Category Archives: Contemp. Lit

August 31, 2012 · 6:38 am

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

Shadow of Night, Deborah Harkness

 

Shadow of Night is the second book in the All Souls Trilogy, the first of which was A Discovery of Witches and was pretty awesome. (Obviously, don’t read this if you haven’t read ADoW yet, cause SPOILERS FOR THAT FIRST BOOK.) Shadow of Night suffers a little bit from second-book syndrome, but it was still pretty good.

This picks up right where the first book left off – with Diana and Matthew arriving to the year 1590 in England. The basic idea is that they’ll find a powerful witch to teach Diana about her magic, try to get a look at Ashmole 782, then head back to the present to face the Congregation. Of course it doesn’t happen quite like that, as Matthew’s past wraps them up in courtly intrigue, family ties, and the people around them.

Matthew and Diana are in the past for pretty much the whole book, which disappointed me a little. I got a little attached to some of the secondary characters in the first book, so I missed them in this one. The past was interesting, and it was fun to see Diana get all excited to meet or run into all these historically famous people. She also gets to meet a lot more of Matthew’s family, which was sometimes a good thing and sometimes kind of sucked. There are little glimpses of the present-day, mostly via newspapers, but that was nice. A lot more good things happen, but I don’t want to spoil anything.

Like I sad, definite second-book syndrome here. Even though I still flew through this book in a short amount of time, it dragged in large sections. Some stuff goes on and is discovered that will play a big role in the third book, but mostly this book was a lot of filler. Like Diana spending weeks trying to learn how to fit in during this time period, and Diana spending tons of time playing around with alchemy, etc. I kind of wanted to shake her, because she definitely didn’t make learning about her magic and finding the book a priority. I was also a little sad that Matthew was always busy doing Matthew-stuff, cause it didn’t leave much time for their still-new romance to develop a little more.

On the plus side, more great characters emerged (Gallowglass!!) and a couple new bad guys. The slowness of this book at least pretty much ensures that the last book will be epic and action-packed. I wish there was a title or release date for the next book, but there isn’t yet. Can’t wait to read it!

Anyone else read it and agree with the second-book syndrome thing?

 

Sarah Says: 3 stars

 

 

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August 20, 2012 · 3:58 pm

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

A Discovery of Witches

 

Wow, the things to say about this book. I avoided A Discovery of Witches for a long time, cause it was really popular and that usually ends with me thinking it’s so overrated. I tentatively put it on my to-read list when I heard the two main characters, Diana and Matthew, compared to Jamie and Claire from Outlander. And I FINALLY got around to reading it last week for the Bout of Books readathon. I started it on audio and got sucked into the story, but I have to say that I didn’t really like the narrator, so I switched to the paperback copy a few chapters in.

Well, it would help if I told you what the book was about, right? Diana Bishop is a scholar and comes from a long line of witches, though she rejects her magic. While doing research in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, she comes across a magical alchemical manuscript but returns it to the stacks in an attempt to keep magic out of her life. But by finding the manuscript, she’s suddenly drew the attention of daemons, witches, and vampires who all want it and will go to drastic lengths to get it. Among them is the handsome vampire Matthew Clairmont, who has an interest in the book but also starts to show an interest in Diana.

BUT IT’S ABOUT SO MUCH MORE. There’s a lot to like in this book – it starts off with the mystery surrounding the manuscript and evolves into a complex plot with a wide range of characters. I’m trying to avoid saying “It’s so good and you should just read it” so how about I list the stuff I liked about the book, mmmkay?

