Review: Bumped by Megan McCafferty

Bumped by Megan McCafferty
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"You're knocked up. Ready to pop. Due to drop. Do the deed. Born to breed. Went forth and multiplied. Fightin' the omnicide. You're the most important person on the plaaaanet....Babiez R U!"

When I read the blurb, I didn't think I'd like this. But after I learned that this was a satirical dystopian YA novel, I decided to give it a chance.

I think the key is to realize that this book isn't taking itself so seriously. Once you let go, this book was enjoyable. The plot moves quite quickly, since it's written in first person present tense (I don't know if it's just me, but I've been noticing that more and more YA novels are written like this) and only takes place within a few days.

After finding out she has a long lost twin sister Harmony leaves her Christian community to find and save Melody. Melody wants to become a surrogate mother, because teens are the only ones who can get pregnant so it's a lucrative business to be in, but it's also a sin. And Harmony is running away from something else and decides that this is the best way to reignite her faith in her community.

They don't hit it off at first and are awkward with each other, but all that changes when Melody is picked to bump with Jondoe, a celebrity sperm donor who is all the rage at the moment. He doesn't shoot blanks, so Melody's status will skyrocket once she has sex with him. But there lies our problem, Harmony sees him and twin switching and predictability happens.

The writing is smooth, so it was fun reading this. This is the first book by Megan McCafferty that I've read and I don't think it will be that last...especially since I want to know what happens next.

Even though this is a very tongue-in-cheek novel, the dystopian world that McCafferty created is an interesting one. A virus makes everyone but teens infertile. Celebrities are those who make babies and don't shoot blanks. It's interesting. Sadly, we don't get to see a lot of the world. Not sure if this is a good thing or bad thing though. It's bad, because I wanted to know their world more. But it's good, because it kind of makes the world seem like the one we're living in now only it has better technology.

The chapters do go back and forth between Melody and Harmony and while they do have distinct voices, it did throw me off at first because once I was getting into one character, the chapter would stop and I'd go to the other twin. But after awhile you get use to it.

The world and some of the characters are over the top, but the lack of details about this world does make it eerily similar to our own. Overall, this was a fun, quick read. It does end in a bit of a cliffhanger though, so you'll have to wait for Thumped to see what happens next.  

Rating: 4 stars

Review: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

It was okay. Nothing spectacular. But out of all of the books, Mockingjay confused me at some parts.

When I read Hunger Games, I was able to read it through and not really miss anything. It was straightforward. I also felt that Catching Fire was similar in that sense. Mockingjay...there was parts that confused me and I had to reread in order to understand what was going on. This is even worse, because a character dies and I didn't even get it until a few pages later.

Another thing that I didn't like was the resolution to the love triangle. Technically there was, but let me explain what I mean. I hate love triangles. Everything about it annoys me, especially the Team Boy 1 Team Boy 2 cheer teams. Annoying. But I never really felt like the romance was developed enough to pick a side.

In Hunger Games and Catching Fire, Gale doesn't really have a personality and since Peeta is shown the most, you already know that he loves Katniss. It's one sided, because in Catching Fire Katniss pretty much chooses Gale. It's just that she wants Peeta to be there for her, which is kind of selfish and a tease but oh well. In the end, she chooses Gale.

Then she forgets about that in Mockingjay and the author changes Gale from having no personality, or having a revenge personality and Katniss isn't liking that. I almost feel bad for Gale, because he never really had a chance with her. Gale was made out to be a horrible jerk, but I never really understood why. Katniss didn't see what happened in District 12, he did and so he wants revenge. Plus, she mentions that he was always like this.

I hate love triangles, but at least give both guys a chance. In the end, she does go with one of them but that's due to outside forces and him being there while the other isn't. She doesn't choose a guy. She just lets things happen and stays with the one who is there. 

I also didn't understand how Finnick, who seemed perfectly fine at the end of Catching Fire, is a huge mess in Mockingjay. What happened to him?

The thing that I think disappointed me the most in the novel was the fact that we don't see many of the things happening, due to Katniss being asleep or in the hospital.

I did like Peeta's hijacking. I didn't like Katniss' reaction to the hijacking though.

I did like that Katniss mirrored her mother. She originally thought so badly of her for checking out, but Katniss ends up doing the same thing for much longer. I thought it was interesting to see.

I did like that characters died, because it's a war and it's expected to happen. It's mostly fodder characters though.

All in all, I felt like this was a bit rushed and not as exciting as the first two books in the series. I was ultimately disappointed with this.

Review: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I liked the second half of the novel much more than I liked the first. The first was pretty boring. Katniss is back at District 12 and going through life. She wants Peeta to be with her, but feels like she has chosen Gale.

I hate love triangles, especially one as badly done as this so I didn't really care much about Katniss' inner turmoil as she tried to decide which guy is right for her. If we had seen more from Gale, then I think I would have maybe understood this triangle more, but in the Hunger Games, we saw him in the beginning and in the end. Peeta was the main guy in that book and so we saw more of his feelings.

In Catching Fire, Gale is in the beginning and end and once again Peeta is the main guy in this book. I don't really understand how we're suppose to root for Gale when we hardly know him.

The second half of the novel is Katniss going back to the Hunger Games. I'm not going to lie, when I first saw this I was wondering why we had to do this again. But the more I read from it, the more I liked it. The allies were good and I really liked Johanna and Finnick. Both were smart and had a good head on their shoulders.

Katniss, was a tad annoying. And Peeta was either being carried or helped in some way. He was pretty much useless.

There was so much more that could have been done, but nothing happened until the end.

I have a feeling that Mockingjay will be better, so I'm looking forward to that.