Down the Rabbit Hole

Review: Matched by Ally Condie

June 1, 2015June 2, 2015 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: Matched #1

Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander’s face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate… until she sees Ky Markham’s face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

The Society tells her it’s a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she’s destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can’t stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society’s infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

3 Drink Me Potions

In a world where it’s just plainly called The Society, things are strictly governed by people dubbed the Officials. Everyone carries 3 tablets at all times (green, blue and red), with the red one having an unknown purpose. People are reared for the most optimal health, even Matching couples to generate the best genes. The citizens are told they have choices. They can choose if they want to be Matched or if they’d rather remain Single with no children.

But in reality? Everything is governed by others. Even when and how you die.

This is the setting for Matched. It is a very intriguing world that sounds like it could happen down the road if people really thought that living long and amazing lives could only be dealt in this way. Enter our protagonist Cassia. She was so obedient and never wondered if there could be something more to life than the simple one they all lived out. Never dreamed of creating things of her own, just following along with what she was told to do.

I liked that she grew more restless of the course of the story. I really enjoyed the way her grandfather prompted her down this road of “not going gentle into the night”, to fight for herself and for others. It was a good premise – I just didn’t love the way Ally Condie went about writing it.

The pacing was a little too slow for me. I get that writing a dystopian novel requires time to get the readers acclimatized to the rules and general ideas of the world through world building. But, at the end of it, I still don’t know all too much about The Society besides that there are different ranking Officials and each are segregated into different departments specializing in various fields. That way, no one person would know how to do anything all the way through on their own. And other than their Matching program, most of the society seems to somewhat operate similarly to the present life. So you can see that I’m NOT impressed by the world building.

The plot centred too much on Cassia’s gradual awareness of The Society not always being right. It wasn’t exciting enough. Oh, and of course, her piqued interest in Ky after seeing his face pop up accidentally after Xander’s.

The “love triangle” didn’t interest me all that much either. I think it’s ’cause there really wasn’t much passion going on between them. The Society forbade any of the teens to really pursue childish crushes ’cause at the end of the day, the probability of being Matched to someone in the same town you live in is virtually impossible. So there was definitely friendship love going for them, but it was harder for me to see that she truly loved either boy in that manner. And frankly, both guys are really good people, so for once, I wouldn’t care who the author chose to put Cassia with.

Which, I guess, is a bad sign in itself because I’m ALWAYS worked up about a love triangle. Meh.

You can say that I’m feeling rather indifferent right now about Matched. I will read on with the sequels to see what happens, but I’m mainly interested in the demise of The Society now that rebellion may be stirring in some people’s hearts.

Overall Recommendation:
With a very promising and intriguing future world, The Society rules by compromising all choices that the citizens can make. Enter Cassia. She was initially a very boring and obedient girl who just followed along with what she was told to. Gradually, with prompting from her Grandfather, her character started questioning what exactly it meant to have a choice and whether it was worth ruining their way of life. Set at a rather slower pace than I would’ve liked, the first installment in this trilogy has left me feeling hugely indifferent about the potential love triangle as there really wasn’t much passion in them in that way. Here’s to hoping that it could only get better from here as the foundation has been set. Fingers crossed!

adult

Review: Love in Plain Sight by Debbie Macomber

May 28, 2015June 2, 2015 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Sometimes love’s right there in front of you.

As Stephanie Coulter discovers, sometimes you find it in the most ordinary places—and what could be more ordinary than the office? Stephanie, who works as an assistant at Lockwood Industries in Minneapolis, is temporarily assigned to the boss—Jonas Lockwood himself. Jonas lives up (or down!) to his reputation as a tyrant, dictator and grouch. But Stephanie’s colleagues, romance readers all, decide that he’s really the classic lonely hero. What he needs, they say, is Love ‘n’ Marriage. And the woman they have in mind for him is… Stephanie.

Bethany Stone, on the other hand, is already in love with her boss, Joshua Norris, although their relationship is strictly business. But one day he asks for her help—outside the office. Joshua’s ten-year-old daughter, Angie, is coming to live with him and he has no idea how to raise a precocious little girl. Angie might be Almost an Angel, but she quickly develops a matchmaking plan for her dad—and Bethany!

3 Drink Me Potions

I know, I know. These stories are rather old and not in the YA genre, so sue me. Call me grandmotherly if you have to, but her stories aren’t bad. I mean, not all of them are at least. This one just so happens to be “okay” instead of awesome.

In Love in Plain Sight, the first story had one of the most annoying male characters ever. He was very cold and arrogant. Come on, it even said that he was an arrogant man. At least that was an accurate description of him. However, the way the ladies in the company, DIE HARD ROMANTICS (really??), go about meddling in people’s love affairs is rather weird. I know I love books and sometimes wish to bash characters’ heads in (I say this as nicely as possible) for the stupid things they say or do, but to think their boss is like a “hero” in a romance novel is taking it more than a step too far. So I can totally see the protagonist, Stephanie’s skepticism. Mine was ricocheting off the roof as I was reading this. I would NEVER imagine my friends as “heroine” material either. Okay, I’m also not much of a matchmaker but that’s besides the point. Imaginary guys in books are also not necessarily anything like real life guys (if you’re a guy, I’m sorry!).

So, what does their meddling get? She falls for the guy, even with all his thorny attitudes, and it doesn’t go well. Predicted that ages ago.