  • The magical world set-up. Basically there’s 4 types of beings – humans, witches, demons (daemons just looks so silly), and vampires. And they all kind of stick to themselves and all have their different quirks. Again, so much more to go into here, but it would spoil some of the discoveries made while reading so I won’t go into detail.
  • The history and scope of the book. The characters visit at least 4 different countries throughout the book, and there’s a good amount of history mentioned in the background of some of these characters.
  • Diana and Matthew – of course they’re a cool couple and I rooted for their romance. I would NOT compare it to Jamie & Claire – they’re not that good. In fact, in the beginning they’re a little bit Twilight-ish which turned me off, but the dynamics of their relationship changed as they story went on so that wasn’t an issue.
  • Awesome secondary characters, including Matthew’s friend Hamish and Diana’s over-protective aunts.
  • The fun whimsical stuff that accompanies paranormal and magical stuff in books – cool powers, ghosts, traits of the creatures, etc.
  • A whole lot happens in this book and kept me reading at a really fast pace, and even though this is very clearly the start of a trilogy it had a good solid ending too. I can’t wait to start the sequel, Shadow of Night. I already have it!

And for some balance, a couple of things that bugged me…

  • Diana’s personality throughout the book completely changes. It’s good, cause she was a bit narrow-minded and whiny in the beginning. I’m actually pleased with the way her character grew, but the growth was a bit abrupt, at least to me.
  • Vampire-lore. I get that vampires are fiction and therefore the rules can be played with, but really – vampires that can be in the sun AND can eat regular food on occasion? That’s a little convenient. But thank goodness there’s no sparkly vampires, so I guess no harm really done.

 

Sick of me rambling yet? A Discovery of Witches is a really good book. There’s a little something for everyone: magic, history, science, ethics, mystery, romance, action… you get the picture.

 

Sarah Says: 4.5 stars

 

 

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May 29, 2012 · 7:00 am

American Gods by Neil Gaiman – FINAL READALONG POST

American Gods readalong

Alrighty, finished the book = lots to talk about!

The old gods agree to meet the new gods in a neutral place to give them Wednesday’s body, and surprisingly that goes okay. At the same time, Wednesday discovers that his old friend Low-Key is actually Loki (man how did I not see that a mile away???) and he’s working for the old/bad gods and you know that sucks.

Shadow decides that he needs to keep his agreement with Wednesday about keeping vigil because he died, and which apparently in godspeak means you get tied to a tree for 9 days with no food… obviously that didn’t work out so hot for Shadow, but he feels all happy that he did such a major thing and he really feels alive, and then of course he dies and goes through the underworld and of course he doesn’t stay dead for along… that whole thing was really predictable, at least to me. Can’t have the protagonist dying off with 60 pages left to go. Oh and Shadow finds out that Wednesday is his daddy. I figured they had some sort of tie, because otherwise Wednesday wouldn’t have hounded Shadow so hard and wouldn’t have really needed him, but still a cool revelation.

So Shadow then comes back to life and discovers that this whole this was a two-man con between Loki & Wednesday to have a bunch of gods kill each other in a major battle so that they would become strong again (and in Wednesday’s case, alive again). And while it was a dick move… I don’t think I necessarily like Wednesday any less. I mean it’s screwed up to try to sacrifice all of your god-friends just so that you get a power boost, but the meaner, more evil side of me just kind of shrugs and says “Gotta do what ya gotta do.”

Laura did some good stuff, but I still hate her and I’m happy with how her little story ended. And I KNEW something was up with Mr. Hinzelmann!!! I knew it! Gross old bastard. As for the ending… I don’t know. Kinda bummed that Wednesday didn’t come back, but technically the real Odin is still alive, which is weird. Gaiman’s whole mythology is just weird.

So… this book was interesting, but honestly without the readalong I might have DNF-ed it again. While I kind of liked Shadow and Wednesday, I just didn’t care overall. I would have liked more focus on the gods – more info on how they came about, how the new ones were created, what the implications of the old and new gods on society are, if there are any. Seems like there was so much more to explore there. The writing didn’t hook me in, with the exception of Sam’s speech earlier. Part of me just feels like Neil Gaiman was trying way too hard with this one. Maybe I’ll like his kids books better. The ending seemed to leave the possibility of a sequel open and if there is one, I probably won’t read it.

I do want to say a major thanks to Jenn for hosting this! Maybe she’ll even consider hosting a readalong for The Graveyard Book or something….hmmmmm…   :-)

Sarah Says: 2.5 stars, overall.

