I received this book for free from HarperCollins in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Promise of Amazing by Robin Constantine 
Wren Caswell is average. Ranked in the middle of her class at Sacred Heart, she’s not popular, but not a social misfit. Wren is the quiet, “good” girl who's always done what she's supposed to—only now in her junior year, this passive strategy is backfiring. She wants to change, but doesn’t know how.
Grayson Barrett was the king of St. Gabe’s. Star of the lacrosse team, top of his class, on a fast track to a brilliant future—until he was expelled for being a “term paper pimp.” Now Gray is in a downward spiral and needs to change, but doesn’t know how.
One fateful night their paths cross when Wren, working at her family’s Arthurian-themed catering hall, performs the Heimlich on Gray as he chokes on a cocktail weenie, saving his life literally and figuratively. What follows is the complicated, awkward, hilarious, and tender tale of two teens shedding their pasts, figuring out who they are—and falling in love.
Is insta-love ever a good idea? One where with only a handful of pages two people have already felt that they are experiencing the beginning of something “real”? Something that would change their lives? Pffft! Well ok even if this stuff can – or so I’m told – happen in real life, I need a lot more substance to convince me in fiction. I have very rarely seen cases of insta-love – or instant somethings – where I could actually feel a genuine connection forming between two characters, The Promise of Amazing was not one of them. This insta-love was in its purest eyeroll-inducing form. This was the first sign that I should have listened to.
I’m sure my dislike for Grayson played into my complete disinterest in the romance from the start. I mean, this guy calls his own hair cool and reminisces on when he and his friends used to walk the school halls “like fucking rock stars”. Excuse me while I go barf! There is nothing about Grayson I liked. Since this book is told in dual POV this was more than a little unfortunate. His whole characterization was a flop, from the gross sexual organ references to plain immorality. I know this is a YA novel, but lawd I have not read one with such immaturity in a long while. Then we’re supposed to believe he now wants to be this whole new redeemable person because of a girl he met 2 seconds ago? Puh-lease! Even though this is a premise I have seen myself enjoy in the past, it felt nothing but artificial in this case. Plus, did he even feel remorse for anything?
I can’t say I connected to Wren any better, though she was at least tolerable. Still, she could have used some backbone and a lot more personality. She gets annoyed at being considered the quiet girl but proves to be nothing but. Her whole character left a lot to be desired, especially when she became all about Grayson. This is a shame, really, since her perspective – the family life and lack of ambition from such large shoes to fill – got swept under the rug of unexplored potential.
Even without the insta-love, I didn’t get the romance. Why were either of these people even interested in the other? Physical attractiveness will only go so far. But even that is inexplicable: They met when he was choking on his own idiocy…
The ending: *shoots self in the face*
The title: LIES!! ALL LIES!
2 Hot Espressos
Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.
My pick this week:
This sounds so up my alley it’s not even funny! It sounds like it’s being told from the ghost’s point of view (unless there’s a twist :D). Plus it’s Jodi Lynn Anderson! I haven’t read anything by her yet but she’s highly praised.
What are you waiting on?
Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.
My pick this week:
Holy crap did you read this blurb!? O_O Kate’s last book, Another Little Piece, was such a strange book – in a good way – and probably one of the most unique stories I’ve ever read told in the most mysterious of ways so I can’t wait to see what she has in store for us with this one!
What are you waiting on?
Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.
My pick this week:
This was described as “The Wizard of Oz meets Kill Bill”, enough said!
What are you waiting on?
Hmm.. I didn’t really get the point of this book. It would have helped if we had gotten some world building, surely. Basically we’ve got these kids who have a virus that gives them powers. They get used by the army to try to stop kids with cooler powers. The end.
It’s a shame, really, because until a bit passed the middle – which is when I realized this book wasn’t really going anywhere – I was quite enjoying it. I thought the idea of it all was creative and exciting. the powers ranged from funny, to intriguing, to kind of badass. The characters were also fairly interesting (though the narrative switches were sometimes sloppy). But in the end I still don’t know what this book was trying to be….
Find Me has a fairly strong beginning with dashes of tense, well written scenes. This made me sure that it would be an entertaining read if nothing else, but unfortunately it ended up being mostly boring with too much of the same old same old.
My first problem with this book is character development – or the lack thereof. We’re told Wick is this great hacker, a trait meant to impress but never felt genuine. All she does in this book is track an IP. Not only is the ability to dig up public information not hacking, the few examples we get are weak and some of it inaccurate. When you get a Facebook notification email, digging through the header would give you the originating IPs for the message’s relay…
Adorable and adventurous, The School for Good and Evil is a fun escape from reality. When beautiful Sophie and weird Agatha end up in the wrong school – perfect Sophie can’t be evil now, can she? – they’re determined to fix this unforgiving mistake.
This is a magical adventure through and through; the book is set at this School of Good and Evil, a wonderfully imaginative school that trains future fairy tale characters. Meaning when you graduate, you’ll be in a fairy tale book; whether a princess, a villain, a gremlin, or even a tree, your faith will be determined by how well you do at this school. This idea kind of blew my mind a little; I found it so unique and incredibly fun. The girls, each clearly…
Whoa! This book has to be one of the strangest reads I’ve come across. I can see how its eccentric nature will not be for everyone, but for me the beautiful, often disturbing, writing style captivated me and never let go. It’s not the type of story that just anyone could pull off, the author definitely did some thinking outside the box for this one, and Quinn has my two thumbs up.
Calling this book Another Little Piece is quite fitting, as it felt like with every turn of a page, another piece of this mind-boggling puzzle was put in place – or at least moved a tiny bit closer. And this review is especially hard, because in almost every piece lies a spoiler. The first of these spoilers comes…
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