I Knew You Were Trouble

Expected Publication: March 26th, 2013

A Touch of Scarlet (Unbound # 2)

By: Eve Marie Mont

K-Teen
ISBN-13: 9780758269492

The compelling heroine of Eve Marie Mont’s novel A Breath of Eyre returns to find truth and fiction merging through the pages of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic, The Scarlet Letter…

Emma Townsend is back at prestigious Lockwood Prep, but her world has altered immeasurably since her tumultuous sophomore year. The best change of all: her boyfriend, Gray. And though Gray is leaving for Coast Guard training, Emma feels newly optimistic, even if the pain of her mother’s long-ago death still casts a shadow.

Yet Emma isn’t the only one who’s changed. Her friend and roommate, Michelle, is strangely remote, and old alliances are shifting in disconcerting ways. Soon Emma’s long-distance relationship with Gray is straining under the pressure, and Emma wonders if she’s cracking too. How else to explain the vivid dreams of Hester Prynne she’s been having since she started reading The Scarlet Letter? Or the way she’s found herself waking in the woods? As her life begins to echo events in the novel, Emma will be forced to choose between virtue and love. But can she forge a new future without breaking her heart?

Review

     I am starting this one out by diving right into my thoughts on the book.  In two words: major disappointment.  And this makes me extremely sad because I really liked the first one and thought the premise was great.  I had seen nothing similar to it in YA books, so I was excited to see the follow up.  I really appreciated the character development with Michelle and former enemies Jess and Elise.  I thought that the plots pertaining to them were by far the strongest in the book.  I also liked that Emma finally got a back bone and did what she knew was right for her.  The only catch is that it took most of the book for her to manage this.  And by the time she did, I was so frustrated and disgusted with her weak willed choices/character that I wanted to knock her out and promote someone else to MC status.  I also thought that the scenes with Emma (and Gray this time too) in the plot of The Scarlet Letter were very melodramatic and didn't really make much sense to the plot - at least for me personally as a reader.  I thought that they made their relationship a Romeo & Juliet thing, when really they were just two dumb teenagers who needed to get over themselves.  Emma's lack of personality without Gray for the first 2/3 of the book was angering.  It harkened back to New Moon for me and the complete helplessness displayed by Bella Swan.  But the kick-ass attitude that she gains near the end did have me cheering.   The action seriously lagged and I felt like the book could have been somewhat shorter than it was in actuality.  A lot of the pointless introspection could have been axed by a good editing decision.  The next book will hopefully have a distinct lack of Gray, because he is in Coast Guard training and Emma will be in Paris - with someone that readers of the first book would never have thought to be a potential friend.  I will be reading the next book, as it's the conclusion to the series.  But I hope that it escapes from the lazy plotting and Mary-Sue tendencies that this one displayed.  I recommend it to those who read the first book, if they are brave enough to stomach it.

VERDICT:  2/5  Stars

*I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book's expected publication date is May 26th, 2013.*

A Much Needed Breath of Eyre...

Published: March 27th, 2012
A Breath of Eyre
By: Eve Marie Mont
Kengsington Publishing Corporation
ISBN-13: 9780758269485


Emma Townsend has always believed in stories—the ones she reads voraciously, and the ones she creates in her head. Perhaps it’s because she feels like an outsider at her exclusive prep school, or because her stepmother doesn’t come close to filling the void left by her mother’s death. And her only romantic prospect—apart from a crush on her English teacher—is Gray Newman, a long-time friend who just adds to Emma’s confusion. But escape soon arrives in an old leather-bound copy of Jane Eyre…

Reading of Jane’s isolation sparks a deep sense of kinship. Then fate takes things a leap further when a lightning storm catapults Emma right into Jane’s body and her nineteenth-century world. As governess at Thornfield, Emma has a sense of belonging she’s never known—and an attraction to the brooding Mr. Rochester. Now, moving between her two realities and uncovering secrets in both, Emma must decide whether her destiny lies in the pages of Jane’s story, or in the unwritten chapters of her own…

Review

   Emma is truly confused and she feels like she's alone in the world, especially when she's at her prep school (even with her cool new roommate Michelle).  Even when she's at home Emma feels like she's slowly been getting erased from the family ever since her Mom died and her Dad got remarried.  Also her feelings toward Gray, a boy she's known forever who has a bad reputation, are in turmoil ever since he started paying unexpected attention to her.  Plus there's the serious crush she's carrying around for her much older English teacher Mr.   Emma is suddenly thrust into a very different situation when she suffers a freak accident the night of a Halloween party.  Now she is living in the world of Jane Eyre, a literary character who is also very smart with some hard choices to make.  After awhile Emma is so busy living Jane's life that she begins to forget who she is.  Will she marry Mr. Rochester and live happily ever after?  Or will Emma be sent back to her own reality to pick up the pieces of the people left behind?  One thing's for sure, Emma definitely doesn't go the beaten path and there is nothing cliched about her final choice.  I truly loved this book!  Emma is an interesting main character who is whip-smart, sarcastic, shy and really into her books instead of social interactions.  Yet something inside her longs for her life to be different.  It's like she's at war with herself and that is very true to what it is to grow up (especially in the teen years).  Gray Newman is swoonworthy and fun, the quintessential teenage boy with a few extra layers.  That is a rare find, considering a lot of YA authors lately have seemed to write either sociopathic or mentally-middle aged romantic heroes.  It's a trend that needs to DIE.  I love Emma's journey of romantic and self-discovery.  There are a lot of really great points about how comlicated Bertha's psyche really is and how much more of a tragedy that makes her - and how it shows a selfish, blind and unfeeling side to Rochester (the so-called victim).  The family relationships in the novel are complex and give you something to think about.  Overall a fairly good read that is fast-paced, while being more substantial than most.  A joy in many ways and I'm super excited for the next book.

VERDICT:  4.75/5  Stars

*I got this ARC by chance and luck of the draw.  No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book was published March 27th, 2012.*