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May 23, 2012 · 2:05 pm

American Gods by Neil Gaiman – READALONG POST 3

American Gods readalong

Whoops, posting this a day late. Anyways, week 3 of Jenn’s American Gods readalong. Woot woot!

So whoa, stuff hits the fan in these chapters. Shadow is settling in pretty comfortably in Lakeside, living as “Mike Ainsel”. Wednesday occassionally comes and  they go on trips, but it seems like a stretch of time passes where this is kind of routine and Shadow is coming to really like Lakeside and the people there. I have a sneaking suspicion about Mr. Hinzelmann, that he’s older than he lets on and that there’s more to him and his story. Shadow came upon a “Mr. Hinzelmann” in those old Lakeside notes, and I’m wondering if there’s no first name there on purpose because maybe it’s the same Mr. Hinzelmann? Or maybe he’s somehow connected to all of those missing children? I’m not sure, I guess I’ll have to wait to find out.

Lots of characters come back in these chapters, and I was particularly thrilled with Sam’s crazy long speech about all the random and seemingly odd things that she believes in. I knew I liked her. Anyhoo, eventually Shadow’s cover is blown (because of stupid Audrey) and it’s found out who he really is, and he’s locked up for “violating his parole”. Luckily Ibis, Mr. Nancy, and Czernobog come pick him up before the black hats can get to him, but sadly Wednesday was killed. At least it seems that way, I’m not quite sure if he can come back from getting his brainpan all shot up. This is kind of sad…. I liked Wednesday, and Shadow realizes that he was growing attached to him too. I’m wondering why Wednesday didn’t bring Shadow along for this so-called “truce” talk… Wasn’t Shadow basically supposed to be his bodyguard for this kind of thing? Why would Wednesday walk into such an obviously dangerous situation?

Needless to say, lots happened here and I’m really interested to see how things turn out. Although I still feel a little clueless as to what the gods (new and old) stand to gain from this upcoming war… but I’m comforted that Shadow seems just as lost in that respect. Oh and I have no clue what the whole thunderbird things meant, but I hope it doesn’t mean that Shadow is actually able to bring his wife back. Whiskey Jack was right - the dead should stay dead, especially when the dead person in question is a cheating hoebag.

So, final section is coming up! I’m really excited to see how everything all comes together. Already in this section it seemed as if past events and people were coming back and everything is getting kind of interwoven. I really want to know if Wednesday can come back or not, who Mr. Hinzelmann really is, what Shadow’s whole purpose in this whole war-among-the-gods is, and if he succeeds in bringing his skanky wife back to life.

~Sarah

 

 

 

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May 17, 2012 · 3:00 am

The Cottage at Glass Beach by Heather Barbieri

The Cottage At Glass Beach

I’m very pleased that I got to be a part of the TLC Book Tour for this book!* If you’re one of my regular readers, you know that I don’t usually accept ARC’s for review, but I have read previous works by Heather Barbieri and enjoyed them so much that I asked TLC Book Tours if I could be a part of reviewing her newest book, The Cottage at Glass Beach.

For simplicity’s sake, here’s the synopsis from the TLC page:

Married to the youngest attorney general in Massachusetts state history, forty-year-old Nora Keane is a picture perfect political wife and doting mother. But her carefully constructed life falls to pieces when she – along with the rest of the world – learns of her husband Malcolm’s infidelity. Humiliated, hurt, hounded by the press, Nora packs up her daughters, Annie, seven, and Ella, twelve, and takes refuge with her maternal aunt on Burke’s Island, a craggy spit of land off the coast of Maine.

