Roses Are Red... Violet Is Dead by Monica-Marie Vincent | Review

Series: Blood So Violet (Book 1)

Published: March 13th, 2015 by Booktrope Publishing

Pages: 214

Date Finished: July 10th, 2015

Rating: 3/5

Age Recommendation: 12+

Roses Are Red... Violet is Dead by Monica-Marie Vincent is a book about murder and thrilling events that are supposed to keep you engaged and right at the edge of your seat and that's what I was expecting going into this book. It seemed so promising but I was extremely let down and I was surprised when I saw the great ratings it had gotten on Goodreads because I felt like me and everyone else weren't reading the same book. Surely if everyone thinks it's amazing and I don't there must be something wrong with me... This book was a major let-down.

Roses Are Red... Violet Is Dead follows seventeen year old Violet Sumner as she goes about her life trying to be the grown up in the household. After her dad passed away in a terrible accident and her mom is left on disability and turning to alcohol as a coping mechanism, Violet is left to pick up the pieces as well as take care of her mother. One day Violet gets a strange text from a number she's never seen before. This text is the first to come of many. They are made up of the famous Roses Are Red poems except they say things like "Your best friend needs to mind her own business," but in poem form. Violet doesn't think much of it and just brushes it off until weird things start happening in the community such as people dying or going missing. For me though, I had a lot of problems with this book...

The main character is Native American and although I am not Native American myself, I was very offended at how the author stereotyped Native American people. She wrote Violet's mother as a drunk and constantly made offensive references to that culture. Another thing that annoyed me was the use of super excessive swearing. I'm not one of those people who can't handle swearing at all; honestly I don't mind it one bit but with that being said there was way too much of it in this book. There was a swear word on literally almost every page. In my opinion, the author used swearing as a way to cover up for a poorly written book. This book also had horrible teenage dialogue. Monica-Marie creates words and phrases that I've never heard of in my life. One example would be "Are you seriousing me right now?" Nobody says that that I know of and all those made-up words and phrases or things that nobody I know would say really annoyed me.

Even though the writing style wasn't that great at certain points, the story did keep me mildly entertained so I might want to continue the series when the next book comes out if given the chance but this book was just mediocre for me and because of that it gets 3/5 stars.   

Different Stereotypes and Why I Hate Them

Hey guys! So... I'm currently reading a book that I got off NetGalley and it has me extremely frustrated. As I was reading, the author threw in two stereotypes that I didn't see necessary and they quite honestly ticked me off. That's why I decided to make this post because it got me thinking of all the times authors have thrown in useless stereotypes that not a lot of people can relate to. So here we go!


Race


The first stereotype is one of the most common ones that I've come across. In most of the novels I've read, the main characters are always white. This annoys me because I can't believe the world still sees problems with other races or views interracial/differently raced couples as a "wrong" thing. The world is much more diverse than most authors make it out to be and love is the same way.


LGBTQIA+


This brings me to my next point: LGBTQIA+ relationships in books. More often than not, most of the couples in fictitious novels are straight. Authors need to realize that not everyone in the world is straight and that some of their readers may not be able to connect with their characters. If they were more exploratory with what they wrote, that would be really awesome. Granted there are more books being published about gay and lesbian couples nowadays but there aren't many books for the less well-known sexual orientations and sexual/gender identities.


Physical Attractiveness


More often than not, the female protagonist in a book is super slim, tan, gorgeous, blond, has the perfect body and a bubbly personality. The male protagonist is a hunk with a defined six pack, sexy smile, sometimes he's a jerk or a bad boy, and he's almost always into sports. The majority of society is not like this. We come from all different walks of life; we're all different sizes and body types and most of us don't have the money to buy super expensive cars. The way these characters are built up is especially bad for younger readers because they think they have to be super fit or slim and look and act just how they think society "needs" them to be.




Those are just some of the stereotypes that come hand in hand with fictitious novels that I've read and they really annoy the crap out of me. I hope this post didn't seem too rant-y and I'll see you all next Wednesday. Happy reading! 

Into A Million Pieces by Angela V. Cook | Review

Series: TBA

Published: January 27th, 2015 by Red Adept Publishing

Pages: 206

Date Finished: July 5th, 2015

Rating: 5/5

Age Recommendation: 14+

Into A Million Pieces by Angela V. Cook sounded so endearing and interesting when I read the synopsis, so going into it, I had really high hopes... Let me just say that I was not at all disappointed! This book had me gripped and invested in the story from the very first word on the page and there were many times when my mind was utterly blown. The author does a lot of foreshadowing so when big events happen, you can definitely see them coming but that does not lessen the impact of them whatsoever.

