erica
I like stuff with romantic elements and angst, usually YA, fantasy, paranormal/urban fantasy or variations thereof. Usually wrinkles nose at sci-fi due to unlikely tech. Straight girl who likes boys that like boys!
Currently reading
Lead by Kylie Scott (Stage Dive 3)
It's official: I wish that Stage Dive was an actual real-life rock band that I could crush on, because I haz the book crush on these guys so bad. Mal is always a ball of crazy delight, and I loved the way Benny is more part of this, which makes me so exited for book 4.
I was a bit apprehensive that I would not like Jimmy's book, because he is such an asshole in book one. And to be sure, he is a complete anti-hero in Lead: a 6 month-clean drug addict, he is rude, cold, moody, selfish and shut off from the rest of the world. His childhood and adolescence was a complete shambles, his life as a grown-up rock-star a mess and as a result he keeps his emotions so deeply buried he has no idea what they are most of the time. And yet, despite all of that, I liked him, because you see him as Lena does. She isn't blind to his faults, but she likes - and then loves - him anyway, and you see the gradual change in him through the book.
Lena was a blast as the narrator - her sarcasm and wonderful sense of humour and irony had me laughing so much. She is loyal, stubborn and takes no shit from anybody - including Jimmy. Jimmy has really met his match in that one. I loved their verbal sparring, the push and pull in their relationship.
As opposed to the previous two books, the relationship between Lena and Jimmy grow gradually over a fairly long period, and there is little outer conflict. The plot is very character driven, and focuses mostly on Jimmy and his relationship with Lena and his band-mates. It works really well - a slow falling into love. Well, not so slow for Lena, but Jimmy was amazingly clueless on his own feelings.
My only gripe is that the ending felt very rushed compared to the rest of the book, and it was a bit too... neat, somehow.