Review: When You Were Mine By Rebecca Serle

I liked this much more than I thought I would.

Initially my interest was piqued by the new take on Romeo and Juliet - a modern adaptation from the point of view of Rosaline, the girl Romeo was desperately in love with until the moment he spotted Juliet. Having recently rewatched Romeo + Juliet and being put in an angsty teen mood, I decided to give When You Were Mine a go. But Rose was soon driving me nuts; she had basically no personality and depended upon her best friend, Charlie, to dictate her thoughts, feelings and actions. Every second line was, "Charlie says this" or "Charlie thinks that". Frustrated, I went looking for reviews to see what other people thought. While there were a fair few positive ones, what struck me were two quite negative, but thoughtful reviews by Emily May and Ashleigh Paige. I had a feeling I'd have the same reaction to the book as them, and came very, very close to DNFing.

I'm glad I stuck with it, because in the end I did like it - quite a lot, actually. While I think the criticisms that Emily, Ashleigh and others have made are valid, I thought that there was a good amount of growth over the course of the novel. Rob was a total dirtbag douchcanoe for ditching Rose the second her cousin Juliet comes to town, and while Rose still loved him, she did blame him as well as Juliet. Granted, Juliet got the brunt of the blame, but as Mandee points out, the slut-shaming aspect of this, though not ideal, is certainly true to life. That is how teen girls - and indeed, many adult women - act towards a girl who "steals" their guy. That doesn't mean the author endorses this behaviour as positive. It is simply true to life. I think what really helped was the way Juliet was given more layers and agency. I felt for her in the end, along with Rosaline. I still hated Rob, but I was sad about what happened. It's not spoiling anything to say this has a sad ending - it is an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet after all. I really liked the way Serle developed the tragic aspect of the story, and gave it a unique spin while maintaining an emotional punch.

Although When You Were Mine is heartbreaking at times, it does have quite a few lighthearted moments. The humour came primarily from Rose's friends, Charlie and Olivia. OK, so Charlie was a cow at times, and said some pretty awful things, but she was fiercely protective of Rose and not just a one-dimensional mean girl. Olivia was totally like Karen from Mean Girls, as Mandee mentions, which provided some entertaining moments. Then there was Len, the lovely, funny nerd who saw the real Rose and encouraged her to be herself and stand up for herself. He was very cute and a nice foil for the knobsticle Rob.

I don't think this book is for everyone, but I enjoyed it and found it to be a refreshing take on a done-to-death (no pun intended) story.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Eye Candy
Coz I watch way too much trashy teen drama:

Ashley Benson as Juliet

Penn Badgley as Len

Tyler Posey as Rob

Lucy Hale as Rosaline

Fine Print
Published: April 2012, Simon & Schuster
Get It: Fishpond

Pash, Pick or Pass: The Fuentes Brothers

Pash, Pick or Pass is back! I haven't had much time for blogging so far this year, but I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things from here on out. What better way to celebrate the return of Pash, Pick or Pass than with the Fuentes brothers?!

A refresher: Pash, Pick or Pass is a game where we pick from a random book trio and say who we'd pash (and dash), who we'd pick for a relationship and who we'd pass on all together.

The Contenders
From Simone Elkeles' Perfect Chemistry trilogy (as played in my imagination)...

Alex "I'm in a gang to protect my family" Fuentes

Carlos "I'm in a gang coz I'm hard core" Fuentes

Luis "I'm in a gang due to illogical plotting" Fuentes

My Choices

Pash: Carlos. He's a bit too douchey for my tastes, but he's hot, so I wouldn't mind a bit of alone time with him. 

Pick: Alex, all the way. He's just so adorable and sweet and awesome and smart and... yeah, I adore him.

Pass: Luis. He's kinda cute but I first met him when he was 11, so I'd definitely have to pass or things would get real awkward.

Who would you pash/pick/pass out of these bad boys? 

Review: Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles

I have never been so excited to get a book. After finishing Perfect Chemistry, the first in Simone Elkeles' series, I cursed myself for not having ordered the whole thing, and immediately went online to remedy my mistake. Then I waited. And waited. Everyone in my office was on book watch. Each day a book didn't come (or the wrong one did) was a disappointment. Then, when Rules of Attraction finally appeared on my desk...

Yep. I squealed. Then went home and DEVOURED it. I'm talking staying up 'til 2am even though I had to work the next day. I could not put it down. I sped through the pages, anxious for the next appearance of Alex and Brittany, plus excited to watch the developing relationship between Alex's little bro, Carlos, and Kiara, the girl whose family had taken him in.

