Review | The Initiation by Chris Babu

The Initiation by Chris Babu
Series: The Initiation #1
Published On: February 27, 2018
Published By: Permuted Press
Genre: YA, Dystopian
Pages: 320
Format: eBook
Source: Netgalley
Rating: ★★½

Amazon | Goodreads

In a ruined world, Manhattan is now New America, a walled-in society based on equality. But the perfect facade hides a dark truth. 
A timid math geek, sixteen-year-old Drayden watches his life crumble when his beloved mother is exiled. The mystery of her banishment leads him to a sinister secret: New America is in trouble, and every one of its citizens is in jeopardy. 
With time running out, he enters the Initiation. It’s a test within the empty subway tunnels—a perilous journey of puzzles and deadly physical trials. Winners join the ruling Bureau and move to its safe haven. But failure means death. Can Drayden conquer the Initiation, or is salvation out of his grasp?

*A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

I wanted to love this book. As soon as I read the synopsis, I knew it was my kind of thing. I love anything that involves some kind of game or challenge so a life or death challenge taking place in abandoned subway tunnels, that sounds amazing to me. Unfortunately, not everything was executed particularly well in this book.

It wasn't the basic plot of this story that was disappointing. I felt the Initiation itself was great. The challenges were well thought out and I was on the edge of my seat while reading throughout most of them. Chris Babu did a great job of building suspense throughout and there were various twists that I did not see coming, which added to the suspense and emphasised the real 'life or death' aspect of the story.

What was disappointing were the characters. I was so invested in this intense challenge and feeling the desperation of all of the characters to get through it, and then in between the individual challenges I had to deal with Drayden. Our main character, in the middle of a LIFE OR DEATH challenge, spends almost all of his time thinking about which girl he likes more. I just couldn't get past the fact that was all he seemed to care about for much of the book. I also found the drama with Alex to be completely unnecessary. It seemed to escalate quite dramatically and I didn't really see the reasoning behind it.

Outwith the Initiation, I found the world building to be quite impressive. New America, formerly Manhattan, is split into several zones, and though this may not seem like much world building would be involved as it is simply using a place that already exists, it felt like a whole new place entirely. The changes to society and how people live were described in a way that made it seem less like fiction and more like a possible future.

While the world was well developed, many aspects felt a bit unoriginal. There were just a few too many things that were very similar to well-known dystopians. The zones for example, seemed like a cross between the districts in The Hunger Games and the factions in Divergent. Eli Holst was basically a slightly less creepy President Snow. This may just be coincidence but it did make me feel as though it was lacking some originality.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read. The intense challenges of the initiation kept me turning the page but some small issues with various other aspects of the story did hinder my enjoyment somewhat. I would recommend giving it a go if, like me, trials and challenges are things you enjoy in a book. While I didn't enjoy this one as much as I hoped I would, I do think it is a book that many will thoroughly enjoy.

Review | No-One Ever Has Sex In The Suburbs by Tracy Bloom

No-One Ever Has Sex In The Suburbs by Tracy Bloom
Series: No-One Ever Has Sex On A Tuesday #2
Published On: June 23, 2015
Published By: Lawsome Books
Genre: Chick Lit
Pages: 337
Format: eBook
Source: Bought
Rating: ★★½

Amazon | Goodreads

Ben and Katy haven't had sex since Ben found out about her one-night stand with her childhood sweetheart, Matthew. 
Not only that but the arrival of a new-born baby has blown their relationship apart like a hand grenade. 
Drastic measures are required, so they swap roles hoping that everyone will be happier... Only it’s not as easy as they thought. When a desperate Ben starts secretly accepting help to solve his childcare disasters – from Matthew’s wife – it could mean the end of everything. Can their relationship survive the lies and suspicions and will they ever have sex again?

No-One Ever Has Sex In The Suburbs is the sequel to a book I really enjoyed back in 2015, No-One Ever Has Sex On A Tuesday. I thought the first book was a lot of fun so when I discovered that there was a sequel I was excited to dive back into the lives of Katy, Ben, Matthew, Alison and all of their friends. I really hate to say it but this was such a disappointment for me. I was expecting it to be just as good as the first book and it really didn't live up to that standard at all.

