Double Header review
Both these books have gorgeous covers; similar writing styles, genres, and target audiences; and I really disliked both, so I thought, why not group them in one review?
Cool Beans
Erynn Mangnum
DNF
I saw Cool Beans while in Borders picking up a book yesterday, thought it looked interesting, and sat down to get a feel for it. I usually don't pick up books I haven't heard about before (usually from other blogs), but the cover was pretty and when I skimmed the blurb, it looked decent.
From Borders.com: Everything is going great for Maya Davis--until her best friend unknowingly starts dating Maya's high school sweetheart. What is God trying to teach her about life, love, and commiserating over coffee?
The blurb was essentially the same, but considerably longer, so I was skimming by the time I reached the end - so I missed the part about God teaching her. The acknowledgements started along the lines of, "Lord, is is for you." I, once again, missed the warning flags and began reading. This was unfortunate. I don't like religious fiction. I think religion is a private matter and don't like when the author starts shoving his/her religion in my face. So when the tone is set on page 3 or 4 with the protagonist directly speaking to God, I probably should have realized it wasn't the book for me. I perserved, though, only to discover that yes, this was not the book for me (and set it down after page 50-ish).
Even without the near-constant religious internal monologue, it would not have been the book for me. The writing was immature, the personalities shallow, and Maya, the main character, was not exactly the brightest crayon in the box. I believe Erynn Mangum was trying for lovably ditzy, but she simply came off as dumb and shallow. When her friend introduces her new boyfriend, the same boy Maya dated for several years in high school, she doesn't say, "Oh, I-forgot-his-name, how are you? It's been a while - we used to go to high school together, you know!" and then privately explain to her friend the situation. No, she decides to pretend she doesn't know him - which somehow works because even after dating for several years, he doesn't recognize her because she dyed her hair. At this point, I decided if the beginning was this ridiculous, I didn't want to wait around and see what happened with the drama started.
Also, in Borders this book is shelved in the YA section, online it's "religious teen fiction." Maya has graduated from college, has a full-time job, and doesn't live with her parents. While the writing reads a little like bad YA, it's not. This isn't the first issue I've had with Borders categories - someone there seems to believe The Thief series is a children's series (not young adult, but "independent reader" - elementary school age). Really? I could maybe see The Thief as an older children's book, but The Queen of Attolia? While you might encourage a younger kid to read it, I hardly think it should be shelved there. Anyway. Moving on . . .
According to Jane
Marilyn Brant
1.5/5
Unlike Cool Beans, this book was recommended to me and is pretty popular. It won RWA's Golden Heart Award for "Best Novel with Strong Romantic Elements" and has decent ratings on Amazon. I love P&P and thought it looked interesting, so I picked it up. I want to look at the heroine, the use of a non-linear timeline, and the relation to Jane Austen's novels - the last of which means there will be spoilers.
From the author's website:
It begins one day in sophomore English class, just as Ellie Barnett's teacher is assigning Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. From nowhere comes a quiet "tsk" of displeasure. The target: Sam Blaine, the cute bad boy who's teasing Ellie mercilessly, just as he has since kindergarten. Entirely unbidden, as Jane might say, the author's ghost has taken up residence in Ellie's mind, and seems determined to stay there.
Jane's wise and witty advice guides Ellie through the trauma of adolescence and beyond, serving as the voice she trusts, usually more than her own. Years and boyfriends come and go, but Jane's counsel is constant, and on the suject of Sam, quite insistent. Stay away, Jane demands. He is your Mr. Wickham.
Still, everyone has something to learn about love--perhaps even Jane herself. And lately, the voice in Ellie's head is being drowned out by another, urging her to look beyond all she thought she knew and seek out her very own, very unexpected, happy ending...
