Jessa RussoReseñas
Autor de Ever (Ever, #1)
Reseñas
Girls Who Lie Together is separated into two distinct halves. the first focusing on the protagonist, Renata/Ren attending a work program after she hijacks and damages her stepdad’s car. The second focusing on Ren attending a new school in a small Texan town. The plot was easy to follow, maybe a bit cliche at times but overall decent for a light young adult read.
The book had a strong supporting cast however some of the questionable actions of the lead characters left me with mixed feelings towards them. Ren and Brit's romance was cute, and the banter between the two was interesting.
Ren’s narration was enjoyable for most of the book, however, some of the use of slang felt a bit awkward and at times pulled my attention away from the book. Her constant comparisons of Brit to Barbie also felt a bit overdone.
Overall it was an enjoyable read, suited to a young adult audience.
If you like paranormal romance, this is a good read.
This book is the perfect fairytale re-telling. I knew it was a gender flip YA re-telling of Beauty and The Beast, but it felt like so much more.Holland is an average girl, and I think that's what I liked most about her. An average girl going through a life changing, crazy PHYSICAL change. Then there's the hottie here to rescue here, and it seems like she almost has a chance. This story kept me guessing, all the time. I had no idea where Jessa was taking this tale and it kept me flipping to the next page.
And then there’s the mysterious changes happening to Holland, graying eyes, sleepwalking, phasing in and out of reality, and the rage.
All consuming rage.
This isn’t just a gender flip, it’s a meshing of Beauty and The Beast and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde where the girl is our dangerous beast and it’s the boy who will need to convince this double sided beauty to fall in love.
Does he?
Guess you’ll need to read it and find out.
I'm having a hard time trying to figure out how to review this book without giving spoilers because the spoilers are really good, but I won't--I hate spoilers.
If I'm being vague in this review, I'm sorry!
In EVADE, we learn about the world of Collectors and Seekers. The paranormal really kicks up a notch and I love all the lore. This isn't just a romance book, there's some great world building.
One of the reason I liked the first book, EVER, was because of Ever. She's a teen most girls will relate with, even us older chicks. Her attitude and honest replies had me laughing. Moments like this one,
“I…” My mouth was dry and raspy. I swallowed, ran my tongue over
my teeth a few times—gross—then tried again.
How many times have you been around a cute boy and have done that? I don't consider myself vain, but regardless of what kind of situation I'm in, I'm concerned about my hygiene, not necessarily my looks, but definitely my hygiene.
The romance in this book is complicated and passionate. Russo gives us the perfect amount of hot kisses without going into x-rated territory and always left me wanting more.
There were some new characters introduced and I think my favorite is Samuel. I'm not sure what his deal is, or if he's good or bad, but I like him. Jessie is by far the best YA BFF I've ever read. I'd love to see her and Ariadne have a few rounds in the ring.
And the end...wow...the only thing I'll tell you is book number three is going to be epic.
To give you an idea of how twisty and turny the book gets, I gasped extremely loud during a particular scene and my hubby asked if the book was good, I gave him a big grin and nodded, then didn't the leave the chair until I was done reading.
If you haven't read EVER, BUY IT, then snatch up EVADE!
First of all the cover: beautiful, whimsical, and a little haunting. Exactly the reason I picked up the book. So basically Ever's life just plain sucks. Her crush since forever is living with her but she can't touch him or hold him. He's just thin air. So she pines for him which isn't so unrealistic given the situation but she's ever so distraught about it all. It is quite depressing having him live in your house always out of reach. What the weird thing was that her parents and alive best friend (Jessie - the pink queen) could see him. What's up with that? Definitely different. It always was a bit of trouble because he always had to hide when new people came over especially with the new guy next door.
The new guy's name is Toby which I found so adorable but compared to his demeanor it made no sense. He initially did some things that made my stalker radar blare. And boy do I like crazy people in books so I got excited! This book does have a lot of drama which of course I love and it had a lot of layers of mystery to it. New people showed up to add to the mystery and growing questions in my mind. What I didn't really like about Ever was that she didn't think to ask questions about Toby. She talked on and on about herself and it took Jessie to spell it out for her. Do you really like talking about yourself that much? You know about yourself enough, question the guy! It took her a couple of dates (maybe the second) to realize how old he was which was scary especially since she has no idea who this person is! She convinced her parents so easily too that his age was okay. How are you any way that lucky!? Her parents were weird in the sense that they actually liked each other a lot and liked spending time together so I guess it makes sense they would have that abnormal response.
