From Goodreads: When seventeen-year-old
Liva came to New York City, all she wanted was to escape the painful
memories of her past and finally find a fresh start. Her hopes for a new
future were dashed the moment she became the sole witness to a brutal
murder. When she's taken into police custody - supposedly for her own
protection - she realizes something isn't right, but it's too late.
Soon, bullets start flying, and Liva realizes that she is not just a
witness, but the target - and she needs to escape before it's too late. With
the help of a sexy car thief that she met at the station, Liva manages
to get away from the massacre unharmed, but now the two of them are
alone in New York, trying to outrun and outwit the two killers who will
stop at nothing to find them. Liva and Jay are living on the edge, but
when you're on the edge, there's a long way to fall.
My Rating: 2 hearts
Thoughts on the Novel: Although I enjoyed Sarah Alderson’s Lila series, I haven’t read any of her
books since. So, I had some high expectations for her newest novel, Out of
Control. Unfortunately, Out of Control turned out to be a rather disappointing
read for a few reasons. Firstly, its fast pacing made it hard to learn much
about the characters or care about them. Secondly, I found myself getting annoyed by Liva because
of her priorities, – I wouldn’t be focused on a guy if there were people trying
to kidnap me, – and complaints about her looks (but really, she’s pretty). Lastly,
it drove me crazy that the Hispanic characters in Out of Control were portrayed
so stereotypically.
Out of Control was released in May
2015 by Simon Pulse.
In exchange for an honest review, this book was received from Xpresso Book Tours.
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From Goodreads: When Gia Montgomery's
boyfriend, Bradley, dumps her in the parking lot of her high school
prom, she has to think fast. After all, she'd been telling her friends
about him for months now. This was supposed to be the night she proved
he existed. So when she sees a cute guy waiting to pick up his sister,
she enlists his help. The task is simple: be her fill-in boyfriend - two
hours, zero commitment, a few white lies. After that, she can win back
the real Bradley. The problem is that days after prom, it's not
the real Bradley she's thinking about, but the stand-in. The one whose
name she doesn't even know. But tracking him down doesn't mean they're
done faking a relationship. Gia owes him a favor and his sister intends
to see that he collects: his ex-girlfriend's graduation party - three
hours, zero commitment, a few white lies. Just when Gia begins to
wonder if she could turn her fake boyfriend into a real one, Bradley
comes waltzing back into her life, exposing her lie, and threatening to
destroy her friendships and her new-found relationship.
My Rating: 2.5 hearts
Thoughts on the Novel: While I loved Kasie West’s Pivot Point series, I haven’t found her
contemporary novels quite as appealing. Sadly, The Fill-in Boyfriend was no
exception. I had a tough time connecting with Gia because I found her to be
very shallow. As well, the way the romance started off wasn’t very convincing,
and it then veered into drama territory. I think in the future, I’ll just have
to pass on any Kasie West contemporaries.
The
Fill-in Boyfriend was released by HarperTeen in May 2015.
Hm. I've had pretty good luck with Kasie's contemporaries (though none of them have been quite as good as Pivot Point!), so maybe The Fill-In Boyfriend will work a little better for me. Thanks for your thoughts Z!
ReplyDeleteI felt the same way about Out of Control. It was just ridiculous at times and it didn't work for me at all. Flimsy plot, unbelievable characters and so on. I expected more from Sarah. But I had high hopes for West. i guess I'll read it, but I'll know not to get too excited.
ReplyDeleteI still have to finish the Pivot Point duology, but haven't read any of West's contemporary romances. They sound cute butit looks like I'll have to lower my expectations a bit.
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard of Out of Control but it sounds like I am not missing out on anything. Aw, too bad you didn't like Kasie West's new novel, I do enjoy her contemporary books so maybe I will like it a bit more? Nice reviews!
ReplyDeleteHumm, two misses. That's too bad. I thought the Sarah Alderson book sounded good in your interview (or at least I like her as a person) so that's a bit disappointing that this one didn't work as well as the Lila books. But really, those things would've drove me crazy as well. As for Kasie West, I can't say I've been interested in her contemporaries (quelle surprise) but I do hope to get to Pivot Point someday.
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