly hard to rate books with a 5 star system and I feel I wouldn’t be giving an honest review if I gave Alice in Zombieland a few more stars.

That being said, I did REALLY enjoy the book. Here are the facts about me going into it.

1. I’m not a particular fan of zombies. I never was. So my shelves are barely lined with zombie apocalypse kind of book. And I rarely watch shows/movies that focus on them.

2. I’m a HUGE fan of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. (Does my blog name, Down the Rabbit Hole give that away?) I think he’s an imaginative genius for the absolutely crazy things he comes up with in that head of his. Even his poems are ridiculous, with made-up words that have occasionally become real words in our modern society. Isn’t that the coolest contribution an author can have?

Gena Showalter writes about the most swoon-worthy kind of guys. And to think, in this book, there’s a whole group of bad-ass, tatted up guys who seem to be in an awful lot of fights. Why else would they be covered in bruises, like every morning? But of course, the greatest one was Cole Holland. My, oh my, he sounds like he shouldn’t be my type of guy. He’s got the bad boy angle going for him very well, as he’s the leader of this group of rough-looking boys. But somehow, he just IS!

Our protagonist, Alice (or Ali, as she prefers to be called), feels the same way. She was a nice voice to follow. I liked her, felt I could feel her emotions very well and understand her reactions to what she was going through. With her family ripped away from her after a tragic accident (caused by zombies!), she has a lot to deal with.

Then in comes Cole Holland. Or I should rather say, in comes a VISION with Cole Holland, right as they met for the first time. Isn’t that the perfect setting for a crazy turbulent romance to build on? To top that off, he’s not just a bad boy, but he has a line, a LINE of ex-girlfriends behind him. Warning signs should be flashing around him saying “BEWARE OF HEARTBREAK AND POSSIBLY BEING USED.” Of course, I still love him (Sorry, Ali.) With a premise like that, lots of potential romantic drama is for sure going to be ensued.

The secondary characters, and boy were there a lot of them, were all so vivid and different. Kat Parker, Ali’s best friend from day 1 after the accident, is the strangest yet amazing best friend character I have ever read. It makes me want to find a Kat Parker for myself. She’s egotistical and constantly breaks up with her on-and-off boyfriend, Frosty, who happens to be Cole’s good buddy. But at the centre of it, she’s loyal and strong-willed, with a secret she’s harbouring of her own.

So why couldn’t it be the absolute 5 stars I wanted it to be?

I guess the answer is just plain and simple. There wasn’t a lot of references to Alice in Wonderland. I know, that’s silly of me, right? But going into the book, I had REALLY hoped there would be more connections or references. There were some, don’t get me wrong. Just…it wasn’t what I had anticipated. It was still amazing! And I know the following books in this series would be better now that I have gotten rid of that expectation.

To end this off, I just wanted to say that the zombies took me by surprise. Yeah, Showalter could’ve left them as the stereotypical zombies that crave brains and walk among us to infect more human civilians. Starting to sound like The Walking Dead? I wouldn’t know. I never watched it. But, it wasn’t anything like that. They’re zombie GHOSTS. They are spirits and they are not so easy to kill at all. The thought behind building these Zombies 2.0 were well-done, and for a not-so-keen zombie reader, I think that’s what made me love the book more.

Overall Recommendations:
Gena Showalter added a strangely unique twist to an ever-present plot on zombies. With references to Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, this story of Ali and a bunch of (hot!) zombie slayers will leave anyone wanting more for the adventure and the giant fight between good vs. evil. The numerous secondary characters are all well-written and vividly imagined, seemingly popping out of the page to draw you into their world of zombie fighting action. The pacing is decent and Ali proves to be a very interesting protagonist to follow. I swear, you’ll never think of zombies in the same way ever again. I sure don’t, and I’m no fan of zombies.

YA

Review: Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: Anna and the French Kiss #3

isla and the happily ever after -stephanie perkinsLove ignites in the City That Never Sleeps, but can it last?

Hopeless romantic Isla has had a crush on introspective cartoonist Josh since their first year at the School of America in Paris. And after a chance encounter in Manhattan over the summer, romance might be closer than Isla imagined. But as they begin their senior year back in France, Isla and Josh are forced to confront the challenges every young couple must face, including family drama, uncertainty about their college futures, and the very real possibility of being apart.

Featuring cameos from fan-favorites Anna, Étienne, Lola, and Cricket, this sweet and sexy story of true love—set against the stunning backdrops of New York City, Paris, and Barcelona—is a swoonworthy conclusion to Stephanie Perkins’s beloved series.

5 Drink Me Potions

Where should I start? There is just so many things to say about this book.

I guess I’ll just have to keep it sweet and simple.

Isla and the Happily Ever After was the romance book I’ve been waiting for. Where its predecessor Anna and the French Kiss was frustrating with its protagonists struggling to decide who to be with, and the other predecessor Lola and the Boy Next Door was extremely slow with its romantic chemistry, Isla and Josh made the best pair of love-torn protagonists I have yet to read.

