"Defy Me:" Does Anyone Know What's Going On!?// Book Talk

Rad Readers, WHAT IS GOING ON!?

Buckle up ladies and gentlemen, because this is going to be a bumpy ride. I am not sure how spoiler-y or unspoiled-y this will be, because I am too confused to even write coherently now, but don't worry I WILL WARN YOU WHEN SPOILERS ARE COMING. I don't know... I really just don't know anymore. It definitely wasn't bad. It was WAYYYY better than Restore Me. Lightyears better. Still though, it was really weird and confusing. Not in the confusing way that I didn't understand what was happening in the story, I was just confused as to why this is where the author took the story. It was just so unnecessary, I thought and I wish that she just ended it after the first trilogy. I still hate Warner by the way. Still just a personal problem, just thought I'd share. I don't think there has ever been a character that I have hated so much for such little reason, as I do with Warner. Whatever, bad first impression when he tortured and tried to kill Juliette in the first and half of the second novel.

Okay, let's get into it! Ya, this book just didn't do it for me. This book is pretty short and pretty abrupt. The first half was a lot of nothing. It was all unnecessary to the main plot line, and you are probably thinking, it was probably just to delve more into the characters and their relationships. But it wasn't! It was just a lot of filler scenes. I think that this is some major second book slump vibes because, to remind you all, the Shatter Me series was originally just supposed to be a trilogy but then Tahreah Mafi decided to write three more books, so this is kind of like it's second trilogy. Anyways, I say that because I think that largely this was all filler action for the last book. I think that this book was so short, not including page breaks and chapter breaks the actual story was only around 250 pages, so I think it would have been better to just put it all in one last really great book.

Like I said, there was so much filler action and planning and fluff to try to get to the point in the second half of the book. Now, I will say that the second half of the book definitely did shock me. I wasn't expecting it to take the turn that it had. The plot definitely improved and we had actual information being given to us and actual action happening. Cool! Okay, but still, was it really all that cool? It was just like important stuff after important stuff after important stuff. It felt like these major twists were just being listed off. None of them could be totally developed or really sink in for the reader. The reactions that you would want to see from the characters were virtually non existent, or very minimal. I don't know, I just felt like, why not take the first half of the book, cut out the fluff, and then develop the important parts in the second half! It felt so so so rushed. In my opinion the first half should have been majorly shortened and then there should have been more timed towards the end to sink into the major plot points that advance the story. To be fair though, I did think that the second half of this book was good.

As far as the characters go, we been knew. We really been knew. Loved Kenji, loved that we were able to read from his perspective, hated that most of his perspective was all filler. However, he is and always has been my favorite character in this story, so I cannot complain. Juliette and Warner. Ugh. I'm not going to get into Warner. You know all you need to know about my feelings towards him already. Here at rad reads we have spent enough time besmirching his name. Just know that I still don't like him. As for Juliette, I think she developed more as a person, she isn't as compliant and annoying for the most part. She was deeper and more genuine and relatable I felt. Definitely a better Juliette than the Juliette in Restore Me! Homie finally stands up for herself.

I think a major problem that I had with this book as well was the fact that there was something that the readers felt that we finalized a while ago in the series, and surprise surprise, it's back and was never actually finished with. The plot direction right now has me going "?????" I have no idea what the next book in this series is going to look like. I don't think it comes out until next year though, so we must stay in this perpetual state of disbelief and confusion for a while, Rad Readers.

Overall, my thoughts are that it was too short of a book that didn't make the best use of its story time. I liked the characters more at this point than I ever have in the story so that is why I gave this book four starts. If you are iffy about reading this book, I would wait until the last book comes out to see if it is worth your time and commitment. Then again, it is a very quick read so you might just want to pick it up.

At this point I think we are all reading for Kenji and Kenji alone!

Read on!

- C8 ;)

Ink Exchange (Wicked Lovely #2) was a major let down... // A Book Talk :(

Hello Rad Readers!

