Books That Just Weren’t For Me

Hello friends! So today I’m going to do a set of mini reviews. All of these books are great books for somebody. But that somebody wasn’t me. I’m not going to sit here and rail on the book or author. I’m just going to let you know what wasn’t working out for me yet why it might be just what your life needs more of in it.

Queen of Hearts Saga by Colleen Oaks. This is the original cover, which is the one I previously owned. It’s a retelling/ prequel to Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Similar to Heartless by Marissa Meyer, except that it was written two years before. There are three books, and I originally intended to read the first two for one of my reading challenges this year.

Quickly, what didn’t work for me is that Dinah as a character didn’t connect with me. She had these strong feelings of loathing toward her father because she assumes he hates her. I thought that was odd that she would just assume that. Her father is indeed cruel and offputting but to just say “Well I know he hates me” and not back it up with more than misbehavior and tantrums was a little drama queen for me. Dinah automatically hates her half sister despite the fact that her sister has done nothing but exist and is continually nice to Dinah. About 30% of the way through the book I just couldn’t do the tantrums and acting “crazy” for the sake of acting crazy that was happening.

This book may work for you if you  love any type of retelling having to do with Alice and Wonderland. The story may connect with you if you enjoy reading about highly dysfunctional families and people. And finally this may work for you if teenage and adult tantrums aren’t something you are bothered by. I’m admittedly an adult reading YA so there are times when I just can’t handle it. But other teens might not even see this behavior as a problem.

Shadow Queen by C.J. Redwine. This is a retelling of Snow White. I know, what is with me and retellings. I usually love them. The story follows Lorelai, our snow, as she befriends and works with the Huntsman, Kol. Oh and Kol and his people are dragons. I LOVE dragons. How could this go wrong?

What went wrong was that the story was graceless and abrupt in places that we need a seamless transition. Lorelai’s conversations were incomplete. She expected Kol to be loyal to her when she met him one time, when she saved his life. But dude, he got tricked into hunting you. And also HE DIDN’T KNOW YOU WERE THE PRINCESS. But no, Lorelai holds him accountable for a certain even that he was merely present for. Who do you think you are ma’am? She considers herself better than the queen because she doesn’t kill. But she threatens and bullies. Also the magic system wasn’t well explained. It was made to be this very evil queen in Once Upon A Time (which makes sense) type magic. But there were times when one rule applied and later when a different rule applied. I was annoyed the entire way through.

This book might work for you if you aren’t a nit picky nincompoot like I am. I really try and analyze what I’m reading. So I wasn’t able to look past these inconsistencies. But I know people who loved this book. Adored it. Sadly I just wasn’t one of them. Also read this if you are just getting into dragons. They aren’t the main focus so it’ll be like an introductory course. It’s an interesting Snow White retelling just not one I’d pick up again.

Published By: Abrams/ Amulet

Release Date: April 4th

Genre: YA Magical Realism

The Inconceivable Life of Quinn by Marianna Baer. This comes out April 4th of this year. I received it from netgally in exchange for an honest review. I picked this up thinking it would be this cute little political mystery. The premise is that Quinn has just found out she is pregnant. This is problem for two reasons. One her dad is up for election for congress. And two she is a virgin. The whole book you are trying to find out how she got pregnant without remembering the act that blessed her in this way.

There isn’t a lot I can say about this book without majorly spoiling the ending. I will say that I was only invested in Quinn’s story up to the 25% mark because not a lot was happening to move the story forward. Also the POV wasn’t my favorite. It was told mostly from Quinn’s POV in first person. But every like third chapter would be first person from a barely connected to the story secondary character. I thought that was sidetracking from the story rather than helping. You are given this impression that she is very close with her mother and her father is distant. But through these 1-2 page long other POVs you are supposed to see that her family is actually screwed up? Don’t get me wrong, I love a screwed up family. But Quinn was the unreliable narrator wasn’t my favorite. The biggest thing that didn’t work for me was the ending. The goodreads description alludes to something supernatural being the cause of Quinn’s pregnancy. I thought it would be urban fantasy. It was actually magical realism which I’m just not on board with. It kind of upset me actually because I really wanted to love this book.

I honestly think you would love this book, if it was apparent to the reader that this was magical realism. Some people love that stuff. I tend to like my fantasy and contemporary separated. But that’s me. If you like a story with a bit of random thrown in there, then I highly recommend this book. If you want to know how Quinn got pregnant yet remained a virgin and welcoming theories from out in left field then please read this book. If you like the family that thinks they are close but in fact doesn’t know how to communicate properly then run out on April 4th and support this author at your local bookshop.

That is all I have for you today. If you’ve read one of these books and loved it, let me know if the comments. Or let me know if any of them sound interesting to you!  I hope you’re having a wonderful day!