Uses for Boys by Erica Lorraine Scheidt

Uses for Boys by Erica Lorraine Scheidt
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Synopsis

Anna is lonely, alone, and incredibly passive; she'll let boys do whatever they want to her. I would tell you more about the story, but there isn't really anything else to tell.

Review

You will not hear this from me often, but I hated this book. I wasn't offended, even thought the novel could be graphic at times, simply bored. I think that I understand what the author was trying to do with the story, and she did paint a fairly distinct picture or a very lonely and detached girl. Unfortunately, the story never really went anywhere. I kept waiting for some kind of redeeming feature, but it just never came. I never felt that Anna actually grew a backbone or became her own person, hell, I never felt like Anna became a person at all.
For a book that primarily focused on a girl that found her identity through boys, I was surprised that the male characters were even less developed than Anna. My biggest issue with this was the character Sam. I think that he was supposed to be a good guy and a redeeming character, but he just wasn't anything beyond a vehicle for Anna into his home.
While the writing was not terrible, the formatting of the chapters was irritating. Like the sparse, blank characters, the chapters were just odd; occasionally just fragments of a story or an isolated thought. Ugg.

My Recommendation

Honestly, the story made me thing of a mindless string of paper dolls humping each other. I wouldn't recommend this novel to anyone, especially the target audience of teenagers; I fear that they might possibly think that the behavior in the novel is OK and it is simply not. I give it a 1/5 - Not worth the effort.

Oddily by Linda Pohring

Oddily by Linda Pohring (and some of Maxim, the 2nd book in the series)
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Synopsis
Oddily is a foster child that is teased and tortured each day by everyone. All this changes, however, when she meets the super hot Maxim. Suddenly everyone, including Maxim, inexplicably likes her.

Review
I straight up did not like this book. I feel like it was still in a draft state, and hadn't reached a narrative level that was ready to be published.
First of all, the writing in the book is odd and stilted. I understand that Maxim and Nexa are different from everyone else, and it makes sense that the way that they talk may be different. Unfortunately, I don't believe that they would talk in overly simplistic sentences with no contractions. Plus the statements that they make were just weird. Combining that with the internal conversation between Nexa and Maxim made the book both confusing and overly simplistic at times.
The characters were very flat and I couldn't bring myself to care about them. For instance, Oddily is seriously tortured through the first half of the book, but it didn't really seem to matter other than being part of the story.
Plot - This novel fell in to the overly cheesy YA romance trap. Maxim meets Oddily and just loves her. There's no preamble, no reason what so ever, he just loves her. For ever and ever and ever. And she loves him back. Even though he takes over her life, controlling every single aspect of it. The plot is overly simplistic and chunky. Things just suddenly happen, with no reasoning or build up. For instance, on kid decides to go from tormentor to friend on an apparent whim. And Oddily is cool with it, she lets him go from devil to bestie in a paragraph.
Finally the conclusion of the book. There isn't one. The story just cuts off in the middle of a scene and directs you to the next book. I attempted to read the next book, but wasn't able to make it more than a couple of chapters.

Side note - think of the Watchmen if you read the book and tell me if you notice any similarities.

My Recommendation

I didn't like this book. Though I forced myself to continue reading in the hopes that the story got better, it didn't. I give it 1/5- Not worth the effort 

What do you think?
Do you agree/disagree? Do you want to read it now? Or not? I love to hear(read) feedback!

Asphodel by Lauren Hammond

Asphodel by Lauren Hammond
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Synopsis

Hades is lonely and bored ruling the underworld. Zeus has promised him a wife, but has refused to actually give her to him.


Review

I apologize for the very short synopsis, but I wasn't able to make it more than 50 pages in to the novel.

I was drawn to Aspodel by the cover and the premise of the story. I love retold or modernized myths, and this one looked interesting. Unfortunately, the writing was so poor that I gave up searching for the plot. The author uses words incorrectly and in the wrong tense constantly, and her use of really bad metaphors was irritating.

Below are a few passages:

"A man lied in the middle of the street. His limbs were twisted and broken and blood oozed from every opening on the man's face."

"Through the centuries, the tasks of running his realm had become tedious and repetitive to Hades. The task of damning the souls that had crossed the river Styx into his domain was becoming tiresome for the deceitful king."

"Hades glared at the boy pre-adult boy, whose hazel eyes glistened with tears. Seconds later, Hades disappeared, reappearing in front of the boy. Fear crept up the mortal's spine and he stiffened, unable to move. Then he started shaking. Hades examined him, hoping to scorch him with his gaze. Rage bubbled inside of the might God and Hades boomed, "Aren't you a man?" The boy lowered his head and Hades blanched as he sniffed. But the boy did not answer."


My Recommendation

While I saw promise in the book before I opened, I was very disappointed in the writing. The novel feels like it was written by a a very young, new writer. I looked into the author, Lauren Hammond, and it appears that she has written several books. I'm not sure if the rest of her body of work follows this example, but I will not search out more of her books to check.

I give it 1/5 - Not worth the effort

The Margarets - Sheri S Tepper

The Margarets
Synopsis
As the only child in the settlement on Phobos, Margaret develops several imaginary friends to entertain her. However, she notices that after several important events in her life, many of them are missing. Six Margarets in total break away from the original, following paths of her life that might have been.

Review
I am a huge Sheri S. Tepper fan, but I still didn't really enjoy this book. The beginning of the book is pretty confusing, and as the book continues, it is still difficult to follow which character each chapter is about. I did enjoy the story lines of a few of the Margarets, but overall, I had a hard time finishing the book. Plus, I was really not a fan of the ending.

My Recommendation
One of my least favorite Sheri S. Tepper books. Die hard fans may enjoy it, but of the 10 people in my book group, I was the only one to actually finish the book. I give it a 1/5 - Not worth the effort.