Right off the bat, I'm not going to lie, this hurt my heart. This book wasn't just bad, it was disappointing. I'm not usually a picky reader, but I would be doing the rad readers a great injustice if I did not drop some truth bombs about this novel. It would benefit you to read my Wicked Lovely review if you haven't already because this will make no sense to you if you haven't, or you could just read the first book --Wicked Lovely-- in general (super good, highly recommend)! I apologize, for this will not be necessarily a recommendation or non-rec of this book. I am in the midst of the series and if you are reading this then presumably so are you. So, it wouldn't make much sense to structure this as a review. This will be more of a discussion on the book and a comparison to the first book in the series that, as stated previously, I so greatly loved.

Anyways! Ink Exchange was low-key trash. The kind of bad that wasn't necessarily apparent until you are a little over half way in and notice that the themes are a little problematic, that there wasn't really anything that happened at all thus far, and that it is taking you a painfully long time to read this because it is just not interesting at all. You hate to see it.

Keenan and Aislinn were just so much more interesting of people and had so much more at steak in Wicked Lovely. They had genuine problems! Aislinn was a genuinely interesting girl with cool ideals! Their story was worth writing a book about! The book was even funny! I apologize for the many exclamation points but they are not used unjustly.

I feel like in Ink Exchange everything was so incidental. Leslie felt so shallow and bland in the way that she was written and so was Niall. I never could care about them. It was so weird how he was claiming to be so obsessed with her even though he literally had maybe three conversations with her before hand. She is in high school and he is a decades old faerie and this is not the way that Keenan and Aislinn were at all. When Aislinn found out about Keenan being a king, she didn't care. She had the sight and wanted nothing to do with the faerie world. She didn't care that he thought he loved her or that he was using his faerie magic on her. She new how she felt. She new her ideals and who she cared about. She didn't just suddenly fall head over heals for some random guy she met like everyone does in every bad book! All of the things that Aislinn didn't do, Leslie did do and it was nauseatingly repetitive and annoying. Like I said before I'm not trying to be mean, I'm just saying!!

That is a bit unfair to say though because the ending did make a lot of sense when she told both Niall and Iriel that she was just about 100% done with all of the Fae world stuff. She recognized that there was never really any true feeling that didn't have to do with some magical intervention, cursed tattoo, faerie powers, or glamours. In the end she was a smart girl but it was very VERY bothersome how easy she was manipulated in the book. I hate reading about weak minded damsel in distress characters! I declare that the book world has had enough of it to last centuries and I will be creating a petition to eliminate that theme from here on out in every work of literature every. Just kidding... kind of... ;)

I found that although Leslie had a lot more of a backstory told than Aislinn, a common misconception that I have seen in other reviews is that Leslie has more depth to her. Aislinn also had a lot of depth, it just was not a central theme of the story. Aislinn's mother was dead and get grandma was crazy and she lived seeing evil faeries and pretending not to actually be able to see them her entire freaking life!! How is that not deep? The fact of the matter is that there was just more going on in Wicked Lovely, that Aislinn's personal life problems were not a matter of concern in the grand scheme of things. In this story it was such a central focus because for a long time that was the only thing relevant to talk about in Leslie's life. With her ignorance to the faerie world, when the story was being told through her perspective she couldn't speak on anything interesting in terms of fantasy because she didn't know it was going on around her!

I will credit it to the fact that it did a great job at mixing the real world and the fantasy world. We got to learn a lot more about the Fae and Aislinn's new role in the Summer court as learning that Seth did survive after the ending of the first book. I'm not sure if I missed something at the end of Wicked Lovely that explained that he did survive, but when I read Seth's name again in Ink Exchange I was a little perplexed because I thought there should have been more explaining done for the period that happened after they defeated Baera. That was something else a little lacking in the book.

Being that Leslie was a mortal, a lot of the slow pace I chalked up to the fact that everything kind of needed to be explained in her perspective in Wicked Lovely, seeing as Aislinn already had the sight one of the greatest perks about that book was the fact that there didn't need to be any relearning done.

