Hi all. This is what happens when I’m exhausted but don’t want to brush my teeth or wash my face and get ready for bed. Instead of resting, I blog. Here’re short book reviews for four YA novels I’d read in the late part of 2010 and January 2011.

The last two books I read in 2010 were Switched and Torn, both by Amanda Hocking. I bought them via Kindle with my Xmas gift card from Secret Santa.

Switched by Amanda Hocking

Torn by Amanda Hocking

These are ok for the price I paid for them – 99-cents for the first book, $2.99 for the second book. The main character whose name I’ve already forgotten (Wendy?) just jumps right into blindly trusting the guy. That was a little hard to swallow. While teenagers are crazy and impulsive, I expected a little more realism or skepticism from the main character; if some guy said you were a troll and were stolen from another family, wouldn’t you look at that guy a little funny? I know I would. I’d think he was crazy… for a long time…Then she goes straight into learning how to be a troll princess. W.T.F.

Grade: B-

Buy or Borrow: Borrow

WTF indeed. I liked it enough to buy the second book to see what was going to happen next. Well, meh. Parts of Torn were great – I liked that there were new characters from another kingdom. But still, not super great. It felt like Ms. Hocking threw something together for the publisher and the editor/publisher didn’t bother to run through it once. Instead they just printed her first draft. While I’m a serial sucker, I’m hesitant to buy the third book.

Grade: C

Buy or Borrow: Borrow

Next up… 2011 books.

A Spy in the House by YS Lee

A blogger wrote about The Agency: A Spy in the House by YS Lee and also showcased YS Lee’s blog post which documented the photo shoot for this book cover. I enjoyed this book a lot. I thought the character Mary to be brave and totally a Victorian-era James Bond. In a time when women were nothing but wives and weaksauce, this turns that stereotype/way of living on its head. It follows Mary as she goes on a mission while she’s a spy-in-training.

Grade: A

Buy or Borrow: Buy

The Body at the Tower by YS Lee

I liked enough to buy the next book, The Agency: The Body at the Tower. This one… it took forever for me to get through. It dragged and dragged. I kept working on it every night, and it still kept going. I was getting bored near the beginning and trudged through it. Once I finished, my reaction was “meh.”

Grade: B-

Buy or Borrow: Borrow

While the second book was meh, I have high hopes that Ms. Lee will round back and have another Mary mystery kick some ass like the first book.

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