I love reading books, especially Young Adult books of all kinds. I have a book reviewing blog (The Reading Shelf) that I try to update whenever I'm not reading or procrastinating on the internet.
To be honest, I was kind of expecting to hate this book. I was a fan of Kiersten White’s Paranormalcy trilogy, but by the time the third book rolled around I felt that I was outgrowing it a bit and ended up looking less favourably on it the more I thought about it.
I read some bad reviews of this book as well, so I really didn’t think I would like this. I mostly read it because it was short and had been on my to-read shelf for so long. So, imagine my surprise when I kind of liked it. It was great literature or anything, that’s for sure. But a pretty quick and mindlessly enjoyable book, at least half the time.
I preferred the younger sister, Fia, over the blind Annie, and it made me feel a little bad about getting so annoyed with a YA character that actually has a disability, but her blindness definitely wasn’t the issue with me. Annie was just annoying to me because she seemed a bit too obsessed with her sister, especially with her drinking habits – every time her (admittedly underage) sister drinks alcohol or is in a situation where she might drink, Annie flips out. About halfway through the book, I was just rolling my eyes and trying to get done with Annie’s sections as quickly as possible.
The world-building wasn’t the greatest – I was often left a bit confused as to what was happening and how things worked. Fia was really screwed up, but she was interesting to read about and I didn’t care about the confusing world-building as much when it was her chapter – at least, when something was happening with her.
So, this wasn’t a great book or anything, but it was pretty enjoyable for a quick read. There are a lot of things that could be improved, but it was interesting enough that I plan on checking out the sequel. I’ve definitely begun to outgrow White’s writing, but it still works for a quick and fluffy read.