3 pretty good oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.Cover Love:
Yes! It is a beautiful, eye catching cover.
Why I Wanted To Read This:
I loved Laini Taylor's Lips Touch Three Times, especially the third story in that book, so I was super excited to read this one! Here's the synopsis from GoodReads:
Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.
In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.
And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.
Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.
When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?
I Kept Reading Because:
It was engrossing and hard to put down. I wanted to find out Karou's backstory!
Romance?: Yes!
What I Liked (& Didn't):
Okay, this is one of those books I am going to have a hard time reviewing because I just didn't love it. But, I am not sure why. In fact, I took a few weeks off from doing this review so that I could reflect.
I guess I just didn't really buy into the alternate world that Laini created. I liked Karou and I liked Akiva and I loved their romance. I just didn't really like the whole angels vs. demons world.
It was masterfully written though, Ms. Taylor writes so beautifully. The story played out slowly, but not so slowly that it was boring. The pace was perfect and the final reveal happened at just the right time.
To Sum Up: I would never not recommend this book, there were too many beautiful thing about it. But, I am not sure I will move along in the series. I will buy it for my library.
Book sent from Little Brown. Thanks!
(I acknowledge that these kid of reviews are the worst because it is not specific about the things that bothered me. But, I gush better than criticize so these kinds are hard for me to write too!)
I think you did a good job of describing why you were conflicted about this book, Jana. I love it that you can express NON-love for a book, without discouraging others from reading it. I still look forward to reading it. :-)
ReplyDeleteThese are the hardest reviews for me to write, too. Those middle books. I can gush and I can gripe, but I have such a difficult time trying to place my finger on why a book just didn't feel right for me when objectively there's nothing wrong with it really.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to see a few more less than glowing reviews have been popping up. For a while there it was nothing but positive gush, and that totally killed my motivation.
I was so sad that I didn't love it because I did love Lips Touch Three Times. Oh well. I am getting it for my library thought because I know several readers who will love this one!
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