After the absolute train wreck that was Divergent and the 😬 of Carve the Mark, I've basically avoided Veronica Roth, but the premise of Chosen Ones is like catnip to me and I couldn't resist.
It turned out not to be what I thought it was - the "Chosen Ones" living in the aftermath of defeating the Big Bad and figuring out what to do with the rest of their lives - and my previous criticisms of Roth as a writer still stand; every idea she has is, pretty blatantly, stolen from another source: Harry Potter, The Hunger Games (specifically Mockingjay, in this case). If Chapter 42 isn't just every "Dumbledore is evil" fanfic I ever read, then I'll eat my hat. I mean, [SPOILER] was revealed through, basically, a Pensieve; Sloane receiving [SPOILER]'s memories reads exactly like the scene where Harry sticks his nose in the Pensieve in Dumbledore's office in Order of the Phoenix. It's the same two books she ripped off for Divergent and, like Divergent, she doesn't have anything interesting to say, either about the books or the real world.
I do think it's interesting that Roth, the wunderkind, wrote a book about what you're supposed to do after peaking in your late teens/early twenties, but she didn't do anything especially interesting with it.
I will admit, however, that Roth's deep and abiding love for Chicago shines through Chosen Ones like it did for Divergent. She could have set the story in New York City, or Los Angeles, or even Boston - any city where these stories are usually set - but she didn't, because she loves Chicago, and it shows.
In the Dream House was the first book I started and finished in 2021.
I'm not sure what to say about it, except that I am looking for a complete and detailed Aarne-Thompson-Uther index online so I can imitate it in my private notebooks.
OK, I admit: Pillowfort's apparent demise really threw off my book journaling groove. I'll be backposting a few annotations from last semester over the next… whatever. Anyway, onto today's review.
It took me two weeks to finish Back to September, by Melissa Brayden. I didn't realize, until I looked up the author, that the title is probably based on the Taylor Swift song, "Back to December." The lyrics are painfully spot-on.
The premise is everything I should have been all about: quiet indie bookstore owner (and literary snob) Hannah is swept off her feet by outgoing romance author Parker. Hannah gets over her "neuroticism" (and literary snobbery) to be more adventerous and Parker learns to settle down a little. But I read 93% of this damn book (according to Libby) and I really don't think they're right for each other. That's the kiss of death for a romance novel.
A romance novel has one job: convince me that these two (or more) people are perfect for each other. Other than their sexual chemistry, I don't see what Hannah and Parker have going for them. Hannah keeps telling me how much she loves Parker, but the book doesn't show me that.
… and then (SPOILERS AHEAD!), Parker abandons Hannah when she's in the hospital after a violent assault? OK, so she loitered in the hotel lobby the whole time (???) instead of fleeing the city like everyone assumed, but that's still a jerk move. I know she has a tragic backstory, but she needs to work that shit out in therapy and not take it out on her girlfriend when she's in the hospital with a few broken ribs and a concussion. "Comfort in, dump out."
Honestly, I felt like the violent assault was only in the story heighten the drama of the dreaded third act break-up. It was well foreshadowed - as soon as Hannah heard someone behind her in the parking garage, I knew what was coming - but was it really necessary? Most of the fallout happens off screen, beacuse Hannah is too busy mooning over the woman who left her hospital room to mope. It's too easy. Hannah doesn't have any apparent PTSD symptoms after being mistaken for her sister, violently attacked, and left for dead. Really?
I'll read almost any contemporary F/F (sapphic, etc) romance at the library, but this one just did not work for me. Dump her, Hannah. I hope Parker gets some therapy, but they don't belong together after that.
Obligatory disclaimer: "I got an (e)ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review."
If The Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy (Dumplin', Puddin', Pumpkin) is the first in a new series of contemporary romance retellings of Disney Princess movies. (Yes, really.) As soon as I heard about it, I said, "that's bullshit. I have to read it." So I requested it on NetGalley and got it, despite my abysmal percentages (like 50%, ugh).