After reading my review of the first book, this second book just seemed to be the complete opposite from everything I love in the first book. The only thing I did like in both books was that they were both fast-paced and the humour was still there in the second book. The plot did keep moving along quickly so although I wasn't necessarily enjoying it, I wasn't getting bored as things kept happening. The plot was a bit predictable though, nothing that happened surprised me at all. As I mentioned, this book did have the same humour as the first and I found myself trying not to laugh out loud in public a few times, though not as much as I had expected.

My favourite thing about the first book was the characters and I couldn't wait to be re-introduced to them. However, having children seemed to drastically change these people as I ended up hating almost all of the characters. I just couldn't stand they way they were behaving for the majority of the book. I thought Ben, who was one of my favourite characters, was incredibly immature. Alison annoyed me more than I can even put into words, I wanted to hit her at various points, and I'm not a violent person. And then we had Katy and Matthew, who were just boring and didn't really do much or bring a lot to the book at all. I still loved Daniel though, he had me cracking up and kept me sane while the other characters made me want to tear my hair out.

It really annoyed me while reading this that all of the big problems or issues seemed so trivial. I'm getting to tired of reading about characters that could solve all of their issues by having a decent conversation with their partner, and that was a major theme of this story. I'm not sure if I just don't fully understand the position these characters are in, having not yet had a baby or had to learn how to parent my child. Maybe I'm just not the right person to be reading this. As well as easily solved problems, a lot of the problems seemed very unrealistic to me. The main focus of the story is Ben struggling with being a first time father and being pretty clueless. As far as I am aware, every first time parent has those times where they feel like they don't know what they're doing and that's a pretty common knowledge thing. However, it was as though Ben was the only parent in the world to ever feel clueless. It just seemed stupid.

My other main problems with this book was that the relationships seemed unhealthy to me. I'm no expert on relationships but I often found myself thinking 'surely this isn't healthy in a relationship' multiple times while reading this. Surely it's not normal to just not talk to your partner about problems you have or how you're feeling? That was portrayed as completely normal in this book. I also couldn't understand why Ben felt the need to prove his ability as a father to such an extent. I can appreciate that he wanted to show Katy he could do it, but surely the first person you would go to with a parenting problem would be the other parent of the child? Again, this could be just because I don't have children yet and don't fully understand. Also Alison not letting Matthew parent his own children in any way seemed very odd to me! I couldn't get past that at all.

Overall, this book was sadly just a disappointment. Like I said, I'm not sure if I just didn't fully grasp the story due to having not yet had the experience of being a first time parent. I'm possibly not the right person to be reading this book, but from my inexperienced point of view I just found it to be quite problematic. To me, this was a case of a really good book that did not need to be ruined by an unnecessary sequel. I do still enjoy Tracy Bloom's writing and her humour so I will be picking up her other books at some point.

Review | We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach

We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach
Published By: Simon & Schuster
Published On: March 24, 2015
Genre: Contemporary
Pages: 370
Format: Paperback
Source: Bought
Rating: ★★½

Amazon | Goodreads

Before the asteroid we let ourselves be defined by labels: The athlete, the outcast, the slacker, the overachiever. 
But then we all looked up and everything changed. They said it would be here in two months. That gave us two months to leave our labels behind. Two months to become something bigger than what we'd been, something that would last even after the end. 
Two months to really live.

When it is revealed that an asteroid is headed straight for Earth, four high school students must learn to break away from their defining labels. In the two months before the asteroid is due to hit, the athlete, the outcast, the slacker and the overachiever are drawn together as they attempt to deal with the reality that they could all be wiped out completely.

This book wasn’t really what I was expecting. From the synopsis, I was expecting some kind of empowering story about getting rid of high school labels and stereotypes and all coming together in the face of disaster. I didn’t feel like I got anything like that from this book. I don’t think there was any real ‘shedding of labels’ as they seemed to be separated by their labels from beginning to end.

I expected more about the asteroid, less about the high school drama. Considering there is currently an asteroid headed for Earth throughout this story, I was definitely expecting that to be more of the focus. Instead the book became more about the drama of high school. That aspect seemed quite juvenile and the characters definitely seemed to have their priorities in the wrong order.

As this wasn’t what I was expecting, it became clear it just wasn’t my kind of book. What I was expecting from the synopsis would have been my kind of book. This just wasn’t the kind of story I enjoy reading and that was a little disappointing. This was just an average read for me because of that.

