Graceling, by Kristin Cashore

- Graceling Realm #1
Release date: October 1st 2008
Published by: Harcourt
Genre: Young Adult/ Fantasy
Find it on: Goodreads, Amazon

In a world where people born with an extreme skill - called a Grace - are feared and exploited, Katsa carries the burden of the skill even she despises: the Grace of killing. She lives under the command of her uncle Randa, King of the Middluns, and is expected to execute his dirty work, punishing and torturing anyone who displeases him.

When she first meets Prince Po, who is Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change.

She never expects to become Po's friend.

She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace - or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away...a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone.



I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't have high expectations when it came to Graceling. I've seen some really good reviews around lately, people loving this book to death, but for me, it wasn't all that good. I'm not saying that Graceling is a bad book (far from it!) but it didn't hold my attention the way I wanted to. It took me nearly three weeks to read a 400-page book, and that's too much for me. 

The world-building and the characters are really solid, and when I say solid, I mean it. They're consistent, and complex enough for you to understand their motivations, but still know that there's more to it than it looks like. I've learned to read Katsa's point of view and think of her like a real person, not a character. That's pretty damn impressive. Kristin Cashore has a way with words, and because of that, she can create realistic scenarios and beautiful descriptions that are as detailed as possible without being boring. 

I had no idea what to expect from Po and Katsa's relationship - on the summary it says that they become friends, but I've seen a lot of people saying that they're cute as a couple, so I didn't know what to believe - and I was incredibly satisfied when Kristin Cashore took this aspect of the book down to a whole different road. I can say for sure that their romance, and their friendship, are intertwined, and it's as perfect as it can possibly be. I'm happy about how this turned out. 

However, I had a hard time connecting with everything in Graceling. I could see how the descriptions were beautiful and could be very engaging, but it failed to capture me. I wasn't enthralled by Katsa's awesome fighting skills - they were very cool, though - and while I understood and liked Po a lot, I didn't fall for him, not the way I wanted to. Graceling was pretty entertaining, but I'm afraid I can't say it's one of my favorites. I will continue reading this series, though. It has a lot of promise, and I still hope that Cashore will manage to wow me and show me what she's really capable of doing with her readers. 

Double Clutch, by Liz Reinhardt

Release date: September 28th 2011
Published by: CreateSpace
Genre: Young Adult
Rating: 2.5/5 stars













What happens when you fall for the perfect guy...twice...in one day?

Brenna Blixen spent her freshman year homeschooling in Denmark; now that she's back in the States, she's determined to make her sophomore year unforgettable. And by unforgettable, she imagined awesome classes, fun friendships, and maybe a little romance.

What she got was a whole lot of romance, and all at once.

The same day that dark, brooding Saxon Maclean charmed her with his killer good looks and whip-smart wit, Jake Kelly stole her breath away with his heart-wrenching smile and intelligent, thoughtful focus.

But Saxon is a proud player who makes it clear that he doesn't know why he can't get Brenna off of his mind and out of his system, and Jake's sweet and humble attitude hides a secret past life that might be darker and more complex than Brenna is willing to deal with.

Complicating the matter is the fact that Saxon and Jake were once best friends and are now arch-enemies...and the more Brenna finds out about their connection to each other, the more intrigued and worried she becomes.

Between keeping the peace with her lovingly over-protective parents, designing t-shirts for her high school's rising punk band, keeping up her grades in classes split between academic and technical high school, and running the track like a maniac, Brenna has enough to worry about with out juggling two guys who make her heart thud and drive her crazy all at once.

She has to make a choice, but how is she supposed to do that when giving her heart to one of them might mean breaking the other's?

My thoughts:

Beware: This book has a confusing love triangle. If you love those, and want to be torn between two guys, this is the right book for you xD

Ok, now humor aside, Double Clutch was a funny, (hot), and quick read. Brenna Blixen is one of those characters with a personality that’s 50% sarcasm, and 50% cuteness and cleverness. Love triangles are often dealt with pretty ridiculously. How many times did you read a book about a girl who doesn’t have anything smart, intelligent, funny, cute, or lovely in her, and all of a sudden, two guys are falling all over her? And you just don’t understand why she’s treated like a Greek goddess by, not just one, but two boys? Well, with me, that happens a lot, and it makes me really mad.

But in Double Clutch, I could actually see why Saxon and Jake liked Brenna. She’s just beautiful, both on personality and, according to the guys, on appearance. What really bothered me is that I couldn’t connect with her throughout the book, not in the way I wanted to. And that’s lame, because Brenna’s such an adorable girl, and I really wanted to know her better.

The same happened with the love interests. Saxon, the bad boy that every girl desires, and Jake, the sweet, hard-working boy with a mysterious past. That sure sounds interesting, but as the story progressed, I didn’t feel much about either of them. I just didn’t care if Brenna was with Jake or Saxon. Even though I like Saxon better – his honesty was one of the most admirable things in him, and I just loved his sense of him – I didn’t really cheer for him. Jake and Saxon were just there, Brenna felt things for both of them, and that’s the end of it.

I admit, though, that Brenna’s background was well defined. The author wrapped all the things that happened to her up, and her friends, family, and colleagues had a story and plot of their own. I hate it when everything in the world happens around the main character and her love interest. It’s just boring and unrealistic. In Double Clutch, Brenna’s life is well balanced, and it felt real and common.

I don’t know if the ebook I bought had some kind of error or something, but I found a lot of grammar mistakes in it, and yes, they bothered me. And some sentences were so confusing I had to re-read it three times to understand, and some of them I just don’t know what the author meant.

“The top shelf is new stuff on the right and stuff I feel like I really should read, but haven’t gotten around to reading, on the left.” Please, did anyone understand this? I… I just can’t!

The plot was a little predictable – especially when the synopsis gave away what the drama was about between Saxon and Jake. I would have enjoyed the book more if this little thing was a surprise, instead of something we knew just by reading the synopsis.

Double Clutch was, indeed, a very good book, but some things about it really didn’t work for me. Yes, I loved the dialogues and background and all of that, but the writing, plot, and main characters didn’t really please me. I may re-read this next year, though. I want to give this book another chance.