The Likeness by Tana French Review

WARNING: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS BELOW

“When you're too close to people, when you spend too much time with them and love them too dearly, sometimes you can't see them”- The Likeness, Tana French

The haunting follow up to the Edgar Award-winning debut In the Woods

Tana French astonished critics and readers alike with her mesmerizing debut novel, In the Woods. Now both French and Detective Cassie Maddox return to unravel a case even more sinister and enigmatic than the first. Six months after the events of In the Woods, an urgent telephone call beckons Cassie to a grisly crime scene. The victim looks exactly like Cassie and carries ID identifying herself as Alexandra Madison, an alias Cassie once used. Suddenly, Cassie must discover not only who killed this girl, but, more importantly, who is this girl?

Sorry about the review gap again. Like I said, I was away, but I got a ton of reading done so there should be lots of reviews coming up soon. But this is the third Tana French book I've read and already, she's become one of my favorite authors. I have been looking for a good, dependable thriller writer for a long time now, and finally found one that probably will become an automatic buy for me. 

I was more or less intimidated going into this book, and if you're at all familiar with her writing you could see why. She's very verbose, especially with her descriptions. They're beautiful, sure, but don't exactly make for quick reads. And this book wasn't a quick read; it was slow, building up to the reveal of whodunnit. While the actual murder happens at the very beginning, that part of the book is mostly reserved for character development as we get to know who we're working with and why we should root for them. In this case, we got to know mostly Cassie Maddox, but also Frank Mackey, Sam O'Neil, and the inhabitants of Whitethorn House- Daniel, Justin, Rafe, and Abby. We also get to know the dead girl, Lexie, but most of what we do know of her is speculation. 

French's characters and character interactions are where she shines as a writer. Her characters are people, each with distinct personality traits. Characters are allowed to have different opinions as the main character and are not made into villains. No informed attributes here, either, if the characters say they are something, then they are. They don't even have to say anything- we get through their actions that Justin is squeamish, for instance, or that Abby is artsy. Mackey is different than Sam who was different from Ryan, and I think that if she had chosen to make this book multiple points of view, each would have been clearly distinguished from the others. I loved especially Cassie, the main character. I loved her passion for history, especially the Whitethorn House. I could relate, as someone who also finds delight in all things old, photographs and houses especially. I also loved Justin, who about broke my heart, along with Rafe (the obvious sexual tension between those two was great, and I wanted more of their story), and Frank and Sam and, honestly, just about everyone. I do miss Rob though, but I love how his absence was worked in. French doesn't just mention it a few times and dismiss it or only bring it up when it's convenient to her character, it's a recurring theme in the book that the events of In the Woods and especially losing Ryan hurt her deeply, and made her so desperately lonely that she fell even harder than she would have into this group of friends in the Whitethorn House. The way she dealt with that was brilliant. It wasn't like when Elliot left in SVU- you know, when Olivia just basically was sad for a day and then never mentioned him again, despite how close they were, until one day when it's convenient for the plot? Yeah, doesn't happen here. I also loved all the characters' senses of humor- while none were really laugh out loud funny, they all still made me giggle or at least snort.

I also absolutely loved the Irish culture and history that was touched upon- a lot actually- in the text. I only know bits and pieces about Irish history, and the parts when French went in detail about the Anglo-Irish families and the resentment that still lingers amongst the Irish of them was fascinating. It made me want to know more about Ireland, and it made me want French to write a historical fiction novel. I will say this, though, the middle dragged on a bit- though the ending completely made up for it. Cassie's life in the Whitethorn House was getting a monotonous, though I suppose that's meant to showcase Cassie falling into this seemingly idyllic world of the House and its occupants, and I am starting to get a feel for the French Formula, if you will (sorry, I have a bit of an affinity for alliteration). Beginning sets up case, middle focuses mostly on the psychological effects the case has on the main character (some of the side characters, too), with a ton of red herrings thrown in with each given a detailed backstory and potential MO, and then the end, where the actual killer is revealed. Now, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Mystery novels are, after all, the most formulaic books you can write, apart from romance novels, and most mystery authors have their own formula that works for them. This is great for me, because sometimes I want an author who I can rely on, whose books take on this comforting path and are still excellent. So let's talk about the ending.

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW

Honestly, I had Daniel pegged from the start as the man, or if not the actual killer than the ringleader. Honestly, I had the killer from In the Woods pegged from the start too, but in both cases I enjoyed watching it unfold and got really happy when it turned out my instincts were right. Like dancing around in my chair happy. Even though he was an absolutely fascinating character- shame it had the ending it did- his parts honestly kind of bored me. Like when he was going on and on to Cassie about why they had to kill Lexie and oh my God just shut up already. I get that a big part of his character was the fact he goes off on long rants, but still. I do wish his psyche/ thought process was explored a little bit more. I can't even consider the reveal of the killer(s) to be a twist, because it was so well done and obviously what the book was building up to. So many twists just feel so half-assed, or like the author thought that a twist was meant to blindside you completely and make no sense, when in reality there has to be little hints leading up to the Big Reveal. I also loved how each red herring had reasons to kill, as I mentioned before, and even has done things that I wouldn't personally approve of, but they are still not the killer. It's like in Twin Peaks, when both Leo and Ben are potential killers and they have the motive and everything and they're both horrible people, but they didn't do it. As much as we want them to have done it because it makes sense in our minds, it's still not them. I was absolutely glued to the pages during Justin, Rafe, and Abby's tale about what happened the night Lexie died (and really wanted to give Justin a hug). A few other, more minor spoilers to touch on, because really the whole ending was so. Freaking. Good. French made sure to wrap up the mystery of who Lexie really was, probably still feeling the public outcry over In the Woods' unsolved second mystery, which I liked but would have been fine never knowing. I also loved how Sam and Cassie stayed together. I was expecting Cassie to dump him in favor of going back on the Murder Squad, but she didn't! Yay, a couple I like stays together! It's nice that Cassie doesn't have to prove herself as a career-oriented woman by breaking up with Sam. It's nice to know that love doesn't always have to take a backseat, as corny as that sounds.

