Very Bad Things (Briarcrest Academy #1) by Ilsa Madden-Mills

Title:  Very Bad Things
Series: Briarcrest Academy #1
Author: Ilsa Madden-Mills
Genre: Young Adult/Romance/Dark

Maturity Rating: 17+
*WARNING: TRAUMA TRIGGERS*
Overall Rating:

My Quickie Synopsis: Nora Blakely seems like she has the best of everything; she's talented, smart, beautiful and comes from a well-to-do family. But Nora is harboring excruciatingly dark secrets, and she's tired of having to put on a face of perfection. She's ready to give in to her darker side.

Enjoyment Factor:
This book had me seriously scratching my head over what constitutes being a new adult book. In my head, I always considered new adult as being anything that happens post high school up until the late twenties, early thirties range of adulthood. But this story, which was promoted as new adult fiction, focuses entirely on a girl who is still in high school. Sure, she's nineteen, but she's still in high school. There's still locker-side talk going on. This book read like a young adult fiction that desperately wanted to be in the big leagues of adult fiction but settled for calling itself new adult. I'm not buying it.

A cotton candy book playing with trauma triggers?

Mislabeled genres aside, this book just came across as weak. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't fantastic either. The main characters felt so extraordinarily cookie cutter and I just didn't connect with them the way I would have wanted to. I was actually more invested in what happened to the supporting characters; perhaps the author was more invested in them as well since she goes on to tell their stories in subsequent books.
My main problem with Very Bad Things is that it puts a nice veil on a very serious topic. Everything is handled so incredibly casually and with such shallow convictions that the story lost quite a bit of its much needed poignancy. Everyone deals with trauma in their own way, but I feel like Very Bad Things glamorizes the after-effects. Instead of actually dealing head on with what Nora was going through, everything seemed more like a long-coming rebellious phase that was due to an overbearing, evil mother.To make matters worse, there definitely was some rose-colored shading going on as well. I could understand if the author didn't want to focus much on Nora's traumatic past, but the fact of the matter is that she made it a huge plot point that was only brought up when it was convenient. If it weren't for this indelicate handling, I'd probably rate the book slightly higher. As it stands though, I do realize that there's an audience out there that would eat this up without batting an eye, so it gets a solid two stars from me!

Technical Rating:

Character Building:
I touched on this a bit in my initial response, but to reiterate, the main characters needed quite a bit of work. Both Nora and Leo are extraordinarily flat in their character builds; any complexities that they had felt like mere ornaments to their personalities instead of having actual intrinsic value. The supporting cast of characters were a bit more grounded, which was refreshing, but disappointing at the same time. If only the main characters had been developed as much!

Plot Strength:
I'm not sure if you'll recall when I explained what a cotton candy book is, but I'll redefine that here. A cotton candy book is one that looks amazing, sounds like it's interesting, but when you read it, you realize that even though it might fulfill a base desire, there isn't actually much there to it. Very Bad Things is one such book. There's no actual edge to this book, and the plot elements are as weak as the character builds of the main characters. The climax? Anticlimactic. The resolution? Loose at best. However, the elements are there so I gave it half a star.

Sincerity:
The supporting characters save Very Bad Things from getting a big fat zero in this category. The main characters are borderline unbelievable in their actions. A lot of pieces don't really add up when it comes to the pair, and I can't even chalk it up to fairy tale syndrome.

Editing:
I can't particularly recall anything that made me cringe or stumble, so full marks here.

Pacing:
The only time that I took real issue with the pacing was towards the end. Everything was speedily wrapped up for the HEA (Happily Ever After). I did skim a few parts, but to my recollection it had nothing to do with a slow paced story, I just was getting fed up with the main characters! So an okay pace overall, I give it a half star.

My Icing on Top:
In all fairness I read this from the anthology Devour, which I mentioned in a previous review. Unfortunately, the anthology is no longer available for purchase (it was a limited time kind of deal) so you'll have to settle for buying this lovely tale on its own. For the reasons stated above, this book was not my cup of tea. However, I do know that this will come as a happy diversion book for many readers out there. If you (like me) take issue with traumas taken lightly, don't read this book. But, if you're just looking for your next fluff piece that has decent insta-love, give Very Bad Things a shot.

