Book Review: The Graces by Laure Eve

The Graces by Laure Eve
Publisher: Abrams Kids/Amulet Books
Pub. Date: September 6, 2016
Genre: YA Fantasy/Paranormal
Source/Format: NetGalley/e-galley

Goodreads Summary:

In The Graces, the first rule of witchcraft states that if you want something badly enough, you can get it . . . no matter who has to pay. Everyone loves the Graces. Fenrin, Thalia, and Summer Grace are captivating, wealthy, and glamorous. They’ve managed to cast a spell over not just their high school but also their entire town—and they’re rumored to have powerful connections all over the world. If you’re not in love with one of them, you want to be them. Especially River: the loner, new girl at school. She’s different from her peers, who both revere and fear the Grace family. She wants to be a Grace more than anything. And what the Graces don’t know is that River’s presence in town is no accident. This fabulously addictive fantasy combines sophisticated and haunting prose with a gut-punching twist that readers will be dying to discuss. Perfect for fans of We Were Liars as well as nostalgic classics like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the 1996 movie The Craft, The Graces marks the beginning of a new wave of teen witches.

Thank you to Abrams Kids and NetGalley for giving me an e-galley in exchange for an honest review!

This book was at the top of my Most Anticipated Reads of 2016 shelf on Goodreads, first because of the gorgeous cover and second because heck yes fantasy series about teen witches! Needless to say, I was ecstatic when my request was approved on NetGalley! Sadly, though, The Graces fell short of my expectations.

My biggest issue with the book has to do with the main character, a girl who calls herself "River." The book summary isn't kidding when it says River wants to be one of the Graces––a trio of enigmatic siblings––more than anything. It's her defining personality trait, and it gets old really fast. Almost every thought she has revolves around the Graces and how she can infiltrate their circle to become one of them, popular and admired. Every action is done specifically to get the Graces––but especially the youngest Grace, Summer––to like her and see her as one of them. She's completely and utterly obsessed in a way that just made me cringe. She's unlike the typical YA heroine in that her motives are completely selfish, but she never does anything to redeem herself. Her insecurity and all-consuming obsession with trying to become a Grace make her completely unlikeable throughout the whole book. I never rooted for her, and most of the time I was just waiting for the Graces to finally see through her crap and be done with her. The interesting thing, though, is I don't think we're supposed to like her. In fact, the end of book one sets her up to be very much the antihero in future books.

As for the Graces themselves, for all the awe and fear they inspire in the town, they really aren't all that interesting. Rumor has it that their whole family is made up of witches. But apart from a rumor that a boy was possessed during a Ouija game gone wrong at Thalia and Fenrin's eighth birthday party, and Summer's occasional dabbling in minor spells––which the family disapproves of––there's not a whole lot going on to suggest that they're as sinister or mysterious as everyone thinks they are. They come off as snobs more than anything else. I didn't understand the hold they had over River or their classmates.

I might have been able to overlook some of these issues had the plot been more interesting, but it was slow going and didn't really ramp up until about the last quarter of the book. I'll admit that the showdown between River and the Graces was pretty intense, and it did redeem the book at least a little bit. I just wish there had been more intensity throughout the book as a whole.

Final Thoughts and Rating

Sadly, The Graces just wasn't my cup of tea. The plot was too slow and the characters too unlikeable for me to ever become fully invested in the story. I likely won't be continuing the series, but I'm still holding out hope for Laure Eve's other series, Fearsome Dreamer.

In and Out #1

In and Out is a weekly feature in which I reveal the books that have joined my shelves and the ones I've bid farewell to this week.