MAJOR SPOILER SECTION OVER

I needed Faithful Place like yesterday. The fact that it stars Frank Mackey makes me even more excited to get into it. While I loved this book personally, and love this series so far, I will say this. If you don't like verbose descriptions, slow-burning mystery novels, or police procedurals, I wouldn't read these books. These books are not Gillian Flynn thrillers, far from them actually. I, however, happen to love those things, which makes this series absolutely perfect for me.

8.5-9 out of 10

Guilty Pleasure Reads

So, I'll be away this weekend (Saturday through Tuesday), but I wanted to get a post up today so I don't feel guilty for abandoning you. Let's talk guilty pleasures, because I do love me some brain fluff. Now, most of these books got what I convert to a four star rating at the most, because I'm stingy with my five stars and most of these books don't have the writing, plot, or characters to be what I consider five star material. Yes, I am a bit of a book snob. I'm starting to embrace it. Anyway, here are some of my go to reads when I'm in the mood for some fluff.

The Anonymous books

I first stumbled across these books when I went through a phase where all I wanted to read was contemporaries surrounding eating disorders- this was like back in 2015, I believe. No idea why, but for the next 5 or so months I looked for contemporaries about eating disorders. This also kick started my dark contemporary phase, where I read tons of books about sexual abuse and rape and drug abuse and basically everything Ellen Hopkins throws into her books when she wants to add extra drama. Why the preamble? Because, that’s how I discovered these books. The first one I read was Letting Ana Go, about anorexia, and found it extremely readable. I then discovered that there were more of these books and they all were basically the same height with the same color scheme and as a result looked great on a shelf together so I gradually accumulated them to add to my collection. Essentially, these books are billed as being “in the tradition of Go Ask Alice” in that they are “true” stories of teenagers who ended up falling into things like drugs or prostitution or eating disorders or Satanism and it ends with them all dying. Yes, these books are your typical “warning” books and they are very moralistic and have an obvious formula, but they’re oh so addicting. The only one I don’t own and haven’t read is The Book of David. I probably will get it and read it eventually just for the sake of completion, but I’m not enthused by LGBT-themed books and I’ve grown out of issue contemporary mostly, but when I want some drama (feel kinda bad for saying that, but it’s true) I go straight to these. My favorite is still probably Letting Ana Go, followed by Calling Maggie May (which is about prostitution), since I was never really into books about drug use (which is what both Go Ask Alice and Lucy in the Sky are about). I will say this though, Jay’s Journal is probably the only book I’ve ever read that has scared the shit out of me. Seriously, I consider myself to be mostly a skeptic, and if ghosts do exist then we should probably leave them the hell alone, but there’s just something about Satanism and (the evil side of) the Occult that freaks me the fuck out. But overall, these books are great for something on the same subject matter but far less exhausting than Ellen Hopkins’ work.

The A Circuit series by Georgina Bloomberg and Catherine Hapka

These books are the quintessential guilty pleasure reads. I think I mentioned briefly that I am an equestrian, though I don’t show (not for my riding instructor’s lack of trying). Living on the East Coast means that I ride English and in my area hunter-jumper is the predominate discipline so that’s what I train as. I adore horses, always have, and when I stumbled across this book series described as being like Gossip Girl on horseback, I was hooked right from the first page. These books are no great works of literature, not by a long shot, and they have horrible covers but they’re like candy. These books are basically about three girls, one the daughter of the richest man on Wall Street, one the party girl daughter of a rock star and a West Coast transplant, and the last a lower middle class girl who got lucky and scored a job at Pelham Lane, a prestigious A circuit barn (for those who don’t know, the A circuit is the top showing circuit of the hunter-jumper world). These books might be a bit confusing for those who aren’t equestrians, because horse jargon is used very casually and often with little context, but for me they are the ultimate guilty pleasure. So much drama, but in the best way possible. They are like a grown up version of the Canterwood Crest books, though in my opinion a lot more factually accurate. If you loved those books as a preteen, these are highly recommended for a bit of turn your brain off fun.

The Luxe series by Anna Godbersen

These next three are for the historical fiction lovers out there, and The Luxe series is well known as being the archetypal historical fiction guilty pleasure series. Most people who love historical fiction have read these books at least once in their lives. I’m only halfway through the series, but I could tell from the first page of the first book that I needed to complete this series. The Luxe takes place in 1899, and I think ends in 1900 (the time period is one of the reasons why I knew I needed to stick with these books- I adore the early 20th century), and predominantly stars two girls, Elizabeth and Diana Holland, who are from the old New York Holland family. Other characters include Penelope Hayes, from the nouveau riche Hayes family, Lina Broud, an Irish-American maid who is trying to make herself into a socialite, and Henry Schoonmaker, Diana’s love interest. While I wasn’t in love with these books from the first book, and I don’t really like any of the characters, this series picks up with the second book and I think I’ll end up loving it. The writing is also decent, while I have noticed that Godbersen does have a problem with repeating adjectives, she does know how to sufficely mimic the styles of books from that time period. And, I must say that this book has one of my biggest guilty pleasures- costume porn. Historical costume porn. I can see how some people might be bored with lengthy descriptions of dresses, but I live for them. Overall, this series is deliciously addictive and a must read for any history lover.