So. Much. Kissing. She dated this guy for a week and she lets him take control of everything. Letting her heart get away from her. I didn't really mind as much as I have with other books on the way she acted throughout the book. The plot and storyline was so amazing that I just went with it. I really don't think everyone would like this book though. I just happened to not mind with this book but others I have. Books where everything about the book is about touching each other and making out... I won't mention any names. But there was so much going on in this book, so much mystery, and DRAMA! That it wasn't as big of a deal. There was just one moment where I was like NO. You crossed a line. I really don't want to know about you having sex... come on.
Her and Frankie... hmmm... I didn't really see the connection there. They hardly talked with each other for her to be so in love with him. She did meet Toby right away in the book but the book didn't really establish a connection with Frankie and her that I can recognize as something that slipped by her. She did have these nightmares and he was there but that was it. It's not all about the physical even if he can't touch her. I wanted to see them actually having normal conversations from time to time but in the book she was ignoring him all the time so I missed out on that.
Sigh... Jessie, Jessie, Jessie. You go through a lot in this book. She's the pick queen in my mind. She doesn't wear anything other than pink clothes! Her car is even pink. Now I can appreciate the differences of personalities between her and Ever. Ever with her dark clothes and sad look but you can't possibly tell me that wearing pink all the time is better than wearing black. Pink means happy and bubbly which was Jessie but there comes a point in your life where you are not all happy go lucky and you need some black or at least get some red girl! Oh yeah... Ever apparently loves leggings but it was mentioned only like once. Odd thing to write on here but it just struck me as strange. And please ever don't call your shirt a wife beater... there are other words or clothes for that matter. Anyways Jessie is extremely loyal and gets even more riled up for Ever and her problems than she does for hers. I loved this intense loyalty she had, Ever should have reciprocated more. Well, she did have more going on with her life but still. Jessie deserved more than she got.
In the end I would hope that Ever becomes smarter about her choices and starts to take action in her life so she doesn't become a victim or naive. All that happened in this book - the twists and the turns make this book worth reading it and again the drama. All depending on you. I see some potential. I'm trying to make heads or tails of that MEGA cliffhanger that Russo left me with as well as some questions about some things not sought out in the book (hopefully) yet. I would like to see where it goes and hope that Jessie gets some happiness (Yes, I really do like her a lot). Hopefully this trilogy will have even more surprises for me and other readers to discover and unravel with more pretty covers too please!
Well, where should I start? This is one of those times when I don't know what to say. Well, I do but.. I... umm...gosh. It's hard to write a negative review, but *sigh* I gotta do it anyway.
So here goes...
In this book we meet Ever, this absolutely gorgeous girl, who has no idea how beautiful she is. Too cliche, but you know. Anyway, she's lost her best friend (Frankie) just last year, but he stayed on as a ghost, who almost never speaks. Well, most of the time he's brooding, and in the beginning I had no idea he was a ghost. I thought I was not getting the story right. Well anyway. So Ever's always been in love with him. How totally tragic, right? Well, if it weren't so cliche, a.k.a the impossible love, and if it weren't so badly written I might've actually liked it.
Then the picture enters Toby. He's the lovely, yet bad, boy who moves in next door. And check this out - Ever gets to fall in love with him only after a couple of minutes meetings. I could accept that as an (un)likely possibility if only Ever hadn't sworn that her heart would never belong to anyone but her ghost Frankie. Well, what do you know, she gets to love them both in this really freaktastic love triangle.
But that's not all. Oh no. Tighten your panties because there's more.
Now the picture enters Toby's evil ex-girlfriend who besides being a total slut is also a witch with some mojo skills. That got the whole picture confused beyond proportions.
Several things struck me as insanely stupid, here they are:
1. Frankie never calls Ever by her name. Instead he calls her Dollface. I could seriously gag right about now.
2. Ever umm.. went to bed.. with Toby on the night of her dad's funeral, and then broke up with him.
3. The scene with Ever's friend and her mom and crazy boyfriend blew me off. No realistic reaction from even one of the characters. If you get to read it, you'll see what I mean.
Okay, that's enough I think. All in all, the book flunk my expectations pretty bad. I don't think I'd be picking up the next one in the series, not after all that I mentioned above.
Wanting to read something romantic and a bit different, I picked this story particularly cause the cover. It called me in with the romantic notion of loving someone even in death.
