{DNF Review} Secrets of the Tally by Halie Fewkes

Page Count: 330

Published on: August 22, 2015

Published by: Tally Ink Publishing

Genre(s): Fantasy, YA

Source: hardback via author

Age Rating: YA

Where To Find It: Goodreads // Amazon // Book Depository

My Rating: DNF 

Goodreads synopsis:

Meet Allie: she's just woken up in an empty forest with blood on her hands and everything she's ever known wiped from her mind. In her survival-oriented world, people are hunted by vicious predators and it quickly becomes clear that they are specifically hunting her. 

Allie's friends and sister have no insight as to why she's a target, and her only clue is a list of tally marks she finds tucked away, detailing how many lives she's saved and how many deaths she's caused. Judging by the amount of ink slashed across the page and the fact that nobody seems to know about it, Allie knows she used to have secrets that need to be recovered. 

Without knowing whom to trust, she finds herself drawn to a new stranger in the caves they call home, and even though he won't talk about his own past, he's ready to help Allie recover hers. 

The problem now is that Allie's instinct to survive is the only thing strong enough to bring her memories back. Flashes of her old self will only surface to save her from life-threatening danger, so if she wants to avoid living as an echo of her former self, danger is what she must seek.

~~~

Hey, guys!

     I was sent Secrets of the Tally for an honest review by the author. All thoughts and opinions are my own. See my review policy for my policy on review copies and DNF'd books.

    The premise of Secrets of the Tally had such promise but I, unfortunately, did not enjoy this book at all. I had quite a few problems with the book, but I really wanted to love it. I'm really disappointed that I did not enjoy this book. I adore Halie Fewkes, her Instagram feed, and her journey to being published is so inspiring. I can only wish her the best in her future endeavors. Unfortunately, her book was just not for me.

     Secrets of the Tally follows Allie who has woken up without any of her memories. She soon realizes that no one really understands her past fully and that she has to rely on her survival skills and intelligence to figure out who she truly is. She finds out that her memories only come to her when she's in true peril, so she has to seek out as much danger as she can.

      I initially started this back in May of 2017, but I really wasn't in the mood for it, so I set it down for a bit. I was starting to get into a slump and I felt like it wouldn't be fair to Fewkes if I read it when I wasn't in the mood. Well, at the end of the year, I was finally in the mood to read the book, but unfortunately, I just didn't like it. I was just really bored throughout the book and I couldn't even get through it. The plot was just so slow and the events were just so predictable or just so random. On top of that, I felt like the characters were really two dimensional and boring. I didn't connect to any of them and they were just so irritating and annoying. 

     There were a few instances where the story got interesting, but within a few pages, it just got boring again. I just could not get behind it. Many of the scenes that happened were just so irrelevant and annoyingly random. The whole plot was just so inconsistent and boring. I really did not enjoy the magic/fantasy element of this story. Within the first half of the book the system wasn't really adequately explained. I was just confused. I originally thought it was going to be really interesting, but I really didn't get anything from it. 

    Overall, I felt like this novel lacked development. I really wanted to love this story, but it wasn't for me. I was just bored and annoyed with the characters and plot. The concept was really intriguing, but this book just fell flat for me. 

Happy reading!

Olivia

~LivTheBookNerd~
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{DNF Review} Snowball by M.Y. Zeman

Page Count: 248

Published on: September 15, 2015

Published by: Createspace

Genre(s): Fantasy-Paranormal, Middle Grade

Source: Paperback - via author

Age Rating: Middle Grade

Where To Find It: Goodreads // Amazon // Book Depository

Twitter: @myzeman1

My Rating: DNF'd

Goodreads synopsis:

Heroes don't come any furrier than this.. I wasn't born with a scar on my forehead. I'm not an heir to a distant kingdom. The destiny I was born to was simply to die in a laboratory. My ability? To become small and furry. But becoming a hero doesn't happen overnight and destiny is a funny thing. In one moment the kindness of a stranger- or in my case a vampire - can change everything. My name is Snow and I am a wererabbit. Snow Everly was born a rabbit and believed that her destiny was to die in a cold laboratory. Then one winter night, a vampire breaks in searching for his missing research. When the lab goes up in flames he goes back and rescues her. When she turns three years old, Snow gains the ability to shift into a girl. Why was she created? Who and what are the mysterious figures following her? Follow Snow on her journey as she searches for the answers. Snow's dream is to one day become a hero and above all else - she wants to be accepted for who she is - a wererabbit.

~~~

Hey, guys!

    I was sent M.Y. Zeman's three released books for an honest review. Unfortunately, I really could not get into book one, Snowball. I feel like this book would have been something I would have enjoyed when I was in middle school, but I just could not get behind the premise at this time. At first, I thought this book was interesting and I thought I would continue on, but it really put me in a slump.This book really was not for me. 

     This book follows the young wererabbit, Snow when she's rescued from a burning laboratory by a vampire. The first 70 pages that I read of this book followed Snow as she grew up. I stopped while she was a toddler, but I really could not get behind how slow her development was. I just didn't enjoy the way Zeman had written her childhood. I felt like she could have gotten to the meat of the story much more quickly. I was at first, really interested in her vampire guardian's story, but he got really boring as the book continued, too. I just really did not enjoy the characters or premise as the story continued on.

    I think that younger paranormal-loving readers would really get into this book, but it just was not for me. It was strange and I didn't like the way the story built up. 

Happy reading!

Olivia 

~LivTheBookNerd~

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