I’ve been blogging for a long time and, frankly, I don’t want to write huge reviews for all the things anymore. Whenever I’ve got whatever number of mini reviews I deem sufficient, I’ll put together one of these here posts.

School for Sidekicks by Kelly McCullough

Date Finished: July 19, 2015

Rating: 3 stars

What I Thought: School for Sidekicks is a fun middle grade superhero book. It’s got a lot of great humor based on tropes from all the superhero pop culture out there, for example how capes should be avoided despite how stylish they look. The plot proved more complex than anticipated and suggests that there will be at least another book about Evan Quick, though I’ve not found anything to confirm that.

There’s a hint of adorable middle grade romance where they don’t like each other but also kind of do. What really makes School for Sidekicks stand apart for me is the diversity. There’s casual mention of Evan’s dad’s two mothers, for example. One of the kids, Blurshift, has a power that allows them to shift genders and Blurshift has yet to choose a gender or standard form, which is so cool.

School for Sidekicks is worth a read for those of you who can’t get enough of superhero stories. If there is another book in the series, I’m down for it.

Shadows of Sherwood (Robyn Hoodlum #1) by Kekla Magoon

Date Finished: July 21, 2015

Rating: 3 stars

What I Thought: I know a lot of people want to dismiss three star ratings as not actually having liked a book, but I’d urge you to please not do this with mine. Shadows of Sherwood is fun and fast-paced. There are so many clever twists on the Robin Hood formula, and Magoon clearly put a lot of thought into genderswapping much of it and moving it into a futuristic setting. Were I younger, say 8 to 10, I suspect I would have loved this much as I loved that Robin Hood’s daughter movie with a young Kiera Knightley, which is to say quite a lot.

As an adult reader, I liked it and very much appreciated a lot of what it was doing. Still, I think Shadows of Sherwood doesn’t work as well for an adult audience, which is not a huge criticism since we’re NOT the intended audience. I had some issues with the believability of it. Robyn is twelve, and that feels way too young to be the mastermind of this revolt against a huge scary government. She’s gathered together her little gang of talented children and it’s super cute but it’s almost laughable watching the government declare them the most wanted criminals. How would the evil guys not just get laughed out of governing?

I’m not sure if I’ll be coming back for the second book. I do rather want to know if Robyn is going to fall in love with Merryan, aka Maid Marian, because I would so come back for a middle grade lesbian ship.

The Selection (The Selection #1) by Kiera Cass

Date Finished: July 22, 2015

Times Read: 2

Original Review: 3 stars on March 30, 2015

How Did It Hold Up? Yeah, that’s right. I reread The Selection. I may make questionable life choices. That probably won’t stop anytime soon.

So yeah, The Selection actually held up surprisingly well. Now, that’s in the context that, even at the time, I knew it was trash. That sounds really bad and it is, but also it’s really fucking entertaining trash. If you love it, don’t be offended because some parts of me kind of do too, despite the fact that I rather wish I didn’t. There is some crack in these pages. Like, seriously, possibly, there is actual crack in dem pages because it should not be so much fun to read.

I actually hold with a lot of how I felt about it before. The writing is, uh, not good, the world building is ??? wut r world building, and the characters are rather annoying and often stereotypes. At the same time, it very much plays on those fascinating tropes that make a reality TV marathon impossible to quit. I still maintain that kept to one book and without the whole dystopian pesky rebels business, this could have been the most fun ever. I also maintain that if you want a really good prince choosing his princess from a group of options book, you should read Princess Academy.

All that good sense aside, I ate this up like cotton candy, guilty but oh so happy.

Mechanica by Betsy Cornwell

Date Finished: July 24, 2015

Rating: 3 stars

What I Thought: Mainly, I feel disappointed because Mechanica could have been so much more. For the most part, Mechanica was a consistently solid three star book. It rehashed the Cinderella tale with few real changes or twists.

That might seem unfair given that there’s a whole political backdrop to the setting with the faerie kingdom and those tensions. Plus, Nicolette is an awesome mechanic, which is a really original twist on the Cinderella story. Oh wait. The stepmother is evil, the step sisters are vapid and cruel, Cinderella’s mother was her inspiration, and Cinderella is kind-hearted and never gives up hope. Like the movie version released this past year, I felt like it wasn’t going to actually do anything new.

The characterization really failed for me. I didn’t bond to any of the characters. Nick was claiming her feelings for Nick and I was honestly confused. It seemed like her crush should be on Caro if on anyone. The one relationship I really felt for was the one between Nick and Jules, a horse made of metal, glass and magic.

Then I got to the last thirty pages or so and then all of a sudden the book took a major turn to the right. View Spoiler »Nick rejects the prince because he’s in love with their friend Caro more than with her. She sets up an entrepreneurial glass shoe business to support herself, rather than becoming a princess. Caro is revealed to currently have a crush on a girl. There is some hinting that Caro/Nick/Fin might set sail in some sort of OT3 open relationship deal in the future. It’s not outright said but !!!! « Hide Spoiler I wish that Mechanica had been that book all along. I wish that it had committed more to the things it hints at. I wish that it had wrapped up some more of the political questions.

I’d say it’s worth pushing through for the ending, but I do wish there’d been MORE of the ending and a bit less of the rehashing of all of the standard elements of Cinderella that we all already know.

The Elite (The Selection #2) by Kiera Cass

Date Finished: July 25, 2015

Rating: 2.5 stars????

What I Thought: Guh, this dark magic. I really can’t bring myself to rate this book below 2.5 because I’m so addicted to this stupid series. I have a serious love/hate thing going.

I cannot even about how ridiculous the rebels are, breaking into the palace to leave messages that they are coming. THEY CAME TO SAY THAT THEY WILL COME. IS THIS A JOKE? THERE ARE PHONES IN THIS WORLD SO WHY NOT JUST CALL.

The first half (or more) of this book was so deadly dull and I thought maybe I was over it but then BUT THEN I suddenly couldn’t put it down and I cared despite hating everyone and this is the magic of The Selection. I can’t even tell you WHY I care that Maxon choose America, despite the fact that I already know what happens in all the things and the fact that I already think they’re both jerks but SOMEHOW I DO.

The jealous in this book though. Constant jealousy. All the time jealousy from Miss America about Maxon while she makes out with Aspen who I feel bad for even though he’s a sexist shitpig. Like, seriously America how are you so awful that I feel BAD for your sexist shitpig ex-boyfriend because of the way you are saving him in reserve in case you don’t get Maxon? He’s her fucking safety school and, shitty as he is, any human deserves better.

Wait, no. King Clarkson does not deserve better. King Clarkson deserves a hard kick to the thigh. And by thigh, I mean mangarden, America.

This has been a whole lot of emotional gibberish which seems pretty apt ngl. BRING ON THE ONE!