Mini reviews are great when (as unfortunate as it may be), I don’t have a lot to say about a book. It’s just me, and my blunt (rather sad) feelings because quite honestly, I didn’t enjoy the book. Now, there’s two things you need to know about my reviews: 1) I rarely pick up a book, going in, thinking I won’t like it. I just don’t. Therefore, 2) I rarely ever rate a book beneath 3 stars. When I rate it 3 stars, it’s either leaning towards 2 or 4 stars, but only once in the history of this blog have I given a book a 2-star rating. SOOO don’t take my word for it if I give a book a 3-star rating. Just don’t, okay?! It means I am confuzzled, and a confuzzled Emily is an unhappy Emily.

Either way, I still want to share my opinions on these books, because I’ve wanted to read them for a while and I want you to hear what I have to say… as confused as I may be.

Eight Keys by Suzanne LaFleur

Okay. I’ve passed this book dozens of times in the past three or four years. That’s right – I’ve wanted to read this book since I was ten or eleven years old, and quite honestly, I probably would have enjoyed it more back then. You know, before I was a proper reviewer (ha!) and became all smart about book plots and characters and whatnot. I related to the main character, Elise, very much. For me, at least, it’s rare that I’ve found a book where a character is… not so much a bully, but let’s call her a “dumpee.” The one who dumps the friend for a “cool” friend, when she’s really getting “dumped” herself. Yeah, I was that girl. Been there, done that. So I understood Elise.

Reading some of the reviews on Goodreads and Amazon, a lot of readers said they found Elise annoying, and I have to agree with them… but since I related to her on such a high level, she wasn’t as annoying to me. Does that make sense? That said, she annoyed me for a different reason: she wasn’t that deep. I mean, her dead father leaves her a scavenger hunt of keys to open eight mysterious doors with messages for her, and she didn’t react the way I thought she would. She was just kind of shallow. Because she affected how the plot went so much, I was left feeling like “Huh. So that was the book. Okay then.” I just thought a lot more could have been done with this amazing plot.

3 stars

Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin

I had really high expectations for this book, and unlike with reviewing Eight Keys, I almost feel a little guilty about giving this one three stars. It was really disappointing, because I’m such a fan of Miss Martin. See, the main character, Rose, has Asperger’s Syndrome. She’s obsessed with homonyms, and rules, and truly… she bugged me. Here’s why I feel guilty for not liking this book as much as I would have liked: Rose’s voice is spot-on. The way she handles herself, and the people around her – it’s quite like what I would imagine someone with Asperger’s Syndrome would think, feel, act like. So… I know that this can be a tricky thing to feel like, because like I keep saying, I feel bad about not liking her, and I’m having doubts about even admitting this! The way she talked (not very many contractions…?) It didn’t feel natural, and though her voice was spot-on, and incredible, it was… stiff. The plot was very sad, but I didn’t feel anything. Does that make sense? I’m not 100% sure I’m making any sense right now… yeah. Sorry! Confuzzled Emily. 🙁 I didn’t enjoy this book very much, and I hate myself for it, but… ugh.

3 stars

so that’s where I stand with these two books. have you read them? do you want to? i would really love to know: what do you do when you feel confused about a book??