Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

Summary: Lincoln is kind of drifting through life-- uninspiring degree, living at home with his mom-- when he takes a job at the local paper, enforcing the company internet policy. Which involves reading the emails of employees, to make sure that personal emails are not exchanged through company email accounts.

Jennifer and Beth are friends who work at the paper, who don't have high opinions of the internet policy. But they don't realize (or care) that their emails are being read by Lincoln every night.

Lincoln knows he should report the girls' violation of the internet policy. But as he gets caught up in their lives and their friendship, he starts to like them and their emails. And that's when things start to get messy.

Review: Ok, I've never read a Rainbow Rowell book before, but maybe I will? I don't know much about Eleanor and Park, besides the fact that everybody seems to think it's amazing, but I've seen the synopsis of Landline and it doesn't seem like my cup of tea. So... I dunno. But I did LOVE Attachments. (PS. I keep thinking of Rainbow as a boy's name? And I have to keep reminding myself that Rainbow Rowell is a woman? Am I the only person who has this problem?) (Also, is it annoying the way I end sentences that are clearly statements with question marks. Would it help if I end questions with periods.) (Maybe I am a little tired right now. I'm sorry.)

Anyway, as I was saying, I LOVED Attachments. In fact, I kept reading the exchanges between Beth and Jennifer and thinking, this is the kind of conversation I have with my sister all the time. (And told her so. Ad nauseum.) They were witty, cute, friendly, and supportive. These girls are obviously good friends, and they are smart and clever and tough and awesome and I wish they were friends with me.

As for Lincoln, though. In the beginning, I was kind of bored of the Lincoln chapters. I was a LOT more interested in the email conversations. About halfway through, though, Lincoln became more interesting. He started getting as bored with his life as I was, I guess. I appreciated that, though. I like how he began to grow and change and try to figure out what he wanted his life to look like.

The ending was a little, I don't know. I don't know how I wanted it to end. (I guess I didn't.) It was as satisfying an ending as I could have wanted though. So yeah.

So if you're a fan of books with email/IM conversations (which I am), or books where people get their crap together (which I am), or books with lots of movie/music references (which I am), you should read this one, because you'll love it.

(PS. Beth is a movie reviewer, and she mentions that she automatically gives a movie an extra star for having a wedding scene in it. Which is awesome because there are two wedding scenes in this book.)

(PPS. For your enjoyment, here is one of the shorter email exchanges:

"From: Jennifer Scribner-Snyder
To: Beth Fremont
Sent: Wed, 09/01/1999 1:14 PM
Subject: Do you want to hang out tonight?

     I need a break from Mitch. He's still in a funk about our successful use of birth control.
     Beth to Jennifer: Can't. I'm finally going to see Eyes Wide Shut.
     Jennifer to Beth: Ech. I don't like Tom Cruise.
     Beth to Jennifer: Me neither. But I usually like Tom Cruise movies.
     Jennifer to Beth: Me, too... Huh, maybe I do like Tom Cruise. But I hate feeling pressured to find him attractive. I don't.
     Beth to Jennifer: Nobody does. It's a lie perpetuated by the American media. Tom Cruise and Julia Roberts.
     Jennifer to Beth: Men don't like Julia Roberts?
     Beth to Jennifer: Nope. Her teeth scare them.
     Jennifer to Beth: Good to know.")

Goodreads Shelves: addictive, be-proactive, bechdel-test, fluffy, funny, is-this-a-kissing-book, my-kind-of-woman

Rating: 

Cress by Marissa Meyer

Here's the deal: So after the dust has settled from the ending of Scarlet, the characters aboard the Rampion find themselves blinking at each other and asking, "Now what?"

Enter Cress.

Cress has lived in a satellite for the last seven years. She only knows one person. She's never had a haircut. So basically, Rapunzel in space.

When an attempt to rescue her from her goes awry, our band of heroes finds themselves separated once again, this time (mostly) on Earth. And as Kai prepares for the most hastily thrown together Big To-Do ever (really? two weeks? shouldn't it take that long just to negotiate, I don't know, the date? not to mention that high profile of a wedding should ACTUALLY be starting with an engagement party) (but we've already established that my opinion of Ms. Meyer's take on interplanetary politics is low), Cinder has to find a way to stop the wedding. Because, you know, of Levana's tyranny. It has nothing to do with how she feels about him, nothing at all, la la la.