It was amusing in the sense that the problems that come in the way of their love was SO predictable. I wished I loved it more, but the year in which the story was written really shines through for once. Basically a secretary falling for her aloof and somewhat mysterious boss. It was mildly entertaining, but definitely not worth a second read.

As for the second story, at least there were no meddling co-workers who only “mean well”. But the boss was still JUST AS COLD. Come on! I’m starting to roll my eyes here. Can’t the man be somewhat nicer at least? Either way, it sat a little better with me because of the daughter, Angie. She was very aptly described, and I could almost see a wonderful little girl in front of me. She was by far from perfect and not the stereotypical angel type of kid, although at the heart of it, it was clear she loved her dad and Bethany. For that reason, it helped with the story a little bit more. Still not really worth a second read, but it was better.

Overall Recommendation:
Although I was dying to enjoy or at least be thoroughly entertained as I normally am by Debbie Macomber’s compilation 2-in-1 books, these 2 stories just didn’t sit well with me. For one, both male protagonists were rather bland and cold. It didn’t make sense to see these aloof and arrogant men as someone who would profess the kind of care that they later seemed to show. I just couldn’t believe in it. That’s not to say it wasn’t at least mildly entertaining to see the crazy antics that the women drove themselves into, or that some of the minor characters weren’t as real. It just wasn’t up to par from what I had come to expect from the author. I’m gonna just blame it on the age (30 years now) of the stories from when they were first written.

Review: Through to You by Lauren Barnholdt

May 27, 2015May 29, 2015 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Opposites attract—and then complicate—in this romantic, relatable novel from the author of Two-Way Street and Sometimes It Happens.

It starts with a scribbled note in class: I like your sparkle. Harper had casually threaded a piece of blue and silver tinsel through her ponytail in honor of school spirit day. And that carefree, corny gesture is what grabs Penn Mattingly’s eye. Penn—resident heartbreaker of the senior class. Reliably unreliable. Trouble with a capital “T.” And okay, smolderingly sexy.

Harper’s surprised by Penn’s attention—and so is Penn. The last thing he needs is a girlfriend. Or even a friend-with-benefits. The note is not supposed to lead to anything.

Oh, but it does. They hang out. They have fun. They talk. They make out. And after a while, it seems like they just click. But Penn and Harper have very different ideas about what relationships look like, in no small part because of their very different family backgrounds. Of course they could talk about these differences—if Penn knew how to talk about feelings.

Harper and Penn understand their attraction is illogical, yet something keeps pulling them together. It’s like a crazy roller coaster—exhilarating, terrifying, and amazing all at once. And neither knows how to stop the ride…

3 Drink Me Potions

Through to You was meh. I never had really high expectations for it, having never read any Lauren Barnholdt books before, but I was in the mood for a fun read that wouldn’t rile me up too much.

I was wrong.

Alternating between POVs of both Penn and Harper, it started off kinda fun as I’d initially hoped. Harper’s your typical shy, never been really noticed by anyone in her school type of gal. Penn is your stereotypical bad boy who doesn’t do relationships. I didn’t mind that. They were an interesting pairing and it amused me. At first.

But that lasted all about till maybe halfway through the book. Mind you, the book isn’t all that long either so it was rather quick that I became so annoyed. Penn has family problems. That’s made quite obvious and explicit rather early on in the story. But this book isn’t one of those that deals in character growth and development when it comes to having tough family lives. No, it’s nothing like that. It’s just an excuse for Penn to act all moody the way he is.

I swear, he’s like hot and cold; one minute he’s happy and grabbing Harper to hang with him, the next he’s moody as crap and giving everyone the silent treatment. For WEEKS ON END. It’s not only because of his family problems that sets him off. That’s just why he keeps relationships at arm’s length. The REAL problem lies in the fact that he hurt his shoulder and can’t play baseball anymore. Okay, I get that that would really suck for someone who was relying on the sport for a way to make a future living, but my goodness, he’s downright acting like a sulky five-year-old.

Why is that? He blames EVERYONE for what happened to him. He’s just given up for any way to heal his shoulder, getting mad at anyone who tries to give him the slightest bit of hope. I wanted to poke him every time his POV came up. Urgh.

Aside from Penn, Through to You was mediocre in a genre that is FILLED with stories with similar premises. The ending was also rather abrupt in my opinion. If not giving the time for the characters to grow up a little from the immature actions they dealt out in the story (AHEM PENN), then at least follow through with the relationship between Penn and Harper. The plot really seemed like pieces were thrown back together in a haste to conclude everything. It also wouldn’t have hurt to make the relationship seem more plausible either. Like come on! Just because they both couldn’t “get the other out of their heads” does NOT a relationship make. Pfft, not enough chemistry. That’s important in my books.

I don’t know if I’d read other Lauren Barnholdt books, but even with lowered expectations, it just didn’t stand out amongst a very populated genre.

Overall Recommendation:
Through to You had its flaws. Penn was an insufferably immature character who threw temper tantrums and had such terrible mood swings for no good reason. What could have been an interesting story about learning to deal with the problems life swings at you turned out to be a mediocre story about a boy who for some reason (still unknown to me) eventually let a girl into his life and things just somewhat got better from there. The relationship aspect wasn’t the strongest, and Harper’s voice wasn’t unique enough to be remembered after finishing the book. In a genre full of stories such as this, sadly, Through to You landed squarely in the barely memorable category.