Bright Young Things trilogy by Anna Godbersen

Anna Godbersen is well known for these fluff historical fiction serieses, and I honestly really want her to put out another series- maybe a 1950s New York cafe society or 1960s jet set series? Please? Anyway, despite my initial disappointment with The Luxe series I immediately fell in love with the Bright Young Things trilogy (how I wish it wasn’t a trilogy!), probably because I’m a little obsessed with the 1920s. These books star three girls (it’s usually three for some reason- don’t ask me why), Cordelia Grey, a small town girl who finds out her father’s a big time bootlegger in New York, Letty Larkspur who is Cordelia’s best friend and goes to New York to be a star, baby, and, my absolute favorite character, Astrid Donal, who is a socialite, the daughter of a former grande dame and the sister-in-law of Cordelia. These books are packed with drama, gorgeous dresses, and pretty decent Lost Generation imitation writing. While they do have some of the same problems as The Luxe, I still like them more than I will probably ever like The Luxe. I only have one book left, and am a little sad about it, but I’m sure it will be great. I do think the covers are horrible, though, so much worse than the covers for The Luxe, but that’s so minor compared to content. If The Luxe appeals to you, and you are as obsessed with the Jazz Age as I am, then these books are definitely for you.

The Royal Circle trilogy by Katherine Longshore

I’m a bit hesitant to put these on this list. While Godbersen’s serieses were automatic picks, both Gilt and Tarnish got lower mediocre ratings from me, mostly because of a few very persistent problems I have with her writing and character development. At the same time, though, these books are really addictive, and I am reading them because I wanted something I didn’t have to think too much about (same reason I picked up both of Godbersen’s serieses in the first place), and I got that from these books. Besides, I am more curious about the Tudors because of these books, so there’s that. I do love the descriptions of the dresses, and what court intrigue and drama there is, which probably is the reason I decided to just put them on here. Each book follows a different figure during the Tudor times, so really it’s more of a loose trilogy of companion novels rather than one that follows the same set storyline throughout all 3 books. Gilt follows Catherine Howard told through the eyes of her lady’s maid and friend Kitty Tylney, Tarnish follows Anne Boleyn and her rise to the position of Henry VIII’s mistress, and Brazen, which I haven’t read yet, follows Mary Howard who was married to Henry Fitzroy, the illegitimate son of Henry VIII. I suppose the only thing they have in common is that they’re all Howards during the Tudor times. I’m sure other people would probably be more into this series than I am, but for what it’s worth I do think Longshore has great ideas but they lack in execution. I wouldn’t recommend these books if you hate romance, but if you loved The Luxe and the Tudors and always wanted to combine the two, then these books are for you.

The Grisha trilogy by Leigh Bardugo

I feel like a lot of fantasy-loving people are going to be confused by this, so let me preface by saying these books are one of the few fantasy novels I have really liked. However, they aren’t very great content-wise. They’re very YA-y, very cliche, Alina is like most YA heroines, and frankly if it wasn’t for the Russian-inspired world (though I will say this, apart from some words and architecture it’s not really Russia at all, which was a bit disappointing not going to lie). I wouldn’t have picked these books up at all, let alone stuck with the trilogy. But I loved The Darkling, so there’s that, even though I still haven’t read any of the novellas because fuck that. I also love the covers, which is totally one of the reasons I picked up these books. So what are these books about? They’re about a girl named Alina who discovers that she has the power of light and… I don’t know. I can’t describe fantasy plots for the life of me, sorry. I picked up these books after reading Six of Crows, which isn’t on here because Six of Crows is honestly excellent and not a guilty pleasure at all. I would recommend these books for the lovers of dark fantasy, and the lovers of books like the Red Queen for just some fun escapist fiction, nothing really more than that. The name Grisha also makes me laugh, since the English equivalent of Grisha is basically Greg (Grisha is the diminutive for Grigori, which is the Russian version of Gregory).

Glitter duology by Aprilynne Pike

The best thing about this book is probably the cover. It is a pretty rocking cover not going to lie. But the actual book itself, described as being “Breaking Bad in Versailles” is really more historical fiction with some science fiction elements thrown in, with a throwaway love interest, a horrible female protagonist, and lots of fun court intrigue and pretty dresses. Glitter isn’t great, but it’s so much fun to read. It’s about a girl named Danica who, through her mother’s blackmail, finds herself engaged to the future king of Versailles, and something about murder and drugs, and yes, this story is confusing. It’s ridiculous, the worldbuilding is shaky and really makes no sense, and yet it’s so addictive. This is one of the few books where I actually preferred plot over characters, because the plot was so good and the characters were so bad. But it’s a fun piece of fiction for someone who is in the mood for something like that. I can’t wait for the sequel, especially the cover reveal.

Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

I already have a review for this book up here, so I’ll make this one brief. This book is melodramatic, cliche, and absolutely engrossing. If you’re interested to hear my other thoughts on it, click the link above. And read it, you won’t regret it.

Drag Teen by Jeffery Self

I read this book back in June, about a week after I watched the excellent documentary Paris Is Burning. And if you expected Paris Is Burning, this is not it. I assume this is more on the RuPaul side of things, but I have only watched like .5 of an episode of RuPaul (though I want to watch more since it seems like a scream), so if you want some deep story about drag culture and what it means, then keep looking. If you want a fun and lighthearted read that circles around a teen drag pageant, then this is for you. I’ve always been fascinated by the world of gay men, especially drag, for some reason. My cousin is involved in drag. Whenever I do my annual reread of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, I always look forward to the parts with Miss Chablis, the Grand Empress of Savannah. This book is about a boy who left his family in Florida to go on a road trip with his best friend and boyfriend to participate in a drag show in the hopes of winning enough money to go to college. I usually avoid books like these, very much YA contemporary, with quirky titles and LGBT main characters, because honestly they’re all the same, but I’m very happy I picked this book up. I do have a few reserves, like that it contains basically every gay cliche known to YA and that there is one part that they insult people who work on cars as being so easy any “idiot” could do it. That annoyed me, since it carries heavy implications of looking down on the working class of mechanics who usually aren’t college-educated as being mostly brainless idiots. The next time your car breaks down, Self, why don’t you try fixing it yourself instead of taking it to a mechanic, see how that turns out. But that’s just me, since I have a father who loves cars with a passion and loves talking about them and working on them and also happens to be a very successful engineer. But other than that, this book is nothing more than fun, but I highly recommend it.

The Cellar by Natasha Preston

Oh, The Cellar. How I love to hate you. This is really more of a love to hate read than an actual guilty pleasure read, but I’ve still reread it more times than I can count. This book follows a girl named Summer who is kidnapped by a guy that would make Disney characters laugh their asses off (get this, they actually call him Clover), with a snappy catchphrase and oh my God I’m giggling just thinking about this book. I think one of my favorite parts is Summer’s boyfriend, Louis, who makes me think of James Hurley, but even more of a drama queen (well I guess in Louis' favor he wasn’t kissing Summer’s best friend the same day she was went missing). Really, the “from the Wattpad sensation” on the cover probably should have tipped me off. Whenever I want a laugh, or need to get over a heavy read, I pick this book up. Recommended for those who want a bad parody of YA thrillers or realistic horror.

Book Courtship Tag

Happy Tag Tuesday! This is the last of the Valentine's tags, and my personal favorite- the Book Courtship Tag. This came from Hi I Love Books, and without further ado, let's get into it!

Phase 1 - Initial Attraction: A book that you bought because of the cover
I don't really cover buy because it's a waste of money in my humble opinion. Maybe Glitter by Aprilynne Pike? The cover is the best thing about that book after all.

Tell me you would be able to resist this cover

Phase 2 - First Impressions: A book that you got because of the summary 
The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison for this one. Such a cool idea - with great execution, too.

Most of my books could have gone for this, though, since I only really either summary buy or author buy

Phase 3 - Sweet Talk: A book with great writing 
The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra. That book is beautiful.

Second favorite book of the year for a reason

Phase 4 - First Date: A first book of a series which made you want to pursue the rest of the series
Don't really read a lot of series(es?), but let's go with Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen for this one. Loved it.

First book is still the best, I think

Phase 5 - Late night phone calls: A book that kept you up all night long
Damage Done by Amanda Panitch. I think. I don't usually stay up late because I'm a bitch to wake up if I don't get plenty of sleep.

One of the best YA thrillers I've ever read

Phase 6 - Always on my mind: A book that you could not stop thinking about
Unwind by Neal Shusterman. So much still reminds me of this book even though it's been awhile since I reread it. Also Scythe by Neal Shusterman, or really any Shusterman novel. They stick in your head.

I love this book. And the rest of the series, as well

Phase 7 - Getting Physical: A book in which you love the way it feels
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. Even though it has those stupid uncut pages, it still feels so comfortable in my hand and has a nice weight.

Gorgeous book, in more ways than one

Phase 8 - Meeting the Parents: A book in which you would recommend to your friends and family
I've recommended Six of Crows (by Leigh Bardugo) to a lot of people because most of the book lovers I know like fantasy, so I like that I can recommend a book to people now.

I would have said this book for the last one, but I'm trying not to be repetitive

Phase 9 - Thinking about the future: A book or series that you know you'll re-read many times in the future

The Book Thief, or really any Markus Zusak book. I love them all, and I will reread them many times.

How can I not say my all time favorite book for this one? It's amazing in every way

What are some of your answers to this tag? Comment down below! Sorry, I'm kind of tired from travelling home in the morning and then writing two reviews for the books I've read while on vacation. And there are three more I have to write, as well as finish my February TBR and do many other things. God, this month is hell, I tell you.

Valentine's Book Tag

Happy Valentine's Day! Naturally, I'm single. And sick. But it's the day of love, and I do like the idea of Valentine's Day because I'm more of a romantic than I come across as I'm sure. 