Plot. When I first dived into this book the plot is a bit confusing. The reader is introduce to a girl who can see her dead best friend who she is in love with. I thought no one else knows. Right? Like she is the only one who can see him. Wrong. Apparently other a few other people around him can see him and that bugged me. This particular element in the story lost me. The author did not clarity nor gives reason as to why certain others can see him.
Love. Well, its quite obvious that this two need to be together. They both lost their time to be together. I can see the chemistry between them just waiting to burst. And in comes the love triangle. Yikes! In some parts of the story it worked out and in others it just became dramatic. I’ll leave it up to reader to see how he/she feels about it.
Paranormal twist. Due to the synopsis, I knew that it was a ghost story but this little element of well… I don’t want to give away much but imagine Ghost Busters. Yeah, like that. I wasn’t quite expecting it and since it came out of nowhere, it left me a little emotionally strained. Still, this part of the story did bring depth and more understanding to the story.
Cliffy ending. Yeah, it happen and I suspected too since the little tidbit of ghost buster going on. Did I mention that there is an evil girl bent on power? Yeah, that too. The ending left on a note of dread and anticipation.
Ever consist of a lot of parts that are interesting but not quite satisfying. It consumes itself with drama yet manages to make the reader reader till the very end. A tasteful story of a chance at love that was once lost, Ever is good.
Seventeen-year old Ever Van Ruysdael has a secret: she’s been in love with her childhood best friend, Frankie, for years and never got the chance to tell him. Two years ago, Frankie and Ever were involved in a car accident and Frankie died. He helped Ever stay alive by guiding her to safety and Frankie became ghost following his death. He’s been living with Ever and her family since that night. Although she knows they can never be together she longs for a boyfriend or to experience the feelings of falling in love. When Frankie’s father sells his house, she quickly catches the eye of the new neighbor’s son, Toby. Soon her and Toby are spending time together and she has to grapple with her new feelings for him while keeping him a secret from Frankie. Things are not what they seem and when Ever finds out Toby’s true motivates, she has to deal with the death of a beloved family member and the reality that Frankie may be back.
Jessa Russo does a good job of engaging the reader immediately and Ever is well written. In terms of characterization, I really liked Ever’s best friend, Jessie. Your heart aches for what she goes through regarding her family life. Putting myself into Ever’s shoes and if my best friend had a life like her’s, I would do everything I can to be there for her. In that one scene with Jessie’s mother and her boyfriend, I’m glad Jessie had the support of Ever’s parents.
There are a lot of unanswered questions. The first one is regarding Frankie and how easily he just adjusted to being a ghost and living with Ever’s family. I wish Russo would have explained a little more of her family’s reaction to having him around. Also, why did he focus on Ever and not his own family? I believe a lot of the heartache his parents experienced could have been avoided, but alas in order to have this plot, he needed to be with Ever. There’s also a line that had me scratching my head. When Ever’s mother is standing next to Ariadne, Ever makes note that both of them look alike. That unsettled me a bit because it’s never explored and there’s mention of Ever having a sister dying before she was born. Furthermore, there’s an incident involving Ever’s father and Toby says it was an accident and it wasn’t supposed to happen. Why the change in plans?
I debated heavily with the rating and often bordered on a three / four rating. Ultimately, I went with the three because of some unanswered questions and for the first quarter of the novel. Ever started strong, but it just fell flat with the constant feelings Ever had regarding Toby. It picked up once Ariadne made an appearance and even though she felt like a caricature at times, she was the second intriguing character. Frankie for me stole the show and I wish we had more of his perspective. He’s the first to warn Ever about Toby and says he’s not a good guy. Why is that Frankie? Did Frankie have an idea of Toby’s employment? What was his reaction towards Ariadne when was he given the choice of what ultimately becomes Ariadne’s gift to Ever?
Ever ends on a cliffhanger, which I won’t reveal, but I’m looking forward to reading book 2, Evade, because I’d love to know what happens to Ever and Frankie. The premise is interesting and if you’re a fan of the paranormal genre, then I recommend this book.
(This review was originally posted at My Library in the Making.)
Ever van Ruysdael had never been able to get over Frankie, her first love and best friend, who'd died in her arms in a car accident two years ago. How could she when, since then, Frankie's ghost had never left her and instead became a permanent fixture in her house? She had no problem with that, though, because she didn't want to move on... at least, that was until her hot new neighbor showed interest in her.
This book entertained me enough. The story flowed smoothly and was funny, sweet, and swoon-worthy where the author intended it to be. The mystery in the form of Toby kept me guessing and curious, but I wish the suspense was kept consistent and present throughout the whole novel.