 Settled by Irish immigrants, the island is a place where superstition and magic are carried on the ocean winds, and wishes and dreams wash ashore with the changing tides. Nora spent her first five years on the island but has not been back to the remote community for decades—not since that long ago summer when her mother disappeared at sea. One night, while sitting alone on Glass Beach, below the cottage where she spent her childhood, Nora succumbs to grief, her tears flowing into the ocean. Days later she finds an enigmatic fisherman, Owen Kavanagh, shipwrecked on the rocks nearby. Is he, as her aunt’s friend Polly suggests, a selkie, a mythical being of island legend, summoned by her heartbreak; or simply someone who, like Nora, is trying to find his way in the wake of his own personal struggles? Just as she begins to regain her balance, her young daughters embark on a reckless odyssey of their own, a journey that will force Nora to find the courage to chart her own course—and finally face the truth about her marriage, her mother, and her past.

TLC BOOK TOURS

My thoughts:

Man am I a sucker for books set in small coastal towns. The Cottage at Glass Beach is no different. I loved reading about the simple life of the people living on Burke’s Island - the neighborliness, the fresh healthy food, the breezes coming in from the sea, the storms, the cottages… I would love to live in a town like this. And this town proves to be a great place for Nora to escape from the humiliation of a messy public divorce. She finds a true friend in her Aunt Maire, and explores what’s best for her and her daughters while putting together the pieces from her childhood.

I liked Nora, overall. She was the perfect image of a woman stifled by a hectic, busy life who rediscovers the simpler joys in life. Nora really tries to do what’s best for her children, and I respected that. I really loved Aunt Maire, cause she was such a sweet and spirited little old lady. Nora’s daughters play a large part in the story and while I really connected with the younger one, Annie, I couldn’t stand the older daughter, Ella. She was really ungrateful, mean, and just kind of a brat. (Although, I suppose this is pretty realistic of a young pre-teen girl.) I also really enjoyed the references to older times, and to the legends of the selkies.

My only complaint about this book is that I wish it had been longer. The 300 pages were taken up largely by description and by Ella’s whining, and it didn’t leave room for the story to completely develop or finish. I was left kind of confused by Owen’s place in the story, and I wish there had been a more concrete ending.

If you’re going to read a Heather Barbieri book, I highly suggest The Lace Makers of Glenmara, but The Cottage at Glass Beach is the perfect book to read on a lazy summer afternoon.

Sarah Says: 3 stars

About the author:

Heather Barbieri

The author of two previous novels, The Lace Makers of Glenmara, and Snow in July, Heather Barbieri has won international prizes for her short fiction. She lives in Seattle with her family.

Visit her website.

Visit her on Facebook.

 

The Cottage at Glass Beach was released on May 15th, so you can visit your bookstores or go online to purchase!

And the tour is far from over! Visit the other stops:

Tuesday, May 15th: 2 Kids and Tired
Wednesday, May 16th: Seaside Book Nook
Thursday, May 17th: Sarah Says Read
Friday, May 18th: My Two Blessings
Monday, May 21st: Savvy Verse & Wit
Tuesday, May 22nd: Amused By Books
Tuesday, May 22nd: Paperback Princess
Wednesday, May 23rd: All Grown Up?
Friday, May 25th: Kritters Ramblings
Tuesday, May 29th: Bookstack
Wednesday, May 30th: A Cozy Reader’s Corner
Thursday, May 31st: My Bookshelf
Monday, June 4th: Life In Review
Tuesday, June 5th: Drey’s Library
Wednesday, June 6th: Good Girl Gone Redneck
Thursday, June 7th: Peeking Between the Pages
Monday, June 11th: Tiramisu Mom
Friday, June 15th: Luxury Reading

 

And thank you so much to TLC Book Tours for letting me a part of this tour!

 

~Sarah

 

 

* I received the ARC of the this book for free in exchange for an honest review. I received no compensation or anything like that.

 

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May 15, 2012 · 9:16 am

American Gods by Neil Gaiman – READALONG POST 2

American Gods readalong

Alrighty, so week 2 of Jenn’s readalong!

These chapters seemed a little filler-ish to me. It was like 108 pages, but I feel like hardly anything happened. Except that I’m pretty sure he had sex with a cat… Maybe I read it wrong, but it seemed like it.