The characters were okay. I didn’t particularly love the characters, or really feel any kind of connection to them, but they weren’t bad characters. I enjoyed reading about them for the most part and found their lives quite interesting. I did like some more than others, particularly Peter.

I really did not like the romance in this book. To me the romance just seemed like the most ridiculous forced love triangle. I don’t know if Wallach just decided ‘oh the world could be ending, they need to find love’ and thought he would throw in some instant love triangle but it certainly seemed that way to me. I was definitely not a fan of the romance.

Overall, it was an interesting premise that could have been written so well. Unfortunately, as much as I found the story interesting, there was far too much high school drama and forced romance for me to enjoy it. It was an average read for me but as this was just not my kind of book, I can seen why others may enjoy it.

Review | Make It Count by Megan Erickson

Make It Count by Megan Erickson
Series: Bowler University #1
Published By: William Morrow Impulse
Published On: June 3, 2014
Genre: New Adult/Contemporary
Pages: 336
Format: eBook
Source: Bought
Rating: ★★½

Amazon | Goodreads

Kat Caruso wishes her brain had a return policy, or at least a complaint hot-line. The defective organ is constantly distracted, terrible at statistics, and absolutely flooded with inappropriate thoughts about her boyfriend’s gorgeous best friend, Alec…who just so happens to be her brand new math tutor. Who knew nerd was so hot? 
Kat usually goes through tutors like she does boyfriends—both always seem to bail when they realize how hopeless she is. It’s safer for her heart to keep everyone at arm’s reach. But Alec is always stepping just a little too close. 
Alec Stone should not be fantasizing about Kat. She’s adorable, unbelievably witty, and completely off limits. He’d never stab his best friend in the back… 
But when secrets are revealed, the lines of loyalty are blurred. To make it count, Alec must learn messy human emotions can’t be solved like a trigonometry function. And Kat has to trust Alec may be the first guy to want her for who she is, and not in spite of it.

Kat has always struggled with school, specifically math, and can’t seem to get a tutor to stick with her. Luckily for Kat, she finds one tutor who is willing to work hard to get her the grades she needs; her boyfriend’s best friend, Max. However, when Kat finds herself thinking more about her tutor than the math work, things start to get complicated.

I wanted to like this but it was a bit of a disappointment. I was looking forward to a fun, light-hearted story about characters my age that I could really relate to, and that is exactly what I got. Unfortunately, though, it just wasn’t enough for me and I ended up having a few issues with the book that made it a little disappointing.

The plot became a bit boring and repetitive. It started off great, and I was really enjoying it, until it all just became too familiar. I felt, at some parts, as though I was re-reading parts of the story I had already read. The characters had the same arguments and issues over and over again, making for a repetitive, and eventually slightly boring, read. It could have been a really great plot, but it felt as though scenarios were repeated just to fill up the pages.

One of the redeeming qualities of this book was the really great characters. I really liked Kat as a main character. She was quirky and funny, a very different character than I am used to reading about. She is definitely not your typical main character but she was really fun to read about. I also really liked Alec, mainly because I can’t resist a super sweet but kind of sexy nerdy guy. He was an adorable love interest, for the most part. The characters definitely made the book more enjoyable for me.

While I didn’t love this book, there were some funny moments throughout. Kat’s wit and quirky personality, combined with some of the interesting situations throughout the book, resulted in some amusing moments. Again, these funny moments were mainly due to the great characters and their witty, unique personalities.

I didn’t think this was a bad book but there was nothing special about it. Yes, the characters were very good, but there was nothing really great about this book. There was nothing to make it any different from the norm or stand out among some really great new adult books. The fact that this could really be any book with the ‘girl falls for boy she shouldn’t’ storyline, without anything particularly different, was probably the most disappointing thing for me.

One thing that surprised me when reading this was the fact that the cheating aspect did not annoy me. I often find cheating within books to be uncomfortable to read about and it can make me dislike characters. However, I think as it was made clear that the cheating aspect was the premise of the story, I didn’t have an issue with it. It is also very much down to Megan Erickson’s writing that I did not find it an uncomfortable topic to read about.

Overall. I didn’t love this books but it was a very quick, reasonably fun read. The plot may not have been anything unique or special, but Megan Erickson definitely knows how to write some good characters. The characters were the most redeeming thing about this book, in my opinion. I don’t think I would have enjoyed it much at all if it weren’t for the quirky, unique and enjoyable characters.