Torn by Ashley S. Morgan

Summary

Isadora Rivers feels trapped. Her small town high school is suffocating her.

Another day of wannabe gangsters, dumb jocks, and Barbie clones, and she'll just lose it. Her keen emotional sensitivity is to blame. She sees through all of the poser behavior to the pain and insecurity simmering just below the surface, and it's overwhelming. She feels like she's literally drowning in other people's emotions.

This same sensitivity, however, makes her a great actress. Suffocating or not, her high school is one of the top arts schools in the country. Acting is not only her passion, but it also looks like her way out. If she can just score the lead role in the school play, she might get herself noticed by a Hollywood agent. But she's got a strong reckless streak, and it keeps getting her in trouble and jeopardizing her chances.

Riding her bike at top speed, she swerves in front of a car and nearly gets hit. The driver, Tristan Blake, turns out to be the mysterious new boy at school. From the moment their eyes meet, Isadora is irresistibly drawn to him. But as soon as he enters her life, things go horribly wrong. She begins having disturbing visions full of unimaginable glamour and unbearable darkness. He knows things about her he shouldn't. And he's somehow so familiar.

She soon discovers that her whole future is in jeopardy, and her only hope is to stay away from Tristan. But how can she turn away from the only boy she has ever loved? As a harrowing event looms closer, one that threatens to rip apart her psyche, Isadora must reach deep inside herself and find the strength to change her own destiny. But is she strong enough to do it?

Number of pages: 231

Summary

This summary was sent to me by the author a week or so ago, and I finally got around to it. It seemed like an interesting plot, not exactly the typical star-crossed lovers. It was a nice quick read, but I did have some issues with Torn that kind of turned me off to the idea of the story.

For one thing, the characters to me seemed a little  . . . off. It was like looking at a high school society as how and adult may see it. There were interesting characters, but they just seemed to interact like as if they were in a bad sitcom. The language used between the characters was pretty off. I don’t know if it is just my friends and me, but we don’t talk like the characters talked. It just seemed kind of fake to me.

As you can see by the bullet above, the book is 231 pages and not much at all. I am not opposed to small books, I actually enjoy a nice quick read every once in a while, but this story seemed to use a lot of those pages up for things that didn’t seem all that important. I feel like there was some stuff missing and then all of a sudden the big event came up.  Other than that stuff, I felt like the plot was pretty interesting. It is definitely not a plot that you see often, but the bad sitcom feel of it really turned me off to the story line. From 1-10? I give Torn a 4.

Extraordinary by Nancy Werlin

Summary

Phoebe finds herself drawn to Mallory, the strange and secretive new girl at school. Soon the two become as close as sisters . . . until Mallory’s magnetic older brother, Ryland, appears. Ryland has an immediate, exciting hold on Phoebe—but a dangerous hold, for she begins to question her feelings about her best friend and, worse, herself. Soon she’ll discover the shocking, fantastical truth about Ryland and Mallory, and about an age-old debt they expect Phoebe to pay. Will she be special enough to save herself.

• Number of pages: 392

Review

Extraordinary made me soooooo frustrated. I really am surprised I got through this book without throwing it in my pool or something drastic like that. I was so disappointed especially after reading Nancy Werlin’s book Impossible. Now THAT book was worth reading. This book had its semi- good moments, but to be honest, they were few. I don’t know what happened with this one. It was a good story, interesting plot . . . what went wrong?

Ah yes, I know! It was the characters! They were created right, but did they have to be like this? I mean, I get that Phoebe was suppose to be self conscious, but this book took that to the extreme. And I understand that fairies were tricking her, but come on people; she did some pretty stupid things on her own. And don’t even get me started on Ryland! The entire time I just wanted to punch that guy in the face. He is like the definition of “evil psycho fairy”. It wasn’t just that he is not the good guy, it’s that he is a complete and honest jerk who was obviously in need of heart. The minor characters of this book were great; it was just the main characters that really, REALLY bugged me. Like a lot. The only one that wasn’t that bad was Mallory, she was ok.

But I can’t blame all of it on the characters. I hate to say it, but this was kind of a snoozer. It was super slow, and it took me twice as long to finish this book than any other book I read. I did however finish it.

And I also got the moral of the book. It’s about what separates ordinary people from extraordinary people. The whole story was like a lesson in that aspect, and it did seem to stick with me. There were times when I was rooting for Phoebe. So adding up everything . . . from 1-10? I’m going to have to give it a 4.

A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce

Summary

As Charlotte struggles to manage the difficulties she inherits along with Stirwaters Woollen Mill, she discovers a shadow world at the fringes of the familiar: Dark magic, restless spirits, a mysterious Helper. A wicked uncle, an age-old curse.... How can Charlotte prevail with such forces allied against her? In this novel inspired by “Rumpelstiltskin,” the miller’s daughter of the fairy tale comes to life as a young woman determined to save her family and her mill--whatever the cost.

http://www.elizabethcbunce.com/elizabethcbunce/Books.html

Number of pages: 395

Review

I decided to get this book when I saw all the good publicity it got. I got the book, sat down on my bed to begin, and was let down. I was disappointed to find that nothing of interest came out of that book until at least the first 95 pages, and considering that the whole story is a mystery and needs your full attention, I was lost. I don’t know exactly what it was, but I couldn’t pick up the book to continue with the story. I am the type of reader that can spend all day reading and won’t put the book away until the entire story is completed, but with this book it took me twice as long to even get through even half. I did take it up again because the thought that there could be a good story somewhere in there and that I wasn’t giving it chance made me trudge forward until the end. Besides, the story of Rumplestilskin has always fascinated me so I gave it a second chance. I quickly realized that the main character and the voice of the story was driving me crazy! I think that that was why I didn’t enjoy the book, because the person leading me through the story was so annoying. I kept think to myself of how much I want to get rid of that character. I did like some other characters though like Randall or Charlotte’s sister, they were cool. Now I must admit that there were parts that interested me like how the author took the original Rumplestiltskin and created a completely different story line with similar characteristics. Overall I don’t think I would pick that book up again. Lots of people apparently like it though. I didn’t. From 1-10? I give this book a 4.