So after his dead wife helps him escape, Shadow makes his way to a town where he buys a cheap car. He gives some girl named Sam a ride, then makes his way to a little town where he meets some of Wednesday’s friends, who happen to be operators of a funeral home. Some bad crap with Mad Sweeney goes down, and then Wednesday comes to pick him up, and then promptly deserts him again. He sends Shadow to a tiny town in Wisconsin called Lakeside, where Shadow seems to get along pretty well with lots of super friendly people. Wednesday scoops him up again to go convince a creepy random other god to join his cause, then dumps Shadow back in Lakeside.

I’m starting to feel some sort of fondness for Shadow. He seems like an all around good guy, and I feel bad that he somehow got caught up in Wednesday’s mess. I’m wondering why exactly Wednesday needs him – being a driver is kind of a lame excuse. And I do think that Shadow would be relatively happy if he could just be left alone to settle down in Lakeside. Of course, the black hat guys might track him down there eventually, but still.

Also, I liked Jacquel  and Ibis. I hope they make an appearance again. Same with Sam. I’m not sure she had a major point to the story, but I liked her.

So, that’s about it I guess. I hope the next section has a little bit more action to it, and not so much Shadow-killing-time-while-Wednesday-jerks-around.

 

~Sarah

 

 

 

 

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May 8, 2012 · 1:50 pm

American Gods by Neil Gaiman – READALONG POST 1

American Gods readalong

So, yay, a readalong! It’s probably not too late to join in, just go visit Jenn’s sign-up post. So you know, spoilers for the first 6 chapters…

I had started and DNF-ed this book a few years ago, I think because I got bored or something. But so far, I’m enjoying this way more than I remember. I don’t know, maybe it’s that I’m taking more time to savor it? Or that I’m just “in the mood” for it now. Not sure.

So, Shadow gets out of jail early due to his wife being a hoebag. OK, that’s a little harsh. I actually thought that the times when he’s reminiscing about her, like when they first met, were super sweet and Laura sounds like a wonderful person. And I felt really, really bad for him when he found out that she had died. But you know, then you find out why she died and yeah… hoebag. Oh and Robbie too. Hoebag. (And the word of the day is….? Hoebag! I hate cheaters.)

I like Shadow more than I remember. I guess I just must feel for him, or maybe I’m seeing his personality more than before. However, I wish he wasn’t so darn laid-back about stuff, like his crazy weird circumstances meeting Wednesday and why he would just accept a job from a total stranger. Or why his wife is acting distinctly not-dead. That seems like stuff you should kind of seriously freak out about.

Wednesday is a creepy mama-jama, but you have to admit that he has a bit of flair about him.

I’m enjoying the little side stories, although the first one with the scary hooker was, you know, scary. I also liked the one about Essie. I kind of wish people believed in more superstitions like that, although I guess it’s something you just kind of grow up with, and I guess that’s a big point of the book is that when this stuff isn’t passed on, it’s lost.

 The story is really just picking up and I’m actually looking forward to reading more. And learning more! While I’m intrigued, the beginning is a TAD slow-going cause stuff is still being set up and whatnot. But I’m enjoying it so far. Success! At least so far. Will this be a Gaiman novel that I actually really like? (she says hopefully)…

 What’s everyone else thinking?

 

~Sarah

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January 10, 2012 · 8:00 am

Norwegian Wood readalong – Chapters 1-4

Sooo. This book! Not sure how I’m feeling yet.

Toru is our narrator, and he’s… there. Sometimes I like him – like when the book starts off and he’s an adult looking back on stuff and getting a little sad. Or when he tells his cheating, manwhore of a friend that his girlfriend is too good for him. But other times it’s like “Yeah I’m so complex and introspective and trying to show that I am feeling so much but really I just seem like a zombie.” SNORE. And I don’t really get his attraction to Naoko… is he one of those guys who is only attracted to damaged weird girls? And if so, for the love of all that is good and holy, WHY?

