Emmett Swan

dnf @ 11% - idk if i ever liked the premise of sad 16-year-old girl whines because her daddy won't let her get her way and date the guy she's OBVIOUSLY in love with even though she's only known him for like a month, but i certainly don't like them now.

i feel kinda sad that this one flopped for me, because the premise of potions that can transport your to different realms and make you invisible etc etc was really promising. however, the worldbuilding felt a little lazy. i don't normally go into that much detail about books i don't finish (especially since i read just over 10% of this book), but i feel like being a little nit-picky today.

the book starts with jennifer finding out that her boyfriend, curtis, drowned as a result of a drunken boating accident. i felt sorry for about .01 seconds. my sympathy ended when i found out he was the one who was drunk and he also refused a life jacket because he "couldn't breath." well, curtis, that's not going to be a problem for you anymore. i also had a little hiccup in this prologue because jennifer takes a moment to remember that, when she was in macy's buying her new itsy bitsy black polka dotted bikini, curtis told her that her boobs looked big in it.

imagine, if you will, that you're sitting in an ambulance on the shore while the coast guard are searching for your potentially dead boyfriend that you all but watched drown fewer than 24 hours ago and all you can think about is that one time in the macy's dressing room that he told you your titties looked nice in your new bathing suit. hm. interesting.

anyways, after curtis dies jennifer joins an organization called "against drunk boating." yeah, that's it. we don't know what against drunk boating, but they sure are against it. the rest of the book starts with jennifer and her little brother traveling to ireland to stay with their aunt and uncle. when they arrive at the house, they offer to take their own bags because they don't feel comfortable with the servants taking them. it's a little thing. but both the servants and their aunt and uncle seem hideously offended by this. their aunt even goes "oh just let them do it, it's their job." that was strike one.

strike two was the aforementioned sad 16 year old girl. her name is keeva and she's the princess of something or other and she's >:( because her daddy won't let her run around and socialize with the peasants. she's also got this guy appearing on her balcony every day that she's Totally In Love with. but she hasn't told him and doesn't until she finds out that he's leaving for good because he's from some other different magical realm or other and he's been stealing the rarest magical potion of them all so he can come and woo her every day--but his dad found out and he can't do that anymore.

i stopped reading after keeva decided that she was going to bribe her dad's head wizard guy, inargram, to get more of that super rare and expensive potion so she can go and meet her fake boyfriend who basically broke into her house and told her she was hot for a few months. killer seduction technique, my dude.

anyways, i am not made for YA novels. at all. so, onto the next.… (mais)

I first want to say that there was quite a bit of bad language in the story which made it harder for me to read. I felt it was a little much. It just seemed out of context to the setting. With that being said, I felt it was a very good story plot overall. I am not into the whole "alien" theme but after starting to read it hit me. I wondered, "what if" that were to really happen? What would I do if I were them? How truly unprepared the people of this world today would be. I know for myself it would be a real shock to be trust into that kind of circumstance. I felt myself fully connect with the characters and their struggles and frustrations. I found myself rooting for their existence and feeling perplexed at how to fix it when given little or no easy solutions. I could not even try to imagine what it would feel like to lose everything and everyone without any warning. To have to start over with people you didn’t know in a place you have no idea where it is or even why you were chosen to be there. I thought the story ended too abruptly and could have gone on for many more chapters. I believe this could and perhaps should have a sequel written for it. I would be one who would want to read it.… (mais)

This is the first book that I have read by the author. It definitely will not be the last! Swan has written a very original story, and a very interesting one. The gist of it is that a group of people find themselves transported to a version of Earth that they do not recognize, one in which they are expected to live with almost no technology. The reason is unknown at first, and they struggle mightily to survive. As things progress, discoveries are made as to what happened, and major discoveries occur. The story just builds and builds, until it reaches a climax that I really did not see coming. I read this book in two nights, I just could not quit it. All in all, I was very pleasantly surprised. If you are looking for something new, this would be a good one to try!… (mais)