Review: Purity by Jackson Pearce

 Purity
Author: Jackson Pearce
Released: April 14, 2012
Genre: YA contemporary
Pages: 218 (hardcover)

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

"A novel about love, loss, and sex -- but not necessarily in that order.
Before her mother died, Shelby promised three things: to listen to her father, to love as much as possible, and to live without restraint. Those Promises become harder to keep when Shelby's father joins the planning committee for the Princess Ball, an annual dance that ends with a ceremonial vow to live pure lives -- in other words, no "bad behavior," no breaking the rules, and definitely no sex.

Torn between Promises One and Three, Shelby makes a decision -- to exploit a loophole and lose her virginity before taking the vow. But somewhere between failed hookup attempts and helping her dad plan the ball, Shelby starts to understand what her mother really meant, what her father really needs, and who really has the right to her purity."

There's a plethora of YA books centered on a teenage girl's quest to lose her virginity. This teenage girl's quest is a little bit different.

On her deathbed, Shelby's mother made Shelby promise three things: to listen to her father, to love as much as possible, and to live without restraint. As Shelby grows into teenagehood, her life is taken over by trying to keep the Promises: accomplishing the liberating acts on her "life list", and "obeying" her father by finding loopholes to his rules. Things take a twist for the worse when Shelby's father signs her up for the Princess Ball, a father-daughter dance in which the daughter must make a purity vow--meaning no sex until marriage. Completely freaking out (like any teenager would), Shelby discovers a loophole to the vow: lose her virginity before she takes the vow, and the vow becomes void.

As far as losing-virginity stories go, Purity's synopsis is a breath of fresh air. Purposefully losing your virginity as a promise to your mother? It's original, completely nutty, and totally hilarious. Unfortunately, the book itself is disappointing compared to the premise.

Many aspects of the story were cute, although be warned: despite the fluffy synopsis, this book covers some pretty heavy subjects. Shelby's strained relationship with her father rang true to many parent-teenager relationships out in the real world, and the father-daughter journey was, although difficult, very real and very hopeful. The book also deals with Shelby's struggles with living without a mother, God, faith, the meaning of love, and what feels like dozens of other themes at the same time. And for me, the was the problem. There are so many themes that force their way into the story that they become jumbled, and in the end, miss their points.

The character development wasn't the best for me, either. While I can understand that Shelby's life is ruled by the Promises, I just couldn't completely connect with her. It was almost as if she was just a character who played her part for this book and this book alone; I can't really imagine her life before Purity, and I certainly can't imagine it after. Same with Shelby's friends; Jonas just fell completely flat for me, and Ruby, while interesting, wasn't that interesting. And Jackson Pearce can write interesting characters, I know she can! Sisters Red and Sweetly proved that. The characters in Purity just somehow missed their marks.

But no need to completely give up hope. The story itself is quite sweet and does have a healthy dose of humour. And in the end, it's not about the sex; it's just a teenage girl's quest to find herself, and there isn't any teenager who can't relate to it. For a short and sweet story, this book is definitely an option. Just don't expect to find something too amazing.

My Rating:

                    

                                           

3 Brains.

P.S. High school. No time to read. No time to blog. I is very confuzzled. Expect fewer weekly posts from now on, fellow booknerds, but fear not and stick around! ^.^

Review: Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Title: Hush, Hush (Hush, Hush Trilogy #1)
Author: Becca Fitzpatrick
Released: October 13, 2009
Genre: YA fantasty
Pages: 391 (first edition hardcover)

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers

"Romance was not part of Nora Grey's plan. She's never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how hard her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her. Not until Patch comes along. With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Patch draws Nora to him against her better judgment.


But after a series of terrifying encounters, Nora's not sure whom to trust. Patch seems to be everywhere she is and seems to know more about her than her closest friends. She can't decide whether she should fall into his arms or run and hide. And when she tries to seek some answers, she finds herself near a truth that is way more unsettling than anything Patch makes her feel.

For she is right in the middle of an ancient battle between the immortal and those that have fallen - and, when it comes to choosing sides, the wrong choice will cost Nora her life."

If you've read Twilight, or any other vampire/werewolf/fallen angel novel for that matter, you've read this book.

Originality is not Hush, Hush's strong point. To any regular reader of YA fantasy, the synopsis will sound painfully and annoyingly familiar: smart but modest teenage girl Nora Grey leads a regular life until she meets the dark, mysterious and handsome Patch, who, for some unidentifiable reason, she feels incredibly drawn to. But she doesn't trust him! But he's so hot! But she thinks he's following her! But he's such a flirt! But he wants to kill her! But he's a tortured soul! And of course (not really a spoiler) he later turns out to be some mythical creature in disguise, romance ensues, yada yada yada.

Can I just say that this book is so uncannily similar to Twilight that it's not even funny? As I was reading it I almost screamed out (several times, may I add), "Why is this so similar to Twilight? Blah!" There are too many things to count: the small, cold, rainy town, the high school biology class, Patch following Nora around, Patch driving Nora around in his incredibly nice car, etc. Even the entire plot structure is basically the same, down to the final fight/confrontation scene with the villain, which, by the way, is incredibly reminiscent of the ballet studio scene in Twilight. You see what I'm getting at here?

Another thing this book has in common with other YA fantasy/romance novels: the not-very-interesting-yet-makes-me-want-to-pull-out-my-hair protagonist. I have a like/hate relationship with Nora Grey. In some ways she's absolutely typical of a Bella Swan-like character: she's "smart", apparently attractive to guys but doesn't know it, modest, and dull. BUT, she definitely has some redeeming characteristics. Nora is somewhat of an overachiever in school and in life. She tracks down Patch at a shady arcade just to finish her biology homework, and later on, when life gets mysterious, travels around, interviewing strangers for answers about the suspicious Patch and the possible-murderer Elliot. This is what redeemed Nora a bit for me: she's pushy. She's an overachiever and is, unlike other Bella Swan types, driven to take action and push for answers rather than stay stationary and simply ask stupid questions in her head. Granted, I would have liked to see more of that pushiness, but some personality is better than none. For that reason, I had respect for you, Nora Grey.

