49. Colorless by Rita Stradling

Colorless #1
read on my iPhone
2017,
400 pgs.
YA Fantasy
Finished 8/21/17
Goodreads rating: 3.73 - 64 ratings
My rating: 3.5

First line/s:  "Staring at the white streak across my most cherished painting, I considered my death."

My comments:  

This is only my second NetGalley read, and the first one was bitterly disappointing, so my heart sank a few chapters in as I was unsure about whether I'd keep going. I couldn't get into this world at all. There was too much left to the imagination, and my imagination wasn't cuttin' it. And I was put off by the Daily Devotions to the gods. Although this world became (slowly) more clear, I think the little information imparted by those Daily Devotions could have been revealed in a different way. F This is only my second NetGalley read, and the first one was bitterly disappointing, so my heart sank a few chapters in as I was unsure about whether I'd keep going. I couldn't get into this world at all. There was too much left to the imagination, and my imagination wasn't cuttin' it. And I was put off by the Daily Devotions to the gods. Although this world became (slowly) more clear, I think the little information imparted by those Daily Devotions could have been revealed in a different way. Found myself skipping them entirely in the second half of the book. But all of a sudden things started connecting and reading between the lines of all three points-of-view helped me enjoy the plot more and more. That's not to say I don't still have about a hundred questions, but I'll leave those to be answered in volume 2 (that's not to say that more questions will be included!).           Great characters, interesting setting, out-of-the ordinary plot, not enough world building, and short added tidbits between chapters that I didn't need or want to read. I think that sums it up....and I greatly look forward to another entry in the saga. However, I'll probably want to reread this one just before I begin the next....

Goodreads synopsis:  In Domengrad, there are rules all must live by: Fear the Gods. Worship the Magicians. Forsake the Iconoclasts.
          To Annabelle Klein, the rules laid down by the Magicians are the mere ramblings of stuffy old men. As far as she’s concerned, the historic Iconoclasts, heretics who nearly destroyed the Magicians so long ago, are nothing but myth. She has much more important matters to worry about.
          Heiress to a manor mortgaged down to its candlesticks and betrothed to her loathsome cousin, sixteen-year-old Annabelle doubts the gods could forsake her more.
          Then Annabelle is informed of her parents’ sudden and simultaneous deaths, and all of the pigment drips out of her skin and hair, leaving her colourless. Within moments, Annabelle is invisible and forgotten by all who know her.
          Living like a wraith in her own home, Annabelle discovers that to regain her color she must solve the mystery behind her parents’ murders and her strange transformation.
          Meanwhile, hundreds of the Magicians’ monks, with their all-black eyes and conjoined minds, have usurped control of Annabelle’s family manor. An Iconoclast is rumored to be about—a person who they claim goes unseen, unheard, and lost to memory, yet is the greatest threat to all of Domengrad. For the first time in a hundred years, the monks plan to unleash the dire wolves of old.
         Their only target: Annabelle. 

40. The Lost Causes by Lisa Koosed Etting and Alyssa Embree Schwartz

read on my iPhone, my first netgalley read
2017 (Sept 5) Kids Can Press
344 pgs.
YA Fantasy/SciFi
Finished 7/15/17
Goodreads rating:  3.89 - 37 ratings
My rating: 1 / A waste of time
Setting:  contemporary US

First line/s:  "The Cedar Springs High campus looked Photoshopped that morning."

My comments:  This was my first netgalley read, and they'll probably never let me read another one.  I'm so sad to say I didn't enjoy this book at all.  It took me forever to finish. And I almost didn't.  I really wanted to like it and I feel terrible giving it a bad review, but I must be honest.  It was ridiculous.  Nothing was believable in even the tiniest way, I found myself rolling my eyes over and over again. For so many reasons.  Stupid bad guys that did stupid things and still got away with them even though there were all sorts of (smart?) people investigating.  Using kids in the laid-back way they did. Having FBI agents totally unsupervised.  Uninteresting things going on and on and on and interesting things just mentioned quickly and done.  Boring writing, characters I didn't care about or that didn't seem based in reality.  I could go on, but would give away more spoilers.  Perhaps I feel this way because my usual genre is police procedurals and crime investigations and this is so far-fetched compared to them that you can't even compare them.

Goodreads synopsis: They're the kids that no one knows --- or no one wants to know. The rich depressive, the OCD chick, the hypochondriac, the drug abuser, the athlete with anger management issues. All chosen for intensive group therapy because they're out of other options. They're lost causes, the therapist tells them. She promises this support group will help them heal. 
          There's only one problem. She's not a therapist. And that water she offers? It contains a dangerous serum that gives each of the kids a psychic power. 
         Suddenly, they can think clearly, speak to ghosts, see the past, even move objects with their mind. Their earlier problems have vanished, but their new freedom comes with a price. 
Sabrina, Gabby, Z, Justin and Andrew are to help the FBI solve the grisly murder that has rocked their small town. Their new powers will help them uncover clues and follow leads that have eluded the authorities. Their outsider status gives them the perfect cover. 
          But the same traits that make them top investigators also make them vulnerable. As they close in on the murderer, they expose a much larger conspiracy that puts them directly in harm's way and makes them wonder who --- if anyone --- they can trust.