In

The Love That Split the World by April Henry: The synopsis had me at the reference to The Time Traveler's Wife. Can't wait to start reading this one today!
Local Girls by Caroline Zancan: Came across this by chance at the library on Saturday in the new books section and was hooked by the summary.
Weird Girl and What's His Name by Meagan Brothers: This is another book I came across by chance on my library's new YA books shelf. I really love the cover!
All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders: Saving the world with magic? Okay, I'm in.
The Magicians by Lev Grossman: Started watching the Syfy series on Friday night and am loving it so far! And when something I love is also book, you know I've got to read it.
A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest: Since I follow a ton of Twilight fan pages on Facebook, my newsfeed has been blowing up with ads for this book, with such convincing marketing lines as "a must-read for Twilight fans." So after seeing a bajillion ads all week, I was like, fine, I'll bite (...pun intended). I have my doubts about this one, but the first book was only ninety-nine cents so I figured I'd give it a shot.

Out

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult: When I was in high school, I read My Sister's Keeper for the first time, which kickstarted a mild obsession with Jodi Picoult's books. Now that I've been getting into mystery shows and podcasts like Serial and Killing Fields, I was in the mood for a Picoult mystery. I just wasn't feeling this one though. The constant POV switches were seriously testing my patience.

That's it for me! What books have you added to your shelves this week?

Top Ten Tuesday: 2016 Debuts to Look Forward To

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

 

This Week's Topic: 

2016 Debuts to Look Forward To

• The Love that Split the World by Emily Henry [January 26]
• Devil and the Bluebird by Jennifer Mason-Black [May 17]
• The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig [February 16]
• Dreamology by Lucy Keating [April 12]
• Into the Dim by Janet B. Taylor [March 1]

• The May Queen Murders by Sarah Jude [May 3]
• The Last Boy and Girl in the World by Siobhan Vivian [April 26]
• The Way I Used to Be by Amber Smith [March 22]
• The Mystery of Hollow Places by Rebecca Podos [January 26]
• How It Feels to Fly by Kathryn Holmes (Okay, so I goofed on this one. It's not technically a debut, but it is one I'm looking forward to!) [Pub Date TBA]

So what debuts are you looking forward to reading in the new year?

Top Ten Books I'd Love To See As Movies

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This Week's Topic: 

Books I'd Love to See As Movies

1. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor––A DoSaB movie is definitely at the top of my "things-I-want-to-exist" list. I love the world and the characters, and seeing them come to life in a movie would be so awesome. I'd love to see what the chimaera and angels really look like.
2. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas––Like DoSaB, Throne of Glass is another series with a kick-ass heroine I love and a fantasy world that would be awesome to see come to life.
3. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern––The Night Circus is a book that was made to be adapted to the screen. The imagery in it is so magical and gorgeous.
4. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart––If this were made into a movie, it would give me all the feels!
5. Looking for Alaska by John Green––Because every John Green book needs to be a movie.

6. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness––This series was so amazing, and I still can't believe how long it took me to get around to reading them. I could see this becoming just as big as The Hunger Games if it were made into a movie.
7. Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire––I did not expect to love Beautiful Disaster as much as I did, and Abby and Travis are just one of my many OTPs I'd like to see on the big screen.
8. Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge––Cruel Beauty was one of my favorite books of 2014 and one of my favorite fairy tale retellings in general. Can someone please cast Torrance Coombs as Ignifex?
9. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Steifvater––One of the things I loved about The Scorpio Races was how it had very cinematic imagery––I could see the settings and characters so clearly as I was reading. I think it would make for a great movie adaptation.


So what's on your book-to-movie wishlist? Do we share any of the same movies?

Fairy Tale Challenge {1}: Snow White and the 77 Dwarfs by Davide Cali

Snow White and the 77 Dwarfs by Davide Cali
Publisher: Random House of Canada Limited
Length: 32 pages
Source/Format: NetGalley/e-ARC

 

Snow White is on the run from an evil witch when she comes across some dwarfs in the forest. They agree to take her in and keep her safe if she will help them with their chores. She soon realizes she's taking on a lot more than she bargained for. 77 breakfasts to make, 77 lunches to pack (don't forget the juice boxes!), 77 pairs of pants to mend and a whole lot of dishes. Eventually Snow White decides to take her chances with the witch. There's a surprise ending... well, it may not be so surprising. This is a hilarious retelling of the classic tale, with bright, energetic illustrations featuring busy dwarfs, and the even busier Snow White.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a free digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Today I'm kicking off the Fairy Tale Challenge, with a very different sort of review. You're probably wondering why a twenty-four-year-old book blogger of YA fiction would choose to read a children's picture book, and all I can say in response is, Look at that cover! When I saw this in the NetGalley catalog, I hit "Request" without a second thought.