It starts off right where you may have imagined it. You guessed it. Isla pining away for Josh, as she’s done for the last 3 years of high school. They’re seniors now and she REALLY needs to make her move. Girl, you should’ve done this ages ago, like pre-Rashmi (Josh’s ex).

Anyway, Isla was a nice, albeit a little similar to other protagonist voices I’ve read. She’s shy but sweet. She can be sassy, but she doesn’t make new friends as easily. However, as the story progresses, she gets bolder in her actions while still maintaining a bit of her old shy self in there too. Josh, on the other hand, is….I don’t have the proper adjective to describe him. I really got to know him through this book, another aspect of him that wasn’t clearly there in Anna and the French Kiss. Yes, he’s an artist and he’s drawing a graphic memoir of himself. I find that darn cute. And we get to read it! Sort of. To see how his high school life had gone, and what he hopes it’ll be like now. It really gives us the chance to see who he is and how he came to be this way. My goodness, it makes me want to smack and hug him at the same time. But of course, I still love him.

The romance picked up fast this time (for once). Unlike Perkins’ two previous works, neither protagonists had someone they were still dating/holding onto like their sole source of oxygen. All in all, it made their growing feelings for each other so much sweeter to read about, with the odd comical moments that any great couple have.

I–well I can go on and on about this book, but like I said. Sweet and simple. READ IT! With gorgeous settings like Manhattan, Paris and Barcelona, and the cutest couple as our protagonists, it’s like the perfect combination to falling in love with a book.

Overall Recommendation:
To keep it sweet and simple, this book takes the romantic storytelling to the next level. With two very different yet very complex and beautiful characters, it’s like unravelling a fairy tale as Isla and Josh fall for each other, and following the ups and downs of a real relationship as the every day drama tries to tear them apart. Oh, and of course, what’s cooler than reading about the love interest than in the form of a comic book story?
Seriously. It’s too cute for words. Please, read it. I swear it takes the best parts of Perkins’ previous works and mashes them into this gorgeous book.

YA

Review: Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: Anna and the French Kiss #2

lola and the boy next door -stephanie perkinsLola Nolan is a budding costume designer, and for her, the more outrageous, sparkly, and fun the outfit, the better.

And everything is pretty perfect in her life (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood.

When Cricket, a gifted inventor, steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

3 Drink Me Potions

I came in really wanting to love-love-love it like I did with Anna and the French Kiss, but I just…couldn’t. I’m not saying I didn’t like it, it just wasn’t as great.

Lola is a VERY unique protagonist. She never wears the same thing twice, always having on a different costume each day. They’re wracked with bright colours, wigs of all shapes and sizes, and combined in such interesting ways. She’s not afraid to be who she is. And for Cricket, her love interest, he sounded very sweet and cute. He’s that kind of nice guy who would do anything for the girl he loves. But Stephanie Perkins didn’t leave him that boring sounding. He’s extremely tall, at 6’4″, and invents little automatons for fun. Oh, and he has a great sense of style. Not your typical boy with T-shirt and shorts/jeans. No, siree. His wardrobe includes wearing (tight) pinstripe pants.

Anyway, with these 2 very interesting characters, why couldn’t I love it? The pacing just wasn’t right for me. I hated Lola’s relationship with her rocker boyfriend, Max. He was a total tool. Yeah, he never cheated on her or anything, and he seemingly cared, but he was so jealous and possessive. We all knew he was totally wrong for her, but no! The story had to drag on with him in it. I couldn’t wait until the page they broke up. Honestly. Second best page ever.

I guess I wished there was more to their romance. Cricket and Lola’s, I mean. I just didn’t feel the chemistry between them as strongly as I did with Etienne and Anna. For most of the book, Lola was practically dragging her feet into admitting that she still had feelings for Cricket. Like, come on! Stop going back to Max and get your head together! I really wanted to scream that at her sometimes. It was frustrating, to say the least.

The ending was nicely wrapped up, of course. I felt that I had just finally gotten to the good stuff…and then it had to end. Sigh. At least Anna and Etienne were amazing secondary characters here. It did feel a little weird seeing them from a 3rd person perspective, though. All in all, it wasn’t a bad read. The chemistry was just lacking, and I wanted to slap Lola awake occasionally. But it was still romantic! (for the last twenty pages or so)

Overall Recommendations:
Lola and the Boy Next Door seemed to lack the essential parts of its predecessor, Anna and the French Kiss that made it so successful. Both protagonists were defined and unique in character, but the book felt like it was dragging its feet through the mud, waiting it out for Lola to figure out who was the right person for her. It sounds a lot like the underlying plot for the first book, but it was executed way better there.
This isn’t to say it sucked as the romance still had that Perkins touch, but I guess it could’ve been better. Having an amazing predecessor to live up to sets a high standard.