That being said, I hate romance books. I don't know, I've tried to read romance and I just find it really boring and repetitive. Usually, romance novels are like 400 pages and when all the book is about is two people falling in love those 400 pages feel more like 800 pages. So for the sake of my sanity, I mostly stay away from the genre. Still, I wanted to find a nice romantic book tag for the day of love (which also happens to fall on a Tuesday!) so I searched for one and ended up combining two, one from Little Book Owl and one from Jo Readsbooks. The links to both those videos are there if you just click on their names. 

1. Favourite basic romance plot

Not sure what you mean by "basic romance plot", but if I generally like twisted love stories or romances that end badly. Especially when one (or both) die. I just find them more interesting than most romances, which I find utterly boring. Give me tales of obsession, of dark love any day over fluff. I'm also a sucker for that whole Romeo and Juliet plot, as well as enemies falling in love but being too unable to compromise their principles to be together.

2. Favourite classic romance

Probably Wuthering Heights. Although, I don't like Catherine and Heathcliff because I don't really like Heathcliff, I prefer Cathy and Hareton. But I loved Wuthering Heights, even if I don't really like a lot of Regency/Victorian romances. It was so dark and the story was really unique, so the plot just stuck with me. I would say The Great Gatsby for this as well, but I personally don't consider it a love story, more of a warning against the whole idea of the American Dream.

3. Favourite feel good romance

I don't have one? I really don't like romance. At all. Let's just go with I Am the Messenger, since that book is usually my go-to feel-good book. Of course, it also makes me cry, too. Damn.

4. Favourite sad romance

Several,  but I'd like to call specific attention towards the love story in The Tsar of Love and Techno. Galina and Koyla broke my heart, especially because of how much they genuinely cared for each other and yet they couldn't work out, because Koyla was dead and Galina married. Honestly, this book needs more attention, for such a late book to have read it still managed to become my second favorite book of 2016 and one of my favorite books of all time.

5. Favourite genre to add romance to

I don't usually like romance, but I feel like for the most part I need it in fantasy or sci-fi because that's usually the best way for me to get attached to characters. Provided, of course, that the romance is a side plot- I hate romance as the main plot.

6. Least favourite romance of all time

Probably Wavy and Kellen from All the Ugly and Wonderful Things. Reminded me of Lolita, but without the obvious condemning of such relationships. Frankly, this book could have been marketed as a Lolita retelling.

7. Favourite literary couple in general

Said this in my OTP tag but Connor Lassiter and Risa Ward from the Unwind series. This couple has been through hell and back both apart and together and I just want them to stay together and live happily ever after.

8. If you could have one literary significant other, who would it be?

Actually, I have like 4. I would be perfectly happy with any of these boys.

Ed Kennedy from I Am the Messenger- though I would also take Cameron Wolfe. 

Aaron Rowe from The Dead I Know (obscure one)

Alexei Kalugin from The Tsar of Love and Techno (newest one)

Connor Lassiter from Unwind (longest crush- been in love with this boy since the 7th grade)

9. Relationship that never happened - You wanted them to get together but they never did. 

I also said this in my OTP tag but Nick the Chocolate Monster and Mary Hightower (from the Skinjacker trilogy) never actually ended up together and that almost broke my heart.

10. Favorite love triangle

I don't read a lot of books with love triangles, but Alina, Mal, and The Darkling (the Grisha trilogy), in my opinion, had the best done love triangle. There was almost no relationship angst, and I would have been happy regardless of who she ended up with.

11. Favorite tragic love story - like Romeo & Juliet - no spoilers! - A couple whose relationship was cut tragically short

How could I not chose Rudy Steiner and Liesel Meminger? I had to think about this question a bit, because I love so many tragic love stories, but this one just made my heart ache. It ended before it could properly begin.

Sorry about the lack of pictures; I might go back and edit pictures in later, but right now I'm exhausted from, you know, being sick. What are so of your favorite romances? Comment down below and tell me. I'm always curious to hear your opinions, even if they don't match mine.

Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma Review

WARNING: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS BELOW

“You can close your eyes to the things you do not want to see, but you cannot close your heart to the things you do not want to feel.”- Forbidden, Tabitha Suzuma

She is pretty and talented - sweet sixteen and never been kissed. He is seventeen; gorgeous and on the brink of a bright future. And now they have fallen in love. But... they are brother and sister.

Seventeen-year-old Lochan and sixteen-year-old Maya have always felt more like friends than siblings. Together they have stepped in for their alcoholic, wayward mother to take care of their three younger siblings. As defacto parents to the little ones, Lochan and Maya have had to grow up fast. And the stress of their lives—and the way they understand each other so completely—has also brought them closer than two siblings would ordinarily be. So close, in fact, that they have fallen in love. Their clandestine romance quickly blooms into deep, desperate love. They know their relationship is wrong and cannot possibly continue. And yet, they cannot stop what feels so incredibly right. As the novel careens toward an explosive and shocking finale, only one thing is certain: a love this devastating has no happy ending.

I don't agree with incest; it is the only taboo present in all modern cultures and I believe the reason why we are so turned off to it is purely through biological reasons. But I went into this book looking for a love story to read for Valentine's Day and, being me, I chose one that seemed as twisted as possible. I had no idea it was the exact kind of book I needed to read during this time.