Marilyn Brant tried to find a middle ground. My guess is she didn't want to write another book that followed the plot and characters of Pride and Prejudice, so she thought she'd try something new - in this case, having Ellie hear Jane Austen's voice in her head. I never really got it - it seemed too weird for the contemporary fiction setting, required too much internal dialogue, and served as an excuse for Ellie to be a loner. I think if Ms. Brant had done more (modeled characters off P&P characters, tried to fit the plot somewhat like it) or less (not had the author's voice in her head - just a deep like for P&P), the story might have worked, but as is, it flounders. Jane's advice is useless - Ellie rarely heeds it, and in possibly the most important case (Sam), it's wrong. Ellie tries to fit the people around her to characters in P&P, but she acknowledges it doesn't work. Part of this is the book's message - that not everyone fits into categories but combined with the P&P theme, it undermines itself. There's also highly descriptive (often crude) sex scenes that, needless to say, don't fit in with the Jane Austen theme.
The plot, as mentioned above, has nothing to do with P&P. Instead, it details the every romance in Ellie's life and little else. It jumps back and forth, working to build a better picture of Sam - more on this later - but doesn't create any tension. The flashbacks interrupted the story and kept it from moving anywhere.
Since the story skipped between Ellie's high school years and her mid-30s (and the years in between), it felt like she never grew as a person and stayed obsessed with events (and people) that had happened 20 years previously. She never matured and never stopped living to find the perfect man and get married. For example, one memorable instance (page 181): "Maybe because in the past several years... nothing really significant had happene to me. Aside from dating TIm, that is." This is how she described six years of her life - from 26 to 32. I didn't like her and found little reason why quite a few (very hot) men were constantly falling at her feet.
Sam's character was a little more complex, and by the end, seemed a decent guy, if living almost entirely in the past (just like Ellie!). However, he starts out being desribed as a total creep - feeling up Ellie in the middle of her sophomore English class -and continues with this characterization for quite a while. This - combined with the constant flashbacks - meant I had trouble seeing him as anyting more than an obnoxious tool.
Overall, I found the premise rather weird, the characters shallow and stuck in the past, the Jane Austen cover unnecessary, and the writing simplistc. Despite finishing the novel, I found very little to recommend it.
Cool Beans
Erynn Mangnum
DNF
I saw Cool Beans while in Borders picking up a book yesterday, thought it looked interesting, and sat down to get a feel for it. I usually don't pick up books I haven't heard about before (usually from other blogs), but the cover was pretty and when I skimmed the blurb, it looked decent.
From Borders.com: Everything is going great for Maya Davis--until her best friend unknowingly starts dating Maya's high school sweetheart. What is God trying to teach her about life, love, and commiserating over coffee?
The blurb was essentially the same, but considerably longer, so I was skimming by the time I reached the end - so I missed the part about God teaching her. The acknowledgements started along the lines of, "Lord, is is for you." I, once again, missed the warning flags and began reading. This was unfortunate. I don't like religious fiction. I think religion is a private matter and don't like when the author starts shoving his/her religion in my face. So when the tone is set on page 3 or 4 with the protagonist directly speaking to God, I probably should have realized it wasn't the book for me. I perserved, though, only to discover that yes, this was not the book for me (and set it down after page 50-ish).
Even without the near-constant religious internal monologue, it would not have been the book for me. The writing was immature, the personalities shallow, and Maya, the main character, was not exactly the brightest crayon in the box. I believe Erynn Mangum was trying for lovably ditzy, but she simply came off as dumb and shallow. When her friend introduces her new boyfriend, the same boy Maya dated for several years in high school, she doesn't say, "Oh, I-forgot-his-name, how are you? It's been a while - we used to go to high school together, you know!" and then privately explain to her friend the situation. No, she decides to pretend she doesn't know him - which somehow works because even after dating for several years, he doesn't recognize her because she dyed her hair. At this point, I decided if the beginning was this ridiculous, I didn't want to wait around and see what happened with the drama started.
