Summer '13 Gut Reactions

So here we are at the end of another reading season and it’s gut reactions time.

Strangely I'm not feeling so upbeat about this pile. Maybe it was just because some of the recent ones were disappointing, or else summer has got in the way and it has felt more of a chore. How bad is that? I LOVE to read.

So lethargy or lethargic reactions aside, here's the run-down of the summer books.  (Remember - I'm not a reviewer, just spouting gut reactions here.)

The pile looked like this;

The additional e-books were,

Slammed, Colleen Hoover (YA)
Point of retreat, Colleen Hoover (YA)
The Naughty Girls Books Club, Sophie Hart (Adult)
Losing It, Cora Cormack (NA)
Play with me, Kristin Proby. (NA)
Sunlounger, Belinda Jones and various (like me!! No, I'm not reviewing this one.) (ChickLit)

Star of The List goes to Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare. This was the last in the Infernal Devices series, and a fabulous example of how to tie up a trilogy – and two love stories no less- perfectly. Loved it, and was so satisfied by the end.

Anti-Prom  by  Abby McDonald – I do enjoy a book that it set in one night, ie Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, or Graffiti Moon. I’d love to write one, just haven’t been able to plot one yet. This one was very neatly done.

Swim the Fly/ Beat the Band by Don Calame – Great teen boy humour. I was laughing out loud at the fart and diarrhea gags. Don’t judge me.

Heart –Shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne Ooh this was good and a strong contender for the Star of The List, given it was a debut. The premise is strong (teen in prison for doing something that we don’t know what is (yet) and she is not remorseful for) and I enjoyed the journal format.

The Naughty Girl’s Book Club by Sophie Hart was interesting as it was both  a story in itself a study of a genre. Its own story reminded me of a Maeve Binchy novel, with various people with their own issues coming together to an event, and their stories moving on over time. The genre study of the current popularity of Erotica was an intriguing angle and vehicle for the main plot.

21 Proms- Various - This is what a good anthology should be with different POVs, tones, and genres. I blogged about anthologies here if  you haven't already got one in your TBR pile.

Naomi & Ely’s No Kiss List – David Leviathan & Rachel Cohn. Oh, I do like what happens when these two team up for a book.  This is the third collaboration of theirs I've read. I wish I had a writing-boyfriend like this. 

What’s Up with Jody Barton? by Hayley Long–  I think I might have moved away from younger teen books at the moment, but this one has a twist to make you gape.

And then the rest;

• One of these books was by an author I had read one book from before. I hated her MC then, and I didn’t warm to this one either. My gripe is that in both the MC was portrayed as fat, clumsy and not very bright. And that really annoyed me. One day I am going to write a character who is big but by some miracle still capable of being graceful and brilliant.
• One of these books was bloody hard work and felt deranged. It used lots of different forms;  musings, transcripts, reports, letter memos, emails from the MC and then other people hacking the email account. Too much! This had me all excited at the beginning, and exhausted very soon after.
• The next book (by the same author as the one above) also had me excited at the beginning as the form was exam answers. Brilliant, yes? Then there were school reports, meeting reports and I realized she’d done it again…. Too much already. I jumped to the end and bailed eventually as I just didn’t care about them. BUT lesson learned; It was too much of a good thing. The variations in the form lessened my ability to engage with the story and the characters.
• Two of these books I have already moaned about here, as nothing happened in one and in the other it took far too long and I only got to it as on this rare occasion where I had the patience of a saint. Lesson Learned – Don’t believe the Hype.

Look at that. The summary was as lack-luster as the pile itself. Sorry about that. I'm hoping that next season will blow my socks off a bit more. 

Recommendations anyone?