Review: Still in love with the story, but...
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 28, 2014
This book has a few issues.1. Lack of editing - the errors were easy to overlook in the first book, but in the second book they are just atrocious. Many times I couldn't even fathom what the author meant to say and it interfered with my ability to understand the scene. I found myself re-reading the same paragraphs over and over trying to understand and it was frustrating. In a time where simple grammar and spell checks are available on just about every application, it's depressing to see digital media produced with such inconsideration for the reader.2. Inappropriate vernacular - in the first book, the author did a great job of depicting a 1930s setting. In this book, it doesn't seem like the 30s at all. The teen characters talk just like modern day teens, using slang like "sweet" (to describe a knife/blade) and "well, duh". I kept asking myself whether or not a few decades passed and I somehow missed it. The inconsistency with the time period annoyed me.3. The emotional hysteria was giving me whiplash - everybody is bawling one second and laughing their butts off the next- again and again in the midst of these dire situations. Some hysterical, inappropriate laughter is understandable, but this felt like overkill. Every other paragraph the characters go from shocked/horrified/crying to laughing at something dumb Derek said (that wasn't even funny) for pages and pages. On a further note, I didn't really understand the instant undying love the characters felt for each other after just barely meeting. I get that hard times bring them closer together and they're on the same team - helping each other out and having each other's backs - but it seemed like many of the characters have this "I just met you but I love you with all my heart and will gladly die for you" attitude. It just didn't make sense to me. Can't they just start as friends with a common goal and build on that?Issues aside, I am still very invested in this story and give kudos to the author for keeping me enthralled. Without the editing issues I would have given this book 4 or maybe even 5 stars.