Also, in Borders this book is shelved in the YA section, online it's "religious teen fiction." Maya has graduated from college, has a full-time job, and doesn't live with her parents. While the writing reads a little like bad YA, it's not. This isn't the first issue I've had with Borders categories - someone there seems to believe The Thief series is a children's series (not young adult, but "independent reader" - elementary school age). Really? I could maybe see The Thief as an older children's book, but The Queen of Attolia? While you might encourage a younger kid to read it, I hardly think it should be shelved there. Anyway. Moving on . . .
According to Jane
Marilyn Brant
1.5/5
Unlike Cool Beans, this book was recommended to me and is pretty popular. It won RWA's Golden Heart Award for "Best Novel with Strong Romantic Elements" and has decent ratings on Amazon. I love P&P and thought it looked interesting, so I picked it up. I want to look at the heroine, the use of a non-linear timeline, and the relation to Jane Austen's novels - the last of which means there will be spoilers.
From the author's website:
It begins one day in sophomore English class, just as Ellie Barnett's teacher is assigning Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. From nowhere comes a quiet "tsk" of displeasure. The target: Sam Blaine, the cute bad boy who's teasing Ellie mercilessly, just as he has since kindergarten. Entirely unbidden, as Jane might say, the author's ghost has taken up residence in Ellie's mind, and seems determined to stay there.
Jane's wise and witty advice guides Ellie through the trauma of adolescence and beyond, serving as the voice she trusts, usually more than her own. Years and boyfriends come and go, but Jane's counsel is constant, and on the suject of Sam, quite insistent. Stay away, Jane demands. He is your Mr. Wickham.
Still, everyone has something to learn about love--perhaps even Jane herself. And lately, the voice in Ellie's head is being drowned out by another, urging her to look beyond all she thought she knew and seek out her very own, very unexpected, happy ending...
Marilyn Brant tried to find a middle ground. My guess is she didn't want to write another book that followed the plot and characters of Pride and Prejudice, so she thought she'd try something new - in this case, having Ellie hear Jane Austen's voice in her head. I never really got it - it seemed too weird for the contemporary fiction setting, required too much internal dialogue, and served as an excuse for Ellie to be a loner. I think if Ms. Brant had done more (modeled characters off P&P characters, tried to fit the plot somewhat like it) or less (not had the author's voice in her head - just a deep like for P&P), the story might have worked, but as is, it flounders. Jane's advice is useless - Ellie rarely heeds it, and in possibly the most important case (Sam), it's wrong. Ellie tries to fit the people around her to characters in P&P, but she acknowledges it doesn't work. Part of this is the book's message - that not everyone fits into categories but combined with the P&P theme, it undermines itself. There's also highly descriptive (often crude) sex scenes that, needless to say, don't fit in with the Jane Austen theme.
The plot, as mentioned above, has nothing to do with P&P. Instead, it details the every romance in Ellie's life and little else. It jumps back and forth, working to build a better picture of Sam - more on this later - but doesn't create any tension. The flashbacks interrupted the story and kept it from moving anywhere.
Since the story skipped between Ellie's high school years and her mid-30s (and the years in between), it felt like she never grew as a person and stayed obsessed with events (and people) that had happened 20 years previously. She never matured and never stopped living to find the perfect man and get married. For example, one memorable instance (page 181): "Maybe because in the past several years... nothing really significant had happene to me. Aside from dating TIm, that is." This is how she described six years of her life - from 26 to 32. I didn't like her and found little reason why quite a few (very hot) men were constantly falling at her feet.
Sam's character was a little more complex, and by the end, seemed a decent guy, if living almost entirely in the past (just like Ellie!). However, he starts out being desribed as a total creep - feeling up Ellie in the middle of her sophomore English class -and continues with this characterization for quite a while. This - combined with the constant flashbacks - meant I had trouble seeing him as anyting more than an obnoxious tool.
Overall, I found the premise rather weird, the characters shallow and stuck in the past, the Jane Austen cover unnecessary, and the writing simplistc. Despite finishing the novel, I found very little to recommend it.