Naoko. Ugh. OK so I’m a mean person, I know this. I don’t like people with depression. I can understand being depressed over some immediate crisis or loss, but I don’t understand depression as in the constant whiny state of being depressed with no clear reasons. So I really don’t like reading about these depressed, emo characters in books. I get that Naoko and Toru are both supposed to appear emotionally scarred over what happened with Kizuki, but… I’m not getting it. I guess because in the flashbacks to when the 3 of them used to hang out together all that time, Naoko seemed the same – she didn’t seem particularly happy or full of life then either. The relationship between her and Kizuki didn’t seem really strong or passionate – the friendship between Toru & Kizuki seemed much more real.

Anyhoo, things started to pick up for me in the 4th chapter, when we meet Midori. So far she seems like the only character with a real strong personality – she’s much more flesh-and-blood to me than the other characters. I like that she talks so easily, that she cut her hair, that she taught herself to cook amazing food, that her name reminds me of the liquor, etc. So I can’t wait to see where the story goes now that she’s been introduced…

So to sum up…

Toru = A little emo, but we’ll see how he turns out.

Naoko = Annoying in her “I’m so mysteriously depressed and think my quiet sadness is intense and attractive but it’s not because I act like a weirdo instead of a normal person.”

Midori = Coolest, most likable character in the book so far.

story over all = Really not sure yet. It’s not putting me to sleep or anything, but I’m still not quite sure what the exact point of the story is yet, and that’s never a good sign.

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December 17, 2011 · 11:40 am

Practical Jean by Trevor Cole

Ohhh man, I’m excited to write this review. I hope I make sense…

So, Practical Jean is a novel about Jean Vale Horemarsh, a middle-aged woman in a small town. She’s got a nice quiet life – she makes and sells ceramics, she has a nice ordinary husband, and she has a nice circle of close girl friends. After watching her mother die of a devastating cancer, Jean comes to an epiphany – no one deserves a long, painful, drawn-out death by old age or illness. And so Jean comes up with a plan, to save all of her closest friends this terrible ending – she’ll give them one last moment of beauty and happiness, and then kill them.

This book is so twisted… in such a good way. I completely sympathized with Jean (before she goes all kill-y). I’ve been watching my grandmother VERY SLOWLY deteriorate ever since she had two strokes four years ago. She’s 92 now – because of the strokes, her walking is terrible and she has trouble talking. She really just watches tv all day. And she was just diagnosed with pancreatic cancer over the summer. I love my grandma – we were really close as I grew up – but I cannot imagine a more horrible life. I’ve developed a serious fear of getting old and invalid. So I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND when Jean realizes that no one should have to suffer through old age and terminal illnesses like that. Death really does seem like the kinder option at some point. HOWEVER, Jean then goes off the deep end and decides that she should just start killing off her friends. That’s kind of a no-no.

As Jean goes about trying to decide how to go through with her plan (and which friend is nicest and therefore should be the first), you become more intimately acquainted with her friends and actually grow to kind of like them. Also, everyone had a unique personality, even if they weren’t actually in the story very often. Hell, I actually liked Jean herself. Even though she went off the deep end, she was never a boring character. She was sweet and a bit of a dreamer, but she also had a practical streak. At one point in the book she goes on a bit of a feminist rant about how any time a woman is anything other than nurturing or submissive, she’s described by men as “hard” and I loved that! The writing was precise and vivid – I read this book pretty quickly. There were a lot of surprising, hand-over-my-mouth kind of moments.

Anyways, this book was great. Weird, but great. It’s definitely a dark, dark humor novel, but centered around really serious moral and philosophical issues. It explores death, old age, kindness, practicality, friendship, life…  I’m definitely looking forward to checking out more from this author.

Sarah Says: 5 stars

 

… I also have to say something about this… maybe someone more familiar with publishing companies can shed some light on it for me. Some Harper Perennial books are these “P.S” editions – notice the little P.S. mark in the bottom right-hand corner of the book. That means that there’s cool stuff in the back – an author interview, cool tidbits, and the author’s reading recommendations. I recently read Domestic Violets by Matthew Norman, which was also a P.S. book and really liked it. I’m wondering if there’s a way to specifically search out books with this P.S. stuff in the back?  It seems that I like the books that feature it, and I’d like to read more like these.