In terms of characters, I don't have much to say because I found them so shallow and undeveloped. Iriel- creepy, problematic, controlling, evil. Niall- BORING. Leslie- BORING.

When I picked up this novel I thought I would be reading again about an exciting fantastical world when teenagers were chosen to be Faerie queens and aren't even excited about it, or kids that live in giant train carts, and other cool stuff like that! In actuality what I picked up was a book about disturbing themes, extreme violence, poor ethics, and to top it all off... domestic abuse. Cool.

Psych... obviously.

Don't get me wrong, I think it is important to write about these topics, people need to be faced with the unfortunate truth about reality, but this was not the way to do it. This is a fantasy young adult novel about Faeries and it is trying to tackle real world problems. Being that is also focusing on a completely different plot as well, the fantastical world, it could only scrape the surface level at best.

So, no. I did not like this book. I gave it 2/5 stars on GoodReads, but I am not giving up on this series! I am going to finish the series because I know that with such an amazing first book, Melissa Marr will come out with something great again. I will ever be the optimist in the world of literature!

I advise you all do the same!

Keep it cool reader dudes,

- C8 ;)

"Restore Me," I'm Bored...// Book Talk

Hey Rad Readers,

This isn't going to be very long, just some quick thoughts on this book. I already started Defy Me, so before you wonder, though I was a disappointed in this addition to the series, and where it seems to be heading, I have made it this far I might as well finish.

Here we are again, another book in this series knocked out and I am wondering why I am still reading it. Warner is #1 in Juliette's eyes, but #100000 in mine. I don't don't don't like him. Nope, not one bit, not at all. Perhaps I am wrong, and he is not double crossing the gang, but still that does absolutely nothing for me in terms of liking him more. He was a jerk in the beginning, nay, worse than a jerk, but I have already ranted enough about that in my last reviews of this series. He is cocky and self centered and too angsty for my liking. Also with a splash of potentially evil in there. I don't think he is a redeemable character in my eyes. He is just egh-- well, rather ugh. What can I say, once you introduce a character as a jerk and then he undergoes 0% character development and then the main character regresses 10 fold in terms of character development and is suddenly on the side of her once sworn enemies... there is just a little something about me that doesn't enjoy said story line... Maybe that's just a me thing though...

Also, Juliette... what in the world is she doing. Buddy needs to figure out her morals and stop being so sensitive. People are looking to her to lead... ya know... a revolution, and she is well... only concerned with her love problems. In simple terms what I am trying to say is: get it together dawg. Homie should not have tried to take charge if she isn't into being in charge. Also, here is a super hot take coming at you, she isn't even the main proponent of this revolution. She is a volatile insane person that somehow wound up at the top. These people had Omega Point ready for decades, they had order and structure and a good thing going. She comes along and kind of... destroys everything. I know she didn't literally do that, but she is certainly the main catalyst as to why that happened. She made no effort to go along with their plans and then she is all woe is me afterwards. Dog, if you are going to be so hard on yourself after you mess up so profoundly stop repeatedly messing up when it is obviously a bad choice you are making! You would think that such a self aware character would be bothered by the fact that she is so obviously causing a major rift in the system, but no. She is more concerned with her love triangle. DAWG! Step down, just be like the rest of us and support the better side. You don't have to lead if you aren't fit to lead. That is one of the reasons The Hunger Games made sense. Katniss was the face of the revolution, but she wasn't the one in charge of it because she was like 18 and didn't know anything about politics. Juliette was literally locked in a basement for over a year, knows even less than the average person her age might, and she is also just the definition of crazy, but she wants to be the one in charge. I'm sorry, but it is not sold well enough for me to believe in and invest myself into. Even if it were believable enough, I find it too absurd an idea to get behind combined with the annoying nature of Juliette's character... ugh, a nightmare!

I don't know why, but I am going to finish this series... this is self destructive...

- C8 ;)