Not only is this book gorgeously illustrated, with each page bursting with a rainbow of colors, but it's funny, too! If you thought the original Snow White had her hands full cooking, cleaning, and caring for a measly group of seven dwarfs, just think how frazzled she'd be with seventy-seven! There's no rest for poor Snow in this version of the story; as soon as she's prepared one meal for the dwarfs, it's already time to start fixing the next. Then there's the mountain of dishes, the bedtime stories (a different one for each dwarf!), and, most importantly, the beard grooming. After all that work, who has time for a prince? All this Snow White wants is a nice, long nap, and when the evil (or maybe not so evil after all) witch offers her a poisoned apple, Snow White jumps at the offer: "I'll take two!" One of the funniest pictures in the book comes at the very end, when Snow White, not waiting to be awoken by a prince's kiss, fully embraces her magically-induced sleep with a sleeping mask and "Do Not Disturb" sign.

Though it only took me all of five minutes to read, I thoroughly enjoyed this retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It definitely coaxed a few chuckles out of me, and I'm absolutely in love with the illustrations. I think I may have to order a copy for myself!

Fairytale Challenge 2015

Hello all! I'm finally back, and I'm kicking off my blogging new year with my introduction post for the 2015 Fairytale Challenge.

What Is It?

A challenge to read Middle Grade, Young Adult, and Adult fairytale retellings, hosted by Mel of The Daily Prophecy.

When Is It?

From January 1 through December 31, 2015. Or in my case, from February 6 to December 31. I'm a little late to the party.

Why I'm Participating:

Because fairytales are awesome, and I love to see authors reimagine them and add their own twists!

Where You Find What I'm Reading:

 To see my Fairytale Challenge shelf on Goodreads, click here. I'll be keeping it updated throughout the year.

How Many Retellings Will I Read?

I'm aiming for the Magic Mirror level. In other words, 5–9 retellings.

If you're participating in the challenge, post your links in the comments so I can see what you'll be reading!

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Places Books Have Made Me Want To Visit

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

 This Week's Topic:

Places Books Have Made Me Want To Visit

 Prague

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"There was a deceptive tangling of alleys that gave you, gargoyles tiptoeing away, stones like puzzle pieces rearranging themselves into new configurations while you weren’t looking. Prague entranced you, lured you in, like the mythic fey who trick travellers deep into forest until they’re lost beyond hope."

Forks, Washington/Hoh Rain Forest

"Everything was green: the trees, their trunks covered with moss, their branches hanging with a canopy of it, the ground covered with ferns. Even the air filtered down greenly through the leaves. It was too green--an alien planet."

 Amsterdam

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"It looked like an old painting, but real--everything achingly idyllic in the morning light--and I thought about how wonderfully strange it would be to live in a place where almost everything was built by the dead."

Morocco

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"It was monumental: an entire town, really--lanes and plazas, neighborhoods, a caravansary, granary, and palace--all of it echoing empty. Its creators had dreamed on a legendary scale, and to stand in its flagstone court, mud walls and peaked roofs jutting overhead, was to feel shrunk to the size of a songbird."

 Prince Edward Island

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"Below them was a pond, looking almost like a river so long and winding was it. A bridge spanned it midway and from there to its lower end, where an amber-hued belt of sand-hills shut it in from the dark blue gulf beyond, the water was a glory of many shifting hues--the most spiritual shadings of crocus and rose and ethereal green, with other elusive tintings for which no name has ever been found."

What are some places you've read about that you'd like to visit?