Summer of Supernovas

My most recent read is Summer of Supernovas by Darcy Woods. I received this book as an ARC back in May only a couple of days before its release, so I never actually got around to reading and reviewing it before it was released. This book was still sitting on my shelf, and I wanted a light summer read that would allow me to further procrastinate my reading that I need to get done for school (which I need to read 3 books and write 5 essays for before the end of summer… ha).

This book deals with the main character, Wilamena (called Wil or Mena)  Carlisle (which her name is absolutely beautiful, wow), and her journey of following her heart or a belief system that she has relied on for her whole life. The book starts out by introducing Wilamena’s obsession with astrology, and her love interest, Grant Walker. Soon, though, it becomes evident to the reader that Wil is going to have a complicated relationship with Grant when she meets Seth Walker, Grant’s brother, who is supposedly her perfect astrological pair. Throughout the course of the book, the reader follows Wil’s journey as she realizes that her heart is more important than astrology.

This book was cute and fluffy, but there are still a couple of things that bugged me. Wil’s obsession with astrology is actually just annoying, which disappointed me. I was hoping for a rather geeky main character who educates the reader on astrology. The only thing I ever even noticed about her obsession was how she ‘was always looking to the heavens.’ The other thing that bothered me about this book was the love triangle. I realize that the love triangle was there to help develop Wil’s character, but honestly, I wish the triangle would be more creative. It is clear the whole book that she will end up with (SPOILER)? Grant Walker. Love triangles are so overused in YA these days I can only really tolerate them when there is a unique aspect to them, or if the main character is really badass and can easily live without her boys.

There were honestly no noteworthy quotes to put down. In most of my reviews I add some quotes, but in all honesty, I didn’t mark any while reading because none really grabbed my attention.

There were some positive things to this book. I feel like I was just a little old for this book, maybe? I like romance books with more depth in them is really what I’m trying to say. I’m only 17, but I would recommend this book to younger kids rather than to people my age. This book had a couple of nice characters. While Wil and Grant were both really stereotypical to  YA novels, I really enjoyed Irina. She always added some light humor to the book.

Unfortunately, this book put me into a reading slump. I was hoping to read this in a day or two, and it took me two weeks when I honestly have a lot of books I would rather be reading. This book will definitely not stick with me in the future because it did not really set itself apart from some other books I’ve read. In all honesty, I just finished the book and don’t really even remember any specific parts that I enjoyed.

I realize that this review is slowly getting more and more negative, and I would like to clarify that this book was not bad, it really was just not my cup of tea. Darcy Woods has a nice writing style that flowed really well. Overall, I would still give this book 3/5 stars. I can’t really bring myself to give it any less than that since it is such a sweet and innocent read.

Love Always,

Chelsea

The Season

My most recent read was another ARC called The Season by Jonah Lisa Dyer and Stephen Dyer. In all honesty, I really did not want to read this book. From the description, it seemed like a book that was targeted towards middle schoolers. The blurb on the back says it’s about a girl who loves soccer and is forced into being a debutante by her mother and absolutely hates it. I was expecting this book to have an annoying narrator who tried a little too hard to be different, but this book honestly ended up surprising me.

This book is about the main character, Megan McKnight, is a very spirited character. She has a lot of sass and is very selfish, which is her struggle throughout the story. Over the course of the story, she learns to tame her tongue and realize that the lifestyle of a debutante might not be the worst thing to ever happen to her. She is a very easy character to relate to and I found myself often agreeing with her on her worldview and how she viewed the society around her. Megan’s character came as a surprise for me and ended up being a well rounded character who experiences a satisfactory amount of character development for the reader. Even many of the minor characters were great. The spunky French stylist who dresses like a hippie and does not shave? Yeah, sign me up for that.

The chapter titles honestly made me laugh a few times. The novel features the following chapter titles:

• In Which Megan Discovers That Tea Can Be a Full-Contact Sport
• In  Which Megan Puts Away Serious Groceries
• In Which Megan Rues Her Decision to Mix Pills and Booze
• In Which Megan Questions Her Judgement

Honestly, the list could go on and on.

While I said that I was surprised by this story, it also really confused me. Like, a lot. And I’m not talking about the type of confusing that ends up coming full circle and offering the reader a revelation into some deeper philosophical meaning. I’m talking about how this book confused me by totally misleading me. The front cover is honestly an awful choice for this book. It is something that would appear in a children’s book section, which is where you would think this book would belong since it was published by Viking Children’s Books.  Then, as you start reading, you realize that this book contains alcohol and sex, which is perfectly fine in a Young Adult book. But going into this book expecting the audience to generally be 6th grade girls allows for the reader to be in for a surprise. The publisher for this book could have definitely done a better job making it clearer who the targeted audience is.

This book reminded me a lot of The Selection by Kierra Cass and going into this book, I honestly thought that the author, Jonah Lisa Dyer, was trying to make a cheap knockoff version of this series. While they are similar, The Season definitely holds its ground to make a distinction from The Selection. The book is advertised as a Pride and Prejudice retelling, and as far as I can tell, they kept fairly true to their word. But, alas, I have not actually read (or even watched the movie (I’m horrible I know)) Pride and Prejudice so I am not the best person to be judging whether or not this book keeps true to its word.

There were a couple of things I was disappointed by in this book. First of all, the ending felt really rushed to me. I won’t actually give away any spoilers, but I am honestly still wanting to know how it worked out for Megan. It was an abrupt turn in the story. It was a good turn in the story, don’t get me wrong, but it was abrupt and I wish I knew more about how it worked out for her.

Overall, I would give this book 3.5/5 stars. The book could honestly still use one more draft before it is released to make it a 4 star book for me. In the end, though, I could potentially recommend this book to people (as long as they can put up with Texan pride). It will not be a particularly memorable book for me, but it is definitely a fresh start in Jonah and Stephen Dyer’s writing career.

Love Always,

Chelsea