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November 27, 2011 · 6:05 pm

Goodnight Tweetheart by Teresa Medeiros

OK, so basically I read this novel because it’s about Twitter! And I love Twitter, despite the fact that I’m often too lazy to fight with my phone to get it to work properly. I can only tweet, my stupid timeline doesn’t update unless I take the battery out of my phone and turn it on, and then 5 minutes later it’s not working again. Pain in the ass, I can’t wait to get a Droid. Anways.
 
So this novel is about Abby Donovan, a writer with one successful Oprah-approved novel under her belt, who has been struggling for years to write a second novel. Her confidence is down, she rarely leaves her apartment, and she’s dangerously close to running out of money to feed her two cats, Willow and Buffy. Then her agent signs her up for a Twitter account to remind her fans that she’s still out there, and she agrees to give this Twitter-thingy a whirl.
 
On her first day in the Twitterverse a witty professor on sabbatical named “MarkBaynard” becomes one of her followers and starts to teach her Twitter 101, and they develop a tweetship of snarky conversations peppered with pop culture references. And as Abby gets more comfortable with Tweeting, she starts to realize that she should be more like Mark – out there seeing the world and seizing the day instead of lounging in her sweats and avoiding writing her new novel. And her flirty tweetship starts to turn into something maybe more…
 
So this is supposed to be a romance story for the Twitter generation… and it KIND of works. I guess. Mark and Abby’s conversations take place entirely via 140-characters-or-less Twitter conversations, but really, it’s not any different than the people that used to “meet” and “fall in love” via AIM conversations. So this is really one more novel for the all-around digital generation than the Twitter generation.
 
Also, maybe it’s just me… but online flirty romance is creepy. I really don’t believe in meeting potential marriage-material people online. You never know for sure who the hell you’re talking to, which makes the flirty sexual innuendo (in YOUR endo… LOL sorry, Scrubs reference, the Todd is a perv), and online “dates” SUPER WEIRD. And really, meeting a potential boyfriend / girlfriend solely via Twitter is just as weird as meeting someone in an anonymous online chatroom. Or those weird dating websites.
 
I guess I’m trying to make a distinction here – making friends with fellow bloggers via Twitter is not that weird. There are some bloggers that I’d love to meet up with someday, preferably at like a big blogger or bookish event. But you know, we become friends via the whole book-blogging community in general, and then start following each other on Twitter, etc. It’s super weird to just log onto Twitter and strike up random conversations with random non-bloggy people that Twitter suggests you may like. Is any one getting the point I’m trying to make here? I guess developing online-only FRIENDSHIPS is not very creepy, where developing online-only ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS is the height of icky and you’re just asking to end up dead in a stranger’s freezer somewhere.
 
So, given my whole stance on the online-romance thing, Abby and Mark’s blossoming Twitter-romance was kind of off-putting and uncomfortable. Also, over 50% of their conversations seemed to be nothing but pop culture references and jokes. And while some made me happy (YAYYYY for mentioning Glee!), most of them kind of went over my head anyways because they’re based on older shows that most of the Twitter generation (ahem, my generation) know nothing about. Seriously, who my age has seen enough episodes of Frasier or Gilligan’s Island to really get all those jokes? Which makes it kind of weird that this book about what I’m assuming are mostly 30-year olds getting totally into the Twitter thing. Twitter-romance seems much more appropriate for people 20 or younger, because they’re naive and dumb enough to be developing online romantic relationships. People over 20 should know that it’s weird, pathetic, and stupid to be “dating” someone who you’ve met online and have no clue who they really are.
 
So, while I liked Abby and totally wanted her to get back on her feet and finish her novel… I also thought she was kind of lame for only perking up after she starts a flirty intimacy with an online stranger. It all just felt kind of wrong and skeevy.
 
Sarah Says: 2 stars

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Filed under 2-star, Contemp. Lit, Fiction, Fluff

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