{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} Trust (Between the Lions #1) by Jodi Baker

Page Count: 296

Published on: October 3, 2015

Published by: BookBaby

Genre(s): Urban Fantasy, Supernatural, Mythology, Fantasy, YA, MG 

Source: Paperback - via publisher

Age Rating: YA

Where To Find It: Goodreads // Amazon

Twitter: @jodibakerbooks

My Rating: 1 star - DNF

Goodreads synopsis

TRUST is a young adult, mythological, urban fantasy thrill ride about the darkly fantastical, supernatural Museion that has secretly protected humanity’s greatest treasures for millennia, and Anna, the sixteen-year-old New York girl who is the unknowing Heir to it all:

TRUST.
That’s what the voice inside my head kept repeating when I woke up between the infamous lion statues of the New York Public Library, with no idea how I got there and no memory of the last year of my life.

The only person I ever trusted was my mother, who lied about everything.

I want to trust myself, despite my missing memories. But hearing a voice inside my head obviously isn’t a good thing, especially since it know things I don’t… like how to speak Ancient Sumerian, the fact that yellow-eyed people aren’t actually people, and that my mother’s Egyptian ankh necklace was the key to unlocking the truth she was hiding:

I’m the last in a long lineage of powerful women whose secrets date back to the ancient Library of Alexandria.

I’m fighting like hell to stay alive while searching for both my missing mother and the truth, desperate to find something or someone I can trust.

~~~

Hey, guys!

    I was sent Trust quite a while ago, but because of school, book slumps, and failed attempts at even starting. I haven't had the chance, lately, to just sit down and power through it. I was sent this book after helping the author promote the release of her book through a giveaway and guest post. She and her agent sent me a book a few weeks after the giveaway. I this book really intrigued me. I love mythology and I love the mystery behind the library of Alexandria, but this book just was not for me. 

    Trust follows a sixteen-year-old girl, Anna as her life is turned upside down through paranormal and supernatural events after her mother goes missing. Anna begins to hear a mysterious voice in her head ...who can speak ancient Sumarian and knows about her ancient bloodline. As Anna continues to discover more and more about her family, she begins to doubt that she can trust anyone she comes across.

      This book has a great premise, however, I did not like it much at all. I read the first 30% of the book, but I really just could not get into the book. I usually give a book about 40-50 pages before I DNF it, but I really was hoping for Trust to pick back up. I have tried to start this book three or four times, but I didn't get into it. I thought it was just a timing issue, but I really do not think that is the case. This book just was not for me. 

      
     As I started this book and got a decent chunk read, I realized that I really did not like how the characters were established. I didn't like their personalities and I just didn't care about what was happening to them. Not to mention, I really did not care for Baker's writing style.The way she wrote the dialogue to any scene, the constant rambles, the random monologues. It just wasn't interesting to me and I just found all of the characters to be annoying. Everything was described vaguely and even moments that I figured would have more substance to them lacked everything I would hope for. 

    This book was just not for me. I think that this book could be marketed for the middle grade genre. The writing style lacked the depth of what I would expect from a young adult novel. I expected something with some Percy Jackson vibes, but...no.

Happy reading!
Olivia
~LivTheBookNerd~

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