DNF Reviews of Love Among Pigeons & The Rising

Love Among Pigeons

By: Abria Mattina

Expected Publication: August 23rd 2013

147 pages

Genre: YA, Contemporary

Source: Author in exchange for an honest review (Thank you!)

( Goodreads | Amazon )

*Note: The above link to Amazon is an affiliate link. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--In this companion novella to Wake, Frank invites the Kirk family home to Smiths Falls for Thanksgiving weekend. Holidays are always a trial for the family that lost their daughter and sister, but Frank is hopeful that this Thanksgiving will be the exception. He has some happy news to share. If only he wasn't so reluctant to talk about it.

There's not much to why I decided to put this one down. The writing style wasn't necessarily one that hooked me early on, but it was going well enough that I wasn't ready to put it down or sighing out of frustration immediately upon starting it. However, I also wasn't even 14% into the book before we get to two dudes having sex. Granted it wasn't graphic, but the insinuation was enough to have me put it down immediately. I did two posts recently about this, one was Top Ten Words that Make Me Put Down a Book, and the other was Deal Breakers. Love Among Pigeons falls into these categories for me. Although, this situation did make me realize that I need to update my Review Policy. Enough said. Moving on.

The Rising (New Kid, # 2)

By: Temple Matthews

Published: 2012 by Teen Libris (first published 2010)

274 pages

Genre: YA, Fantasy, Paranormal

Source: Publisher via NetGalley (Thank you!)

( Goodreads | Amazon | Booksamillion.com )

Goodreads description--Will Hunter’s had a rough few months. He just survived the battle of his life. He learned the devil was his father. And his newly demonic best friend Rudy is trapped under glass until Will can find a way to bring him back from the dark side. All Will wants is to lay low for a while with Natalie, the girl he loves, and focus on saving his friend.

But Will never seems to get what he wants.

In Seattle, Will encounters a dangerous new breed of female demon, faster and more deadly than anything he’s ever faced, and a mysterious, striking girl who arrives just in time to save his life. Natalie doesn’t trust her, but Will is drawn to her in a way he doesn’t fully understand. Is she a powerful new ally? Or will her secrets destroy him and everything he cares about?

As the devil’s minions work to reassemble their leader’s body piece by piece, Will must once again become the New Kid to prevent the Dark Lord from rising—this time for good.

I requested both The New Kid (book 1) and The Rising (book 2) from NetGalley at the same time. Book 3 was available for request, but I thought that might be a bit much. I didn't love book 1. I gave it 3 stars, but I left off my review of book 1 saying that I wasn't really looking forward to picking up book 2. I tried. I really did. I just couldn't finish it.

While it was somewhat impressive in The New Kid that Will is this super smart, super-human (we come to find out this is exactly the case) kid, after a point it just really becomes too unbelievable. Not that demon-spawn is believable in the first place, but the money, the gadgets, the video game programming, all of it just became too much.

I think what kept me reading in The New Kid was Will's developing relationship with Natalie. I'm a sucker for new love, but that aspect also wasn't doing it for me in The Rising. While Natalie is present, their relationship isn't as prominent in the beginning of The Rising as it was in The New Kid, and thus wasn't there to keep me interested.

I've had a really hard time pinpointing what exactly isn't working for me with The Rising and this is the reason why I've put off DNFing it for so long. And each time I tried to describe what wasn't working and I came up with a jumbled mess of thoughts, I'd go back to the book and try to force myself through another 5% or so. I made it to 16%. But I still don't feel like I have a clear feeling on what wasn't working for me, but I do feel like I'm forcing myself to try to read this and I've come to a place in my reading life where I just don't want to have to do that anymore.

I guess more than anything, the relationships were missing. Natalie is there, but Will kind of pushes her away. Rudy is present but stuck in his little demon trap thing. Will's mom is MIA. And while I'm sure all of this gets worked out throughout the process of this book and the next, it just wasn't enough to keep me reading.

I hope that make some sense.