The only problem I had were with the characters who, with the exception of Frankie and Toby, I thought were a little one-dimensional and sometimes just downright forced. Especially Ever who, with her questionable thoughts and actions, made me raise an eyebrow every so often, especially because of her fast-moving relationship with Toby and how lovesick she was.
Like, if I were the one with the dead best friend who was warning me not to date the new guy, I would pester him until he told me why. And it irked me how every time Ever caught sight of Toby, all her worries would move to the backseat - everything, except for the guilt she felt because for her, it was like she was cheating on Frankie. Lastly, she was bothered when she'd realized she didn't know a lot about Toby, but for all the wrong reasons.
Overall, Ever was an okay book for me. Although I didn't particularly like the main character, she didn't infuriate me and she did grow somehow by the end. I do plan to check out the sequel, Evade, but it's not particularly near the top of my TBR list right now.
MY FAVORITE PART was when Ever started to know more about Toby.
I received a copy of Ever courtesy of NetGalley and Curiosity Quills.
Eleanor, nicknamed Ever for obvious reasons, is a 17 year old with 2 best friends. Jessie, the 'bubble gum fairy' and Frankie. Except Frankie is a ghost that lives in Ever's house and hasn't passed on after the accident 2 years before. Enter Toby, the hot guy that moves in next door, into Frankie's old house. All of a sudden, Ever is interested in someone other than the love she lost, and sort of feeling guilty about moving on. Although the living should 'live' right? Frankie warns Ever to stay away from Toby, but she can't seem to, there is just something so alluring about him that draws her in. Besides the fact that he makes her tingle and feel alive while he's kissing her.
I have to say, this is the 4th book I've read from Curiosity Quills, and I believe I will probably read everything this publisher puts out! Ever did not disappoint me at all, aside from leaving me with a gasp at the end! AND no answer as to when the 2nd book will be out! The idea Jessa Russo put onto paper (or in this case, ebook form) is fresh and original, and leaving me wanting more! More Toby (PLEASE say we get more of him!) more Frankie (he's sooo endearing!) and of course more Ever! I am definitely keeping my eye on Jessa Russo!
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The Publisher Says: Easy summers lead to hard falls in this Grease meets Mean Girls contemporary romance…
When seventeen-year-old Renata Carpenter hijacked her stepdad’s classic car, she hadn’t planned on totaling it and landing her best friend in a cast from hip to heel. She definitely hadn’t planned on being sent to a work program in New Orleans as punishment. And she certainly hadn’t planned on falling in love.
But Ren’s summer of forced manual labor has a bright side: her name is Brit, and she’s everything Ren never knew she needed. First love becomes first heartbreak when their summer romance comes to a crashing close earlier than anticipated. Adding insult to injury, Ren’s break-up with Brit is followed by a big move to a small town.
As if starting senior year completely alone isn’t bad enough, Ren soon discovers that the Hell on Heels mean girl who rules Sun Ridge Prep with an iron fist and a vicious tongue is none other than her first love. Too bad this Brit is far from lovable.
But Ren knows the girl beneath the façade, and she refuses to give up on rekindling their relationship. Secretly, the girls pick up where they left off, falling deeper in love and risking it all to be together. But when their affair is exposed by Brit’s boyfriend, Ren and Brit are faced with the ultimate choice: love or acceptance.
Because they certainly can’t have both.
I RECEIVED THIS BOOK AS A PROMOTION. THANKS!
My Review: The author markets this as a YA title. I disagree. I'd hesitate before I gave it to a sixteen-year-old, or a naïve seventeen-year-old. So let's say it's more a New Adult title.
It's definitely on the money with the Mean Girls comparison. Ren is a classic Mean Girl. She's also a very horny character, and no respecter of boundaries. Brit: "I'm not gay!" Ren: "Get a load of those tits! Such a sweet pair of [upper]lips!"
Then there's the slur usage. I get reclaiming words, and even use queer myownself these days. That was a nasty one in my youth. But using slurs and only slurs? Not now, not ever. That's reinforcing abuse.
While I thought Brit was toying with Ren's feelings...denying you're gay does NOT absolve you of responsibility for behaving sexually with someone of the same sex...I found Ren deeply dislikable and overbearing. Brit's manipulative. Neither is someone I'd like to spend any more time with.
The main issues above weren't made better by the way the story is structured, with time-gaps that just make the chemistry between these two feel very unlikely for teens to experience. The writing was okay, with flashes of creative interest once in a while. Not a favorite read. Caveat emptor re: sexual content.½