Into A Million Pieces is the story about Allison and her sister Jade who are teenage succubi. Jade and Allison are complete polar opposites. Jade lives life on the edge just waiting to see how far she can push her curse and Allison is the more careful twin who is always concerned and looking out for Jade. One day after a date with a boy from their school, things are taken much too far and everything ends up in utter tragedy for Jade. With the help of a dreamy and smart boy who Allison meets at the local library named Ren, Allison is able to somehow deal with her world getting turned upside down but will Allison be able to be with Ren the way she wants to as well as being capable of controlling her urges and needs for him? And is everyone in Allison's life who they say they are or have things been hidden from her in ways no one could have ever imagined?

The one thing I really admired about this book was the way Angela created and built her characters. Each of their lives are painted in the reader's mind with such finesse and none of them conform to stereotypes. It's amazing! 

Allison is not your typical main character. She is labeled a "goth chick" and "freak" at her school for dressing in drab, black clothing and combat boots and wearing black lipstick and eyeliner. The leader of the Snob Mob a.k.a the "popular" girl, is not a prissy cheerleader. Instead, her and her friends are part of the high school tennis team. And lastly, although the love interest, Ren is drop dead gorgeous and sexy, he is not a jock but a nerdy, smart, library type who always gets good grades. It was so refreshing to read about these types of characters. I absolutely loved it and huge props to the author!

This book was amazing! There were so many twists and turns and I was always kept guessing. I will definitely be continuing with this series if Angela chooses to make it into one! Into A Million Pieces was by far one of the best books I've read this year.

My June Wrap Up | 2015

I'm quite pleased with how much I managed to read in June! I ended up reading 5 books and relatively liking - if not loving - most of them.

The first book I completed this month was Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. I came to have a lot of issues with this book and pretty much hated it.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

The second book I read this month was A Work In Progress by Connor Franta. I love this book so much. It was very inspirational and I highly recommend checking it out if you haven't already.

Rating: 5/5 stars

The third book I read this month was Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson. This book was just okay for me. It seemed to drag on throughout more than half of the book and I couldn't really connect with the characters.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

The fourth book I read this month was Bitten by Kelley Armstrong. This book was amazing. So full of action and suspense that I was on the edge of my seat the entire time and there's also a little bit of steamy romance thrown in there.

Rating: 5/5 stars

The fifth and final book I read in June was Correlation by Mia Grace. This book was by far my favourite thing I read in June. It was very short though, so I would've liked a little bit more time with the characters. But if you like time travel books and books with an older feel to them, then I can guarantee you'll like this one.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

The Seven Deadly Sins Book Tag

Thank you so much to Eduardo from Booming Books for tagging me! :)

GREED - WHAT IS YOUR MOST EXPENSIVE BOOK? WHAT IS YOUR MOST INEXPENSIVE BOOK?

My most expensive book is Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. It was over $25.00 from The Book Depository... And then they sent me the wrong book. *facepalm* My most inexpensive books would be anything that I buy from the thrift store in my city. They're never over $3.00.

WRATH - WHAT AUTHOR DO YOU HAVE A LOVE/HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH?

For this question, I'd have to go with Stephenie Meyer. I'm still waiting on a published version of Midnight Sun but I honestly don't think we're going to get it.


GLUTTONY - WHAT BOOK HAVE YOU DEVOURED OVER AND OVER AGAIN WITH NO SHAME?


Ummm... I don't usually re-read books so I can't really think of an answer for this question.


SLOTH - WHAT BOOK HAVE YOU NEGLECTED DUE TO LAZINESS?


I can't think of a book that I've neglected out of laziness but I series that seems too daunting to me is Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling. I know, I know... I need to read them. I promise I will!


PRIDE - WHAT BOOK DO YOU TALK ABOUT IN ORDER TO SOUND LIKE AN INTELLECTUAL READER?


I'm not really that smart whether I'm talking about books or not... xD But I guess I'd talk about a certain classic a lot if there came a time when I needed to appear smarter. Probably something by Jane Austen.


LUST - WHAT ATTRIBUTES DO YOU FIND IN MALE OR FEMALE CHARACTERS?


Usually males are super attractive and fit or rich in a lot of YA books that I read and females are usually quite the same: 115 pounds, tan, blonde etc. The popular female high schoolers are portrayed as bubbly cheerleaders who are scum bags to the main characters...


ENVY - WHAT BOOK WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO RECEIVE AS A GIFT?


I'd really like to receive All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven because the story line seems really intriguing to me and I've heard nothing but good things about it.


I tag:


Erica & Christy at Novel Ink
Andriana at A Love Worth Living For