Saturday Snippet Reviews | Secondary Characters, The Trouble With Flirting & City of Lost Souls

There are times when Heather, Aly & I finish a book, but don’t have time to write a full, comprehensive review… or even a shorter “flashbulb” review.  BUT we still want to share our thoughts with you on what we’ve been reading. That’s why every Saturday we’ll be featuring 3 “snippet” reviews — short, sweet, to-the-point reviews that we’ll try to keep to 2-7 sentences.  So we hope you enjoy these!!

 

Absolutely adorable novella about two people who feel like background characters in the grand story of their more popular friends’ lives. I loved Lance… the goofy class clown with the silly, inappropriate jokes, who’s just a really decent, sweet guy underneath all the humor. Mabel was relatable, funny, and understandably hesitant about being set up on a double date with the guy who thrives on lame fart jokes. I am impressed with the depth of character and relationship development that was achieved by Schieffelbein in such a short page count, as the pacing of it all just felt very natural.  And added bonus: dual narration.  It was totally cute to watch the realizations, the relationship, and the romance develop from both of Lance and Mabel’s unique perspectives.

Overall, If you’re looking for a quick, satisfying little romance, definitely pick this one up.

P.S. The cover makes this novella look like it might be geared toward a more mature teen audience, but it’s more of a sweet romance for the YA standard ages 12+.

 

Confession–I’m a total Jane Austen fan. I adore her satirical jabs at her society. I adore her strong minded, spirited heroines. Emma = hilarious. Persuasion = Beautiful. Pride and Prejudice = Perfection. Total honesty–I really disliked Mansfield Park. I mean, I literally closed the book and went why did I spend all these hours wading through 18th century English for that?

So reading The Trouble with Flirting took some convincing. My faith in Claire LeZebnik was what finally won me over. I LOVED Epic Fail and I figured if anyone could do a likeable Mansfield Park, it would be her. Boy, was I right!! This novel is adorable, quirky and amazingly entertaining. The ending was perfection and everything I hoped for.

Overall, The Trouble with Flirting is a wonderful tribute to Jane Austen’s work, but is a unique, and in my opinion more satisfying interpretation. =)

 

 

I must confess… this was probably my least favorite book in The Mortal Instruments thus far. That doesn’t make it a bad book. On the contrary, it was exceptionally written, as we have all come to expect from Ms. Clare.

Things I loved:

-Simon

-Isabelle

-the ending (It wasn’t a huge cliffhanger, so I’m satisfied to wait for the next)

Things I didn’t love:

-Predictability

-Jace/Clary

I’m extremely interested to see how this series will continue to unfold.

Happy Reading!