Well, maybe need is too strong a word. I didn't realize how much I wanted an angsty romance novel, especially since with both my reviews for Gilt and Tarnish, you can see my dislike for books with romance as the main plot. But this book was so much fun to read, even though I don't think it was supposed to be fun. Sure, there was tons of melodrama- it seemed like every second something major was happening to this family- but unlike a lot of books I read I wasn't exhausted by all this drama. I was invested in this story in this family, I ignored the fact I found the two younger children, whom most of the drama revolves around, flat. Surprisingly, though, I didn't hate any of the characters. And Suzuma also surprised me several times in the book, like with her reluctance to fully commit to Kit's troubled bad boy persona, creating a character that, well, seemed like a fully developed book character. And she especially pleasantly surprised me when Maya goes out with Nico. Now, it would be so easy for her to make Nico into the stereotype of a hollow, shallow rich boy dickhead. But she didn't. Nico was nice and kind and gentlemanly, which made more sense in the grand scheme of things. If she made Nico a douche, it wouldn't show the growing love between her and Lochan as well as it had if he was nice. It would make sense for her to not want to date him if he was mean, whereas if he was nice and interesting, her reluctance to date him showed her feelings more clearly. Even the mother wasn't entirely villainized.

I mean, are there problems, sure. The writing was more of the get the job done variety than the beautiful sentences variety. Lots of telling, little showing, but it didn't bother me too much, especially because the story had a stronger storyline than most romance novels do. I also appreciated the lack of purple prose. The characters were hard to tell apart at times, and I would sometimes get confused as to who was speaking. There was also a lot of cliched dialogue and even the characters themselves weren't very well rounded. There was one scene, when Maya and Lochan are having this dramatic, angst-filled screaming argument in the middle of a road in the rain at night and I just dissolved into a fit of helpless giggles. Lochan's constant mood swings and Maya's blandness also shouldn't make me like this book, but I still ate everything that happened up. My only real complaint is that the chapters are too long, making it harder for me to stop someplace, but honestly the addictive quality of this book also made it hard for me to stop- I hadn't realized I read 100 pages until I looked down, which says a lot considering romance novels usually drag for me and this book was a whooping 436 pages.

I'd love to say that this book was thought provoking and challenged my idea of what incest is, but, while I liked that the reasons why people might have romantic and sexual feelings towards their siblings was explored, I didn't really get much substance out of it. I did really love Lochan and Maya's conversation about how men are always automatically considered the bad guys in all situations, whereas women are the victims It Takes One which I think always needs to be said. The ending surprised me in some ways too, I knew they would get caught (think it's fairly obvious) but how that situation played out gave me a deeper respect for Suzuma.

Overall, I'm so happy I read this book. It reminded me a lot of The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay, and while I do think Millay has the better writing style, I would probably reread this book over The Sea of Tranquility if given the choice. It was more fun to read. I hadn't realized I was in a miniature book slump since reading Lolita, and Forbidden was just the book I needed to snap out of it. This book will definitely go on my guilty pleasure shelf.

7.5-8 out of 10

Tarnish by Katherine Longshore Review

WARNING: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS BELOW

“I will no longer be judged by the standards of others. I will judge myself. I will not live by someone else's rules. I will make my own.”- Tarnish, Katherine Longshore

Anne Boleyn is the odd girl out. Newly arrived to the court of King Henry VIII, everything about her seems wrong, from her clothes to her manners to her witty but sharp tongue. So when the dashing poet Thomas Wyatt offers to coach her on how to shine at court—and to convince the whole court they’re lovers—she accepts. Before long, Anne’s popularity has soared, and even the charismatic and irresistible king takes notice. More than popularity, Anne wants a voice—but she also wants love. What began as a game becomes high stakes as Anne finds herself forced to make an impossible choice between her heart’s desire and the chance to make history. 

I actually like the covers of these books. I like the way they look on the shelf together too. But as a whole, I don't think I really like the books themselves.

I wasn't expecting to read this book next. But I didn't want to start my Valentine's Day book until it was closer to actual Valentine's Day so I pulled this book off my TBR stack and figured it would be a quick read. I ended up having to finish it at 10 o'clock at night because I didn't want to carry reading it into Monday. This book was not the quick read Gilt was for me. Frankly this book could have been cut down at least 100 pages and still would have made a cohesive narrative. But I am seeing some writing issues that I can't write off as rookie mistakes any more. I can tell that Longshore has a problem with repetition. The overused sheep metaphor was used a lot, as well as the whole idea of being trapped and the amount of times the word tarnish (or a form of the word) appeared made me want to take a shot every time it showed up. I also noticed a big problem with Longshore's dialogue, and that is that she'll have some really authentic-sounding dialogue, and it really fits in well with the time period and then all of sudden modern words and phrases will jarringly appear. I noticed it in Gilt, but dismissed it as an easy fix. The fix never happened, so now I have to talk about it. Bad, Longshore, bad.

Anne was another big problem. One Goodreads reviewer commented that it seemed like Anne had been declawed, and that is true. The Anne in this novel seemed like some feminist, too modern for the time she grew up in. That is false, and frankly insulting to the real Anne Boleyn, who was so much more than that. I wish this book had portrayed her as the ruthless social climber she probably was instead of foisting her into this role of a whiny girl who just wanted love and especially Daddy's love. She would never have truly fallen for a poet, she was more pragmatic than that. She aimed far higher than that. I also snorted with laughter at her whole "Mary (as in Henry's daughter Mary) will be queen" speech. She hated her stepdaughter, and the only reason why she would have been in favor of a queen was because of her own daughter. I think I also laughed because the whole speech was about how women might be better leaders than men, but then you realize she's arguing for a woman who ordered the death of hundreds of Protestants at the stake and placed her own half sister (Anne's daughter, nonetheless) under house arrest, earning the nickname Bloody Mary. I guess women aren't better leaders after all. I was also disappointed that a key part of her personality was left out and that was her Protestantism. Anne was a huge champion of Erasmus, and often gave her lady's maids his pamphlets or work to read.