And then you had to go and be all stupid.

This is the makes-me-want-to-pull-out-my-hair part. I simply do not understand Nora's attitude towards Patch. Her first reaction towards Patch is the sensible, understandable one. He's a jerk. He's dangerous. He doesn't have good intentions. But after Patch starts showing more serious romantic interest towards Nora, all of her sense goes apparently straight down the drain. She doesn't listen to her senses; she listens to her teenage girl hormones and throws herself at Patch. It doesn't matter to her if he actually seriously planned on doing her physical harm and followed her around. All that matters is that OMG HE LOVES ME AND HE'S HOT! This really annoyed me. Why does Nora have to throw away all her good sense and reasoning and THINKING ABILITY just because a boy likes her? And that was when I lost a serious amount of respect for you, Nora Grey.


Patch himself is the most intriguing character in the book. He's the typical dark, dangerous bad boy, but at the same time brings some much-needed humor to the story. I can tell why lots of readers would like him, but one thing about him bothered me:

Why the heck does he like Nora?

I am as much confused about Patch's feelings for Nora as about Nora's feelings for Patch. It seems to me that Patch never describes his feelings for Nora as more than a physical lust, yet he a) confesses his love for her, and b) will apparently give up everything for her. When did this falling in love happen?! Can you really jump from pure lust into head-over-heels love so quickly, and with hardly any meaningful interaction? As you can probably tell, the romance in this book was all over the place for me.

I've got to admit, despite all these flaws, Hush, Hush has a leg up over Twilight. Some elements of the book are actually quite good. For one thing, Becca Fitzpatrick has a nice writing style. The climax/fight/confrontation scene is actually written quite well with unexpected twists and a lot of action. I could tell that Fitzpatrick spent a lot of thought and effort making all the novel's prior events build up to it. The dialogue is at times pretty interesting, and sometimes even entertaining, especially the dialogue between Nora and Patch. Patch's quips are snappy, funny, and definitely liven up the book a little. Vee, Nora's best friend/sidekick, also kicks a little life into the story. BUT BUT BUT. One thing about Becca Fitzpatrick's writing I have a serious problem with is lines like this:

"Patch leaned against the doorjamb. His mouth was pressed tight and lacked its usual twinge of humor. His eyes held more depth than I'd ever seen before. They were sharpened by a protective edge." (381)

It's not just Becca Fitzpatrick. Countless other books describe characters' emotions only through their eyes. So many books do this, and it's just not cool. Eyes that "held more depth" and were "sharpened by a protective edge", really? We get it, you want your male lead to be shown as a sensitive, tortured soul, but there are other ways of describing emotion. Reading lines like these, instead of feeling a pang of emotion for Patch I pretty much did this:

So yes, I definitely did have a lot of problems with this book, but Hush, Hush did have it's strong points. The writing, Patch's humour, Vee, the final action scene, and even Nora's sane side make me not have to smack this book against the wall, even if it is all an overused cliche. Will I be reading the rest of the series? Probably, but only in the desperate hope that the worst of the cheesiness is over.

My Rating:

3 Brains out of 5

Recommended if:
-you enjoyed Twilight
-you're big on romance

Review: Matched by Ally Condie

Title: Matched (Matched Series, #1)
Author: Ally Condie
Released: November 30, 2010
Genre: dystopia, science fiction
Pages: 366 (U.S./Canada paperback)

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile

Rating: 7.3/10 (Good)

"Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows he is her ideal mate . . . until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow."(less)

The dystopia trend in YA fiction right now is going at full speed, and publishers are churning out dystopian novels like there's no tomorrow. Matched by Ally Condie naturally had a lot of hype surrounding it (Look at that cover! Just look at it!) and was rumoured to be one of the best YA dystopian novels in years.

My expectations for this book weren't high in the first place; I knew better than to believe the hype created by publishing companies (shame on you for getting my hopes up all the time!). But hey, Matched exceeded my expectations! The book had quite a few flaws, but it was enjoyable at the same time.


My favourite thing about the novel was the narrator/female lead, Cassia. She's such a refreshing heroine because she's mentally tough without being hard or closed off to family and friends. In fact, she has a great relationship with family and friends in the novel. She's generally polite, intelligent, and likable (which is less common in YA than you'd think it'd be). Most of the background characters are well developed. I also enjoyed Ally Condie's writing style, which was smooth and enjoyable to read. 

Because this is a dystopian novel, setting is crucial to the success of the story. Unfortunately, Condie's world development of the Society just didn't do it for me. The dystopia just wasn't well developed enough. Some elements of it don't make any sense to me (why are teenagers allowed to have romantic flings outside of their matches in such a restrictive society?). The only reason I'll let this slide is because there is room for more development later in the series. Still, it's not an excuse. 


This novel goes at a snail's pace. For 366 pages, not very much happens. There is no real climax, and there are a lot of times when I feel that the author/narrator asks way too many questions and is just using them as filler. 


Most of all, Matched just didn't have the "disturbing" factor that a dystopian novel needs.


From all the negatives that I listed I'm sure it seems that I hated this book. But I didn't. I don't know. All in all, there's just too much potential in this series to give up hope on it. 


You might like Matched if you:
- don't mind slow books
- like science fiction
- like love triangles