My opinion: So I am loving these books. And I love that they keep getting better. I feel like so many series and trilogies start strong, then get worse as the series goes along. Is that because authors take years and years to write the first book, then send out queries and get agents, and THEN write books 2 and 3 and so on? (Seriously, do they do that? It would explain a lot.) Anyway, The Lunar Chronicles does NOT read that way. They start slow and build, and each one is better than the last. I had owned Cinder for quite a while before I picked it up at the library, liked it a lot, and went home and finished it on my Nook. And I liked Scarlet even more, and Cress is just the best one so far.

For starters, Cress herself is so adorable. As you know, I read this book picturing Avery from Dog With a Blog as Cress, and I think it was a good choice. She was so cute and sweet! So hopeful and naive, and excited about the world around her, and even though she was idealistic and wanted so badly to fall in love, she grew and learned enough not to do anything hugely stupid.

As I predicted, it was different to see Captain Thorne through Cress's eyes than Cinder's. While Cinder saw him as opportunistic and cheesy and a little smarmy, to Cress he was brave and heroic. And it was actually great for me as a reader to have both of those perspectives, because blending them together helped me create a more realistic idea of an actual person, who is cocky and charming, but also insecure and a little vulnerable. I liked seeing him grow more and more protective of Cress, which (when avoiding Cullen-level creepiness) is such a sweet expression of affection, in my opinion.

(I did roll my eyes, a little bit, when we found out that [SPOILER ABOUT CRESS'S FAMILY]. I mean, does the world have to be that small? Can't a random person you meet who happens to be trapped on a satellite for seven years just be a random person? But no, not in book world, apparently. Oh well.)

Goodreads Shelves: addictive, bechdel-test, excuse-me-half-the-book-is-missing, fluffy, is-or-would-be-a-good-movie, is-this-a-kissing-book, my-kind-of-woman

Rating: 

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Summary: Cinder returns in the second thrilling installment of the New York Times-bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother and the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she has no choice but to trust him, though he clearly has a few dark secrets of his own.

As Scarlet and Wolf work to unravel one mystery, they find another when they cross paths with Cinder. Together, they must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen who will do anything to make Prince Kai her husband, her king, her prisoner.

Review: I think... I think I'm addicted to these books. Seriously, I have wanted nothing more than to read Cress since the minute I finished Scarlet. It's $8.89 on both Kindle and Nook, which is a lot more than I'm willing to pay for an ebook (and a lot more than I paid for the first two Lunar Chronicles), but if the hold list at the library weren't so short, I'd be sorely tempted. On to the review, though.

Confession: I'm not into "Little Red Riding Hood." Even though her song is one of the best ones in Into The Woods, I'm just not feeling it. The story itself is just "meh" for me, as are most retellings I've read/seen. It's just... yeah, not my thing.

But Scarlet was pretty great. Despite the source material (which, ok, I ignored enough to be surprised by a couple of the twists in the story -- *shame*), the plot had me riveted. I was expecting to be so focused on Cinder's story that following Scarlet's story would be boring to me, but I was equally entertained by both. Neither felt weaker than the other, which was refreshing (and rare, in my experience).

The only weak link, as it were, was Kai's chapters, since Kai, at this point, is frustratingly ignorant of important spoilers information, and therefore is not informed enough to make good decisions. Bad intelligence, people. It's a killer. (But this is a spoiler-free zone, never fear. I don't mean "killer" literally. Or do I??) I was happy, though, that he seemed to have acquired another advisor (even though the existence of a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff-type character was already implied (yeah, I looked up what that person is called in the US military)).

Anyway, as for new characters in the story, I love Scarlet. She's tough, loyal, trusting, a little naive, a little too impulsive. A great person to have around in a fight, but also not afraid to show weakness. Fantastic.

Wolf was hard to get a handle on, which is intentional, so props there, and I'd never want to date him, because, baggage. But I appreciate that Scarlet does? So good for her.

I really like Captain Thorne, though. Maybe Meyer tries a little too hard to make him "charming", but I think that tune will change when I see him through Cress's eyes, don't you?

Goodreads Shelves: addictive, bechdel-test, excuse-me-half-the-book-is-missing, fluffy, is-or-would-be-a-good-movie, is-this-a-kissing-book, my-kind-of-woman, nook-ya

Rating: