Ami's Hoard

2.5 stars

First of all, a disclaimer: In general, YA/NA is not one my favorite genres. I can get impatient with teenage angst especially if the story the turns to everything "LOVE"; like nothing matters. So it is especially difficult in contemporary YA/NA (at least in fantasy or paranormal, there are other issues to think about). 

But this month (Feb 2014) is a personal challenge to read YA/NA genre -- and this one seems to gather mostly positive reviews, even being a winner on Goodreads Choice Award 2013. I like the premise of two "misfits" to discover their first love. I don't know what I'm going to find, but I'm ready to embrace it anyway. 

Alas, if there is a book that could change my mind about YA, this is NOT it. This is an example on why YA story usually doesn'twork for me.

It started interesting -- I liked the idea of the two misfits connecting through comics and music. Unfortunately, it stopped after they finally made that connection. It became downright silly for me, what with the promise of love and the "I live for you", and "I'm yours", etc, etc. I cannot relate to ANY of that. Not because I'm an adult now, but also because when I was teenager, this thing never crossed my head. I guess I was more into a journey of finding self, to discover the world, rather than the whole Romeo and Juliet thing (oh, and I'm not into Romeo and Juliet too, to be honest). So my interest with these characters -- especially Eleanor -- went drown the drain really quick, after they keep going back on forth on the "why the love each other" and "why should they not", and "you shouldn't love me", and "stop being nice", so on and so forth. My eyes were rolling back so hard, I was worried I got muscle spam.

Plus the angst ... the abundance problems with Eleanor's family ... just a bit too much. 

I actually sort of liking the way it (almost) ended though. I mean, I understand why it ended that way, and I thought it was the best thing for the two of them. Having said that, I wish that Eleanor did something "more". Eleanor had the chance to step up and be a heroine for herself and her family. I wanted my fictional characters to achieve some sort of triumph after an emotional journey. Unfortunately, I didn't get that... and so I got disappointed all over again.

With those elements in mind, I could even say that the story was 'okay'. Nope, I'm not impressed and have to chalk it up as another failure in my attempt of enjoying contemporary YA.


Personal Young Adult/New Adult Challenge February 2014: story #4