I noticed that whenever Longshore wants to show that so and so is a bad guy she overdoes it, like with James Butler. Yeah, he probably wasn't a peach, but she way over did it. His sexism was laughable because it was so over the top. Also, the fat and undesirable potential fiance? Someone's read Catherine Called Birdy, I see. I also didn't really care about Thomas Wyatt, and all the romantic scenes with him just made this book drag. I wanted more court intrigue, not more romance for a couple that didn't work out. And then there was Anne's heel-face love for Henry. She literally went from being in lurve with Wyatt to falling hard for the king out of nowhere. Both Gilt and Tarnish lagged horribly in the middle, and I think it's because a whole lotta nothing happened. Which normally, I'm fine with, but I have to actually give a damn about the characters and the nothing that fills those pages can't be romance, because romance is even more boring than no plot at all. 

So what do I like? As much as I didn't like Anne, I liked that she was in fact the narrator and not some side character like in Gilt. It made the story feel more centralized. I liked Longshore's author note at the end. As I mentioned in my Gilt review, it is nice to see Henry VIII portrayed the way he is in these books. I liked George, and I liked their sibling relationship, even if it isn't entirely accurate. George and Wyatt's friends were great, and they reminded me of the Life or Death Brigade from the Gilmore Girls, which I loved. And of course, the costume porn was great, even if I did get annoyed by Anne's critique of the ceruse, especially the medical effects of it. It's unlikely that Anne would know that the make-up caused women's hair and teeth to fall out, especially since this is a pre-Enlightenment society when medicine was very, very primital. 

I'm still going to read Brazen, mostly because, and I have to hand it to Longshore, these books are hella addictive. I also think she has interesting ideas that lack in execution. Once I've finished Brazen, which I already ordered, I'll write my final thoughts on the series, but I feel like right now I'm continuing with the series because I have to, not because I want to.

5 out of 10

The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko by Scott Stambach Review

WARNING: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS BELOW

“How do you even start a book you know is going to be your last?”- The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko, Scott Stambach

Seventeen-year-old Ivan Isaenko is a life-long resident of the Mazyr Hospital for Gravely Ill Children in Belarus. For the most part, every day is exactly the same for Ivan, which is why he turns everything into a game, manipulating people and events around him for his own amusement.

Until Polina arrives. 

She steals his books. She challenges his routine. The nurses like her. 

She is exquisite. Soon, he cannot help being drawn to her and the two forge a romance that is tenuous and beautiful and everything they never dared dream of. Before, he survived by being utterly detached from things and people. Now, Ivan wants something more: Ivan wants Polina to live.

Sorry for the radio silence this week. I underestimated the amount of time it would take me to read a book, and then decided last minute that I wouldn't write a review in favor of discussing it in my February Wrap-Up. So stay tuned for that. I picked this book up primarily because of the setting and also because it reminded me, in a very superficial way, of All That Is Solid Melts into Air, which as you know, I loved. This book was not like that. This book was more like The Fault in Our Stars with added radiation. But let's start from the beginning, shall we?

I actually kind of liked the introduction. It reminded me a lot of the way Lolita (that is the aforementioned book that took up most of my week) opened up, with a made-up literary agent telling his thoughts on the story. In fact, the structure of the book is very Lolita-esque, except instead of Humbert Humbert pleading his case we get Ivan Isaenko describing his intense love for the dead Polina. Give me Humbert Humbert any day. He was a far better main character, interesting in a despicable way and real in a horrific way. But, of course, Lolita is one of the greatest English language books of all time (by the way, one of my nitpicks is that Lolita isn't considered Russian literature because, yes, the author was Russian but the book was written in English and has nothing to do with Russia at all). Needless to say, this book is not. And a lot of that had to do with the titular character himself. 

Ivan's problem was that he, like all the other characters in this book, were obviously just that. Characters. The last time I felt this way, as you might remember, was earlier in the month when I read History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund. The worst offenders of this were Ivan and Polina. They read like any main character and love interest in any pretentious teen novel. Ivan was supposed to be brilliant and well-read, with some "adorable" Sheldon Cooper aspects to make him seem quirky and different and like he doesn't connect with humans the way others do. I hate these types of protagonists so much, because I find them annoying, hence why I don't like John Green MCs. They constantly talk about the Universe and the inevitability of death and act like it's the first time anyone has ever had such thoughts before, because no one can rival them in their depth. Of course, this is probably a matter of personal preference, and I for one prefer Zusakian daydreamers or tall dark and gloomy (think the literary equivalent of Harold from Harold and Maude) as my leading men, since I find them more sympathetic (and, let's be honest here, more attractive too). Polina was even more hollow than Ivan. Despite Stambach's efforts to give her interests in hopes that would give her a personality, she was still nothing. I wonder, now, if the author was trying to do to her what Nabokov had Humbert do to Lolita, make her into a dream for Ivan to love rather than an actual person, but I think I'm giving the author too much credit in that interpretation. Their romance made me feel nothing, and her death felt too emotionally manipulative to actually affect me.

