Wednesday 10 March 2010

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Review: Something Like Fate by Susane Colasanti

Like Fate by Susane ColasantiSomething Like Fate by Susane Colasanti (ARC) - Best friends Lani and Erin couldn’t be more different. Lani’s reserved and thoughtful; Erin’s bubbly and outgoing. Lani likes to do her own thing; Erin prefers an entourage. There’s no possible way they could be interested in the same guy.

So when Erin starts dating Jason, Lani can’t believe she feels such a deep connection with him—and it may be mutual. The more Lani fights it, the more certain she feels that it’s her fate to be with Jason. But what do you do when the love of your life is the one person you can’t have?
From Amazon US

When I received this book, I was so looking forward to reading it! Not only does the book sound incredible, but the cover is just beautiful, too. So, understandably, I picked it up to read fairly soon after receiving it, sure I was in for a brilliant read. Unfortunately, I was wrong. I was so very disappointed in this book, I actually feel quite sad about it; there was so much potential, and it all just fell pretty flat for me.

I’ll give some positives first. Lani and Erin are seriously interested in all things to do with fate. Lani will check her horoscope every Monday without fail. Each month, the girls look into a new method of finding out their fate; tarot, palmistry, numerology, dream analysis, the list goes on. When I was younger I was really interested in similar things, and to a smaller degree I still am. I never went to the extremes that these girls did – I never checked my horoscope religiously, or anything like that, but I did think it was all pretty neat, and so reading about it in this book was pretty interesting. Though, after the beginning, where it was explained how interested in all these things they were, it kind of dwindled off, yet Lani kept going on about things happening for a reason, and fate was behind all things, and it got a little tiresome.

That small part was pretty much the only thing about this book I liked. I wasn’t too keen on the characters. Lani felt a little boring to me; she’s a bit of an eco warrior, and although I do my bit for the environment in my own home, Lani’s whole life practically revolves around saving the world, and it’s just not something I’m interested in reading. Erin was ridiculous with her “We’re meant to be!” about her and Jason, and I thought she was a bit superficial. I didn’t feel there was much depth to Jason; other than that he likes mentoring younger kids and walking along no longer in use railway tracks, I couldn’t tell you a thing about him. The only characters that were fairly cool were Blake and Connor, but they weren’t in the book for a huge amount of time. There was practically no chemistry between Jason and Lani, or Jason and Erin.

Another thing I didn’t like about the book was the way it was written. So many times throughout the book I got annoyed during the dialogue. Lani is telling this story, and when she’s telling the reader what some said, more often than not, she will say “And Erin was like ‘Blah blah blah,’” or “Erin was all ‘Blah blah blah.’” It grated on my nerves. There’s also the fact that so much of this novel told, rather than shown. I can’t count how many times Lani would talk about how she, or her and Jason, or her and someone else, did something for an hour/a few hours/the rest of the day. I wasn’t counting as I was reading, but I can only remember actually seeing Lani and Jason kiss twice in the whole book. I just didn’t get to see much of what I wanted to see. Perhaps there would have been more chemistry between them if I actually got to see them do things for more than five minutes.

I was just so disappointed in this book, and it’s so frustrating. However, I am just one person; although I personally didn’t like it, you might find this a really good book. I would definitely check out some other reviews before writing it off completely. I may not have been a fan, but you could be.

This ARC was won in a contest, not received from a publisher.

Published: 4th May 2010
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Pre-order on Amazon UK
Pre-order on Amazon US
Susane Colasanti’s Website

N.B - Because my review is far from positive, I would like to point my readers in the direction of some other reviews. If you have read and reviewed this book, please leave a comment with a link and I'll link to your review. Thank you.

9 comments:

  1. The dialogue does sound annoying. I think it's really difficult to write dialogue well. Thanks for the honest review!

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  2. No problem! Please don't decide on just my review though! Wait to read a few others first, you might like it!

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  3. I was really looking forward to this. I think I will be on the safe side and get it from a library in case I don't like it. I've never read a book by this author before. Elizabeth Scott has a similar book coming out called The Unwritten Rule and I think that one will be more of a surefire bet since I liked her other books. Thanks for your honest review.

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  4. I hate when you go into a book thinking you will love it and it just disappoints. I might still try this out. i will keep my eye out for positive reviews.

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  5. It's such a shame this disappointed you. I've loved the two Susane Colasanti books I've read so I hope I enjoy this one mroe than you did!

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  6. Christina - That's a great idea! As long as you're not completely writing it off, because you may really like it. I hadn't read anything my Susane Colasanti before this either. No problem for the review! I'm also looking forward to checking out Elizabeth Scott's The Unwritten Rule, it sounds great!

    Sarah - That's great! I'm sure there will be other people out there who love this book, so do keep an eye out for them. I hope you like it if/when you read it! :)

    Sophie - Oh, I hope so too! Perhaps I'll check through your reviews and see what you think of Susane Colasanti - but I don't think I'll be picking up a novel by her again. I really hope you enjoy it! :)

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  7. I am still going to check this out because When It Happens was amazing. Thanks for such a thoughtful review, it really upsets me when books don't live upto your expectations, expecially when you have been looking forward to them for a while.

    Cheers Jo :-)

    Oh and BTW Willow is about self harm because the main girl has a lot of troubles in her life, and thats the only way she can think to control them. I.E grief and personal circumstances

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  8. Aw that's too bad. I have this book coming at me in a tour I believe so I will still read it. Great review, thanks for your honest opinion :)

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  9. That's great! I do hope you like it! Oh, I know, it's so sad when you end up disappointed by a book, but I guess you can't like everything!

    RE Willow, so it's not about the way she feels about herself or the way she looks? I don't think it would fit in with the month, then. But I will definitely be reading it at some point, it just doesn't fit this feature. Thanks for letting me know!

    Cindy - Cheers, and no problem. I hope you enjoy it though! I may not have, but I'm pretty sure there are others who will love it :)

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