Check out my informal review on Goodreads!

As always, happy reading!

-K

Fading (Fading #1) by E.K. Blair

Title: Fading
Series: Fading #1
Author: E.K. Blair
Genre: Romance/Dark/New Adult

Maturity Rating: 17+
*WARNING*: TRAUMA TRIGGERS
Overall Rating:

My Quickie Synopsis: Candace Parker is entering her final year at college and she's excited for the opportunity to continue her dream of becoming a professional ballerina. However, a brutal assault at the beginning of the school year leaves her broken and struggling to pick up the pieces. Ryan Campbell, the owner of a nearby bar, meets Candace by chance and sparks fly between the pair. Ryan wants nothing more than to be the rock that she needs, but his own demons may doom their relationship before it even starts.

(Enjoyment) Factor:
This is not a book for enjoyment, but rather inspiration. I'm going to be blunt; Fading is a story about a rape and how it affects a young woman. You'll see her spiral down, but you'll also see her build herself back up. It's incredibly moving, and extremely honest to the point where you may be left just slightly raw.

Fading is not an easy read by any means; it is profoundly sad at times.

Even through the dark subject material, Ms. Blair was able to keep me hooked onto the story. I wanted to keep reading for the sake of Candace. I wanted to see her obtain as much closure as she could, and I wanted to know that she'd be okay. The only issue I had was the slight twinge of disbelief some of the happy coincidences caused.




Technical Rating: 

Character Building:
I can only imagine how exhausting it must have been to write these characters into being. Both Candace and Ryan are beautifully complex both individually and together. Ms. Blair does an incredible job of making sure that Candace's character truly isn't defined by her assault. There are multiple layers that are explored; we see everything from how she works, her goals, her interactions with her friends, her family dynamics, and how she falls in love and learns to trust. Ryan is just as well-thought out as a character, and even though the focus isn't on him, you still understand everything you need to about him. However, I'm glad Ms. Blair is devoting a book to his perspective.

Plot Strength:
The plot in Fading is concrete, easy to follow and works very well with the characters. I'm not sure what more you could ask for in a book! I have seen reviews that fault the author for having the plot revolve around the assault, but, in my opinion, that's the heart of the book. Should a reader fault Twilight for revolving around the concept of vampires and werewolves?

Sincerity:
Even though I'm not entirely satisfied with how Ms. Blair decides to handle the outcome for the rapist, I can't say that it actually harms overall feel of Fading. There was never a point in time where I thought that these events and these characters didn't fit within the realm of the book. The entirety of the story is full of heartbreaking sincerity.

Editing:
The editing gets an A from me.

Pacing:
The pacing was perfect for the story. The romance wasn't rushed and the story flowed quite naturally. There's a bit of formulaic writing in the book in terms of pacing, but Ms. Blair does it well; it doesn't detract from Fading at all.

My Icing on Top:
I usually try to avoid books that are this heavy for a variety of reasons, but I recently purchased Devour, which is an anthology featuring 8 full length new adult novels. It was only $0.99 and it benefits First Candle. In other words, I couldn't help myself; eight full books AND the profits go to a charity? Sold! I just didn't actually read any of the book summaries. So sue me; I went in for the surprise element!
This book is not a romance of the "bodice-ripper" genre, but rather a story of survival and love. That being said, don't be scared off from reading Fading, even if it isn't your normal cup of tea. As a matter of fact, I encourage you to read this book, or any book that goes into the devastating aftermath of sexual assault. As the end of the book states, "Every 2 minutes, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted. Approximately 2/3 of assaults are committed by someone known to the victim. And only 46% of assaults are reported to the police." That's just in the US alone; can you honestly afford to not seek to understand how this affects everyone? So, what are you waiting for? Start reading!

Check out my informal review on Goodreads!

Happy reading!

-K