My next problem lies with two of the supposed "antagonists", chiefly Nurse Lyudmila. Now, one of the author blurbs compared this book to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. With respects to Mr Butler, this book has about as much in common with One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest as The Fault in Our Stars does. The only thing that I found even remotely similar was the character of Nurse Lyudmila. Stambach obviously wanted to make her into a Nurse Ratched-type character, but it was unsuccessful mainly because Stambach never developed her. Nurse Ratched is one of my favorite fictional characters of all time because of how absolutely evil she is. Kesey never wasted time having Chief tell us explicitly what a sociopath Ratched was, he showed us. Nurse Ratched is the only fictional character who has ever actually made scared me. Her tactics are purely psychological; I don't think she's ever actually hit a patient. She doesn't need to. Now let's compare her to Nurse Lyudmila. Ivan spends all this time telling us what a psycho she is, but we see no actual evidence of that except for when she hit Polina and injured Ivan's hand. That is so out of the blue that it just makes her feel even more flat than she was before. All it made me do was wish for the actual Nurse Ratched to show up. I'm sure that would have improved this book immensely.

But by far my biggest disappointment was the lack of actual Russian or Belarusian culture. With the exception of a few Russian words interspersed and casual mentions of Slavic culture, as well as the whole Chernobyl thing, with a few name changes this book could have taken place in an American hospital no problem. It's even inaccurate in the little things that really make a story real. I remember one particular erroneous scene when Polina is speculating what Nurse Lyudmila calls the director, whose name is Mikhail, in bed. She mentions both Mick and Mickey when really the only nickname that Mikhail really has is Misha. A simple Google search could clear that right up. There's also the inclusion of a black nurse named Katya. What could have really worked is if she was an African American or English nurse who came to Belarus to work at the hospital, kind of like as if she was in a sort of "nurses without borders" program. Of course, she would also have an English or American-sounding name, like Kate. The Slavic countries are some of the most Caucasian countries in the world because the only way to get diversity is to get immigrants, and no one in their right mind would want to immigrant to Belarus in 2005 when the economy sucked thanks to the downfall of the Soviet Union. She also spoke in a very stereotypically American black dialect, calling Ivan "child" a lot. That's not even touching upon the blatantly racist reputation that many Slavic countries have.

On that note, nitpicks! Most of these have to do with medical terms and such that I consulted Nurse Mother as well as Google about. Number 1: I think Stambach needs to look up the difference between a coma and a catatonic state, as well as the definition of a coma. One can't fake a coma, and come out of that faked coma in time for dinner because a coma is a prolonged unconscious state. It is also a medical condition. I think whenever Stambach refers to a coma he's talking about a catatonic state, which is something completely different (though he uses those two terms interchangeably). A catatonic state is characterized by the lack of motion or reaction to outside stimuli. The key here is that the person experiencing catatonia is still conscious. It's also mostly a psychological condition as opposed to a medical one. There's also another scene where Ivan has to give blood to Polina. Polina is AB-, Ivan is O-. Now, in my understanding of blood types, ABs are the universal receivers. So really, Polina could have just gotten blood from anyone; she didn't need it from Ivan. But that makes for a nice chapter heading, so I guess we're going with it.

A few other nitpicks include Polina wanting to read Lolita for her final book, and mentions that it's not very depressing. Now, Lolita, if you've been living under a rock your whole life, is about a girl who was sexually abused for years by her stepfather who was obsessed with her and when she finally escapes him she falls in with a guy equally as horrible only to meet another man, one who seemed to actually love her only to die a week before her 18th birthday in childbirth. On Christmas, nonetheless. I found that book infinitely more depressing than this one. Also, Ivan and Polina both find it suspicious when they discover he has a file that has the names of both his parents blacked out with marker, which leads to the revelation of his father. Ivan was born in 1987. The Soviet Union was still reeling from Chernobyl, and the censors were going crazy trying to cover up the impact. This book would have been more realistic if his parents turned out to be high Soviet officials who abandoned their infant son because it looked bad for them to have a radiation deformed child. That scenario would have worked well, and even given the opportunity for Stambach to get in some Soviet history, which would have made me very happy indeed.

And one last thing. Female last names in Russia end with an -a. The only exception being Ukrainian last names that end in -enko. Those stay the same. 

But what did I like about this book? The Russian lit references, of course. I liked the occasional reference to Russian culture (but Jesus stop with the cabbage okay could you get more stereotypical). The prose, while very much inspired by John Green's, went down easier than Green's usually does, with far less eyerolls than usual. I liked Nurse Nataliya. This book was a quick read for me, and I found it strangely compelling, like I couldn't put it down. I also appreciated that the horrors of cancer and radiation diseases weren't shied away from but exposed, something I found The Fault in Our Stars lacking in, though I question the realisticness of someone giving a blow job and then dying three days later.

Other than that, The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko, I'm afraid, didn't really impact me as much as everyone said it impacted them. I felt so emotionally removed from this book that I didn't even get a little choked up when Polina died. And don't tell me it's because I already knew she was going to die; I knew Rudy was going to die halfway through The Book Thief and I still cried like a baby when it actually happened. One scene in particular stands out to me as to how I felt about The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko. Ivan is wondering if his life is real or not after reading Lolita (a book where you can never be sure of anything that actually happens). That scene made me laugh, because Ivan's life never seemed real to me. He was always nothing more than a character in a story to me.

5 out of 10