Squealing aside, I was initially a little concerned that Rules of Attraction would feel like copypasta of Perfect Chemistry, but I needn't have worried. Sure, the two books are structurally and thematically similar, but the characters are completely unique. Carlos may be related to Alex, but the two are quite different. Carlos is even angrier at the world than Alex was, and takes his emotions out on those around him. As a result, he comes off as quite, well, douchey for a big chunk of the book. Of course, he's a good guy deep down; his sweetness just takes a little longer to surface than it did in Alex's case. Which makes him pretty amusing, but also incredibly frustrating and hard to warm to at first. It's OK though, coz his hotness in the second half of the book more than makes up for it.

What I liked most about Rules of Attraction, though, was not actually Carlos - it was Kiara. She was a bit of a dag, but I loved that she was smart, had unique interests, an awesome gay best friend, didn't care what other people thought of her and took no crap - especially from Carlos. She gave as good as she got, and it was totally hot. Plus she has an incredibly amazing family who were so fun to read about. At first I was like, are these people for real?! Taking in a gang member the same age as your teenage daughter is not exactly a smart move, when you think about it. But when Kiara's dad's background is revealed, it all makes sense. I loved the way they all looked after each other and enjoyed spending time together. Hello, Family Fun Night? Adorable!

The chemistry between Carlos and Kiara wasn't quite as explosive as it was between Alex and Brittany (for me, at least), but it was still pretty fiery. I loved the glimpses we got of the older couple, too; they're so loved-up for most of the book and it's great to see them going strong. There was one plot twist that kinda threw me off, but thanks to the cheesetastic epilogue in Perfect Chemistry I knew everything would be OK. There's another extra cheesy epilogue in this installment, and I gotta admit I enjoyed it. I do love me a happily ever after.

Rating: 3/5

Eye Candy
I pictured Tyler Posey as Carlos because a) he's hot, b) he has Mexican heritage, c) he's hot, d) he looked hot doing the whole (highly stylised) gang thing in Best Coast's Our Deal film clip, and e) he's hot.

I pictured Tyler's Teen Wolf co-star Crystal Reed as Kiara, because I'm just THAT imaginative. In my defense, she does look kinda how I thought Kiara would - brunette, athletic...

Also? They're totally adorable together.

Related
The aforementioned Best Coast clip, which I watch at least twice a day. I'm obsessed.

Fine Print
Genre: Young Adult
Published: 2010
Publisher: Walker Books
Get It: Book Depository

Images via Tyler Posey Online and Ultimate Crystal Reed

Review: City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

I enjoyed this sequel a lot more than its predecessor, but it still irked me just a little bit.

Picking up about a week after the events of City of Bones, City of Ashes sees Clary and Jace dealing with (or rather, not dealing with) their feelings for each other while trying to figure out what the heck Voldemort Valentine is up to and who is behind the mysterious deaths of Downworlder teens (gee, I wonder).

The plot is well-paced and the writing is fine - though there were still a few inconsistencies (like the weather; trivial, I know, but distracting), and if I didn't get the message that Jace looks freaking angelic by the 96th mention of his luminous eyes/hair/jawline/nipples (not really, but almost), I definitely got it on the 97th. Still, I found myself more attracted to him this time round and I enjoyed the story a lot more, too - it was certainly hard to put the book down, and the characters stuck around in my mind even while I wasn't reading it.

BUT. I think one of the reasons I raced through it was because I was waiting for the resolution of a certain WTF plotline. A resolution that never came, leaving me extremely disappointed. In fact, if I hadn't already looked up spoilers and discovered that a resolution WAS coming eventually, I can't say I would have really enjoyed the book much at all. Overall, it brought up way more questions than answers, which I guess shouldn't have surprised me considering it's the second book in a series. But it made me super glad I had the next book handy, otherwise I have a feeling I would have been about 10 times more frustrated.

Rating: 3.5/5

Spoilery Talking Points

• I can't believe the incest thing is STILL being dragged out. It puts a serious damper on the steamy scenes. Boo!
• I thought the way Simon's transformation was dealt with was a little underwhelming. I mean, except for not being able to go in sunlight, it was like business as usual - and even that little speedbump is smoothed over by the end. There was no crazy thirst, no moping about on Simon's part - it was all just a little too easy. Unlike some other things (*cough*Jace and Clary*cough*).

Eye Candy
Same as City of Bones, plus...

Alexander Skarsgard as Valentine

Tyler Posey as Raphael

Adrian Pasdar as Luke

Bianca Lawson as Maia

Christina Hendricks as Jocelyn

Fine Print
Genre: Young Adult/Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Walker Books
Published: 2008
Get It: Book Depository