I am essentially looking forward to that day when my NEED TO BE REVIEW goodreads shelf is down to zero, but dear friends, today is not that day. Of course, you all know mini reviews are my favorite thing of late. Here are three more – I liked two of the books just fine. There was one book, however, which I actually really quite enjoyed.
Invisibility by Andrea Creamer and David Levithan is a standalone young adult book with a supernatural twist. I listened to the book via Hoopla through my library while having a very old ARC on hand to consult throughout. I mean, the ARC is three years old so you can surmise that I am the worst. Anyways, I have enjoyed books by both Creamer and Levithan. Thus, I was feeling relatively optimistic about Invisibility.Â
Invisibility is basically a romance between a boy who is invisible, Stephen, and the one girl who can see him, Elizabeth. Basically, Stephen has had to adjust his life around being invisible. He’s been lonely since his mother died. However, he is used to it. It catches him off guard when the new girl in his NYC apartment building can see him. There are some wacky situations that come out of it, given that Elizabeth thinks everyone else can see Stephen. Ultimately, though, the book does turn serious as Stephen and Elizabeth search for a way to save Stephen and to undo the powerful curse that is on him. There are witches and magic.
In all, Creamer and Levithan’s Invisibility reads like a contemporary with paranormal elements. It reminds me a little bit of 2009 and 2010 when paranormal was the it thing in YA. The audiobook is narrated by MacLeod Andrews who has a whole lot of range as I am discovering. In addition, Mandy Siegfried narrates for the Elizabeth chapters. Siegfried is new to me. Her narration certainly is appropriate to the story though. I’ll admit that this book will not stay with me forever and has not earned a spot among my favorites. Yet, it was a fine read. Invisibility is the book for you if you’re looking for a palate cleanser and a book that you know isn’t going to be earth shattering.
Other reviews of Invisibility by Andrea Creamer and David Levithan:
- Nice Girls Read Books – “Insta-love, a predictable plot and forgettable characters“
- Heart Full Of Books – “I was completely absorbed by the characters and the situation“
- Caffeinated Book Reviewer – “a book to be both devoured and savored“
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I feel like some kind of Lauren Oliver superfan because I’ve read and reviewed nearly all of her books with like three exceptions. No worries I am coming for those books soon because I am a little bit of a completionist. Rooms is Lauren Oliver’s first adult fiction book. For some odd reason, I put off reading it for basically forever. I mean, I even received an early review copy at BEA 2014. Yet, somehow I never got to it. Maybe I was intimidated because it was not her typical young adult fare.
So, the audiobook of Rooms via my BB Hoopla is how I finally got to Lauren Oliver’s adult book. Rooms is basically told from all these different points of view. It’s about this house that a man, Richard Walker who is a total douche, leaves behind. The house is haunted by two ghosts who eventually are joined by a third ghost. Meanwhile, Richard’s estranged family returns to the house to figure out their inheritances. There’s an air of mystery surrounding the third ghost. In all, this is such a layered creepy wonderful story. I really should have read it sooner because Lauren Oliver’s writing is intricate and amazing.
The audiobook has quite the cast of narrators – a separate one for each point of view character. The narrators consist of: Orlagh Cassidy, Barbara Caruso, Elizabeth Evans, Noah Galvin, Cynthia Darlow, and Courtney Shaw. Noah Galvin was the only one who was familiar to me. The others I thought really enhanced the audiobook experience. I liked that each character chapter had a distinct voice. I think if you’re going to read Rooms and you really should, do it via audiobook.
Other reviews of Rooms by Lauren Oliver:
- As The Crowe Flies (And Reads) – “a satisfying and occasionally creepy read“
- Xpresso Reads – “I didn’t love this, but it’s a very unique – I’d even say peculiar – story“
- Anna Reads – “fans of literary fiction will want to check this out“
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Infinite In Between by Carolyn Mackler is the only book by a new to me author in today’s grouping of mini reviews. I have a few books by Mackler floating around the house, however I have yet to get to them. It is kind of strange, because she seems to write a lot of contemporary and I love contemporary. Infinite In Between is one of the first audiobooks I borrowed from Hoopla. I tend to really enjoy listening to contemporary young adult audiobooks and because this book has been on my TBR for so long, I was excited.
So, Infinite In Between is a book that spans an entire high school education. It starts off freshman year and follows the same group of kids from orientation group - Zoe, Jake, Mia, Gregor, and Whitney. Much like The Breakfast Club, the teens are all from different social groups. The different teens go in and out of each other’s lives throughout the book and throughout high school. There is not some unrealistic insta bonding and insta best friends going on. Rather, we get a look at the triumphs and tragedies each experiences. In fact, I really liked how the book was laid out with focus on this sizable cast throughout four years. You truly do get a sense of the changes that can happen in such a short amount of time as you read through the book.
Also, the vast cast makes it so the book never really feels super slow. The audiobook narrated by Erin Yuen goes pretty fast. It’s produced by Dreamscape Media, not Harper Audio which was sort of surprising to me. Anyways, I did not mind my time with this audio. I was glad I had the ARC on hand to consult when I got briefly confused and also when I felt like it was going fast, it was nice to be able to browse back and see what I didn’t catch.
Other reviews of Infinite In Between by Carolyn Mackler:
- Dark Faerie Tales – “Altogether, I enjoyed this novel.“
- Musings And Books – “another example of a good concept being poorly executed“
- Book Yabber – “it was not mind-blowing“
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