A DNF and a Mini Review

Title: The Edge of Falling
Author: Rebecca Serle
Publication date: March 18, 2014
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Source: an e-galley provided by the publisher for an honest review

Growing up in privileged, Manhattan social circles, Caggie’s life should be perfect, and it almost was until the day that her younger sister drowned when Caggie was supposed to be watching her. Stricken by grief, Caggie pulls away from her friends and family, only to have everyone misinterpret a crucial moment when she supposedly saves a fellow classmate from suicide. Now she’s famous for something she didn’t do and everyone lauds her as a hero. But inside she still blames herself for the death of her sister and continues to pull away from everything in her life, best friend and perfect boyfriend included. Then Caggie meets Astor, the new boy at school, about whom rumours are swirling and known facts are few. In Astor she finds someone who just might understand her pain, because he has an inner pain of his own. But the more Caggie pulls away from her former life to be with Astor, the more she realises that his pain might be darker, and deeper, than anything she’s ever felt. His pain might be enough to end his life…and Caggie’s as well.

First line: Most great works of literature have a hero at their core, but this story is an exception.

In the beginning of this year, I constantly won in my winning. I rated my book choices usually around four stars and it actually grew to the point where I was nervous to start a book because I didn't want my winning streak to be over. Fast forward a month or two and you can see that I'm now completely the opposite. They haven't all been too bad, but I don't feel like any of the books I've read recently would appear on the End of the Year Book Survey, that's for sure.

All in all, this book was disappointing. I kept wondering if I would have liked it better if I read it after I read a really good book. Maybe...no. I reminded myself (I talk to myself a lot, if you can't tell) that a book shouldn't depend on another to keep me going, especially an unrelated book. If I like it, I like it.

The prominent problem I had was the boredom. The character, the plot, the writing...it all produced boredom for me. I'm sure Ms. Serle is a great writer and I might pick up one of her other books someday, but this? Yeah, this was boring for me. Maybe I wasn't in the right mood for it, but the effect it had on me was still enough that I didn't want to keep trying. So I DNF'd it.

Verdict: Hopefully you all will have the opposite experience, but I couldn't care less about anything in this.

Title: The Treatment (The Program #2)
Author: Suzanne Young
Publication date: April 29, 2014
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Source: an e-galley provided by the publisher for an honest review

Can Sloane and James survive the lies and secrets surrounding them, or will The Program claim them in the end? Find out in this sequel to The Program, which Publishers Weekly called “chilling and suspenseful.”

How do you stop an epidemic?

Sloane and James are on the run after barely surviving the suicide epidemic and The Program. But they’re not out of danger. Huge pieces of their memories are still missing, and although Sloane and James have found their way back to each other, The Program isn’t ready to let them go.

Escaping with a group of troubled rebels, Sloane and James will have to figure out who they can trust, and how to take down The Program. But for as far as they’ve come, there’s still a lot Sloane and James can’t remember. The key to unlocking their past lies with the Treatment—a pill that can bring back forgotten memories, but at a high cost. And there’s only one dose.

Ultimately when the stakes are at their highest, can Sloane and James survive the many lies and secrets surrounding them, or will The Program claim them in the end?

First line: James stares straight ahead, with no immediate reaction to what I've just told him.

I'm going to channel my inner Augustus and Hazel (if you haven't read The Fault in Our Stars, I suggest you do so NOW) and say that this was okay. What kind of adjective is okay? 

Okay is meant for books that you don't have much to say on (hence the mini review) because it stayed on the middle road for the entire book. There were no scenes that had me on the edge of my seat like the first book, scenes that pulled the emotion out of me, or actually any moment that made me feel as connected with Sloane as I did in the first book. But all of those things don't mean that I viewed this book in a negative way. It was okay. 

We interrupt this review with random, but The Fault in Our Stars-related sobbing.

I still appreciated the thought-provoking questions of mental disorders and suicides and how our society could become. I give Ms. Young a thumbs-up for trying to make me feel urgency as they were on the run from The Program. However, it didn't stick. I didn't feel anything in particular or get that captivated feeling I had while reading the first book in this duology. Thankfully, my feelings for this were much more positive than The Edge of Falling because despite the words above, I wasn't bored. It felt dragging in parts, yes, but I still cared about what happened to them in this messed-up society. 

But to all of you who hate love shapes (triangle, square, etc.), here's your warning: for a time, there was this weird love square or quadrilateral-kind-of shape hey, look at the sucky math girl using geometry terms! happening. While it wasn't a huge deal for me, it also wasn't okay. 

Verdict: An okay sequel to a book I loved greatly. Le sigh.