Hiya guys! Happy Monday!
In my case it's Buying Groceries Monday because I still need to stock up in a lot of things since I just moved to my apartment last week. And to add some motivation to the grocery shopping after night shift I'm also buying ingredients to make ice cream! Mmmmm, ice cream!!
For this week's Mark This Book Monday I have the last book that I read as part of ARC August and one of the ARCs that I got at BEA'15! Since it is a YA contemporary I'm counting it towards that category for the 105 Challenge!
Tonight the Streets Are Ours by Leila Sales
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Another unconventional coming of age story about a girl learning who she is and finding her worth not definying herself in relation to others.
Unfortunately I couldn't relate as much to Arden as I would have liked, and when you can't relate with the main character the emotional connection with the book diminishes, and since I'm a gut-feeling kind of girl when it comes to rating, I cannot give this one more than a 3 stars.
Characters are very well written and realistic, complex and with good and bad things. The relationships between friends and family are also complex and feel real. Friends are there for each other, but also resent each other on occasion and feel like they matter less or underappreciated. The way that Arden deals with her mother leaving is also excellently done.
The writing was fantastic too, but that is something to be expected of Leila Sales, so even if I wasn't too keen on Arden or her story I just couldn't stop reading. Seeing Arden's growth towards the end of the book was satisfying and I also liked how the people around her shook her ideas about them and herself by the end too and how she learnt to look at herself and others in a different way.
But for most of the book I just couldn't stand Arden and the way she was handling herself or her life... I just couldn't relate to her at all, and then when we meet Peter? Nope, couldn't stand him at all either...
One of the things I loved the most about this book, as I did with TSWSYL, is that the romance is not magically fixing anything, and that it's not the most important part of the book. Growth for the characters is, figuring out who they are and who they want to be and understanding themselves and others better is.
And I think that after loving This Song Will Save Your Life so MUCH and relating so much and feeling so much for Elise, it was dissapointing to feel so contrary and so little empathy for Arden...
So yeah, clearly this was a case of "it's not me, it's you" with a book. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3 because of its superbly written characters.
View all my reviews
In my case it's Buying Groceries Monday because I still need to stock up in a lot of things since I just moved to my apartment last week. And to add some motivation to the grocery shopping after night shift I'm also buying ingredients to make ice cream! Mmmmm, ice cream!!
For this week's Mark This Book Monday I have the last book that I read as part of ARC August and one of the ARCs that I got at BEA'15! Since it is a YA contemporary I'm counting it towards that category for the 105 Challenge!
Tonight the Streets Are Ours by Leila SalesMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Another unconventional coming of age story about a girl learning who she is and finding her worth not definying herself in relation to others.
Unfortunately I couldn't relate as much to Arden as I would have liked, and when you can't relate with the main character the emotional connection with the book diminishes, and since I'm a gut-feeling kind of girl when it comes to rating, I cannot give this one more than a 3 stars.
Characters are very well written and realistic, complex and with good and bad things. The relationships between friends and family are also complex and feel real. Friends are there for each other, but also resent each other on occasion and feel like they matter less or underappreciated. The way that Arden deals with her mother leaving is also excellently done.
The writing was fantastic too, but that is something to be expected of Leila Sales, so even if I wasn't too keen on Arden or her story I just couldn't stop reading. Seeing Arden's growth towards the end of the book was satisfying and I also liked how the people around her shook her ideas about them and herself by the end too and how she learnt to look at herself and others in a different way.
But for most of the book I just couldn't stand Arden and the way she was handling herself or her life... I just couldn't relate to her at all, and then when we meet Peter? Nope, couldn't stand him at all either...
One of the things I loved the most about this book, as I did with TSWSYL, is that the romance is not magically fixing anything, and that it's not the most important part of the book. Growth for the characters is, figuring out who they are and who they want to be and understanding themselves and others better is.
And I think that after loving This Song Will Save Your Life so MUCH and relating so much and feeling so much for Elise, it was dissapointing to feel so contrary and so little empathy for Arden...
So yeah, clearly this was a case of "it's not me, it's you" with a book. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3 because of its superbly written characters.
View all my reviews
Ah yes, an emotional connection with the protagonist is of the utmost importance for my reading enjoyment. Without it, nothing else seems to work. Too bad that such wonderful writing was practically ruined by an obnoxious protagonist. I've heard great things about Sales and quite frankly, I expected more.
ReplyDeleteI adore her previous book and would highly recommend it, Maja. If you want to give Leila Sales a try, read This Song Will Save Your Life, I LOVED it!
DeleteI don't think this author's books are for me. I've seen lots of love for her books, but meh! I'm glad you didn't hate it, though I wish you had liked it more, Pili!
ReplyDeleteFabulous review!
Alyssa @ The Eater of Books!
So do I, so do I... *sigh* I so loved her previous book! Oh well, you can't love every book!
DeleteAw, sad face :( I'm so sorry that you were disappointed with this one Pili :\ That is never any fun. But I fully understand. I'm getting a paperback edition of this one. I'm more worried now, lol :) But glad you liked some things. <3
ReplyDeleteI do hope you'll like it more than I did sweetie!
Delete