DNF: Countdown, by Michelle Rowen

Release Date: October 1st, 2013
Age Group: Young Adult
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Source: Publisher through NetGalley
Overall: 1 Monkey
Interest: Dystopia
Categories: Dystopia, Sci-Fi, Romance
Goodreads 

Summary:

3 seconds left to live. Once the countdown starts, it cannot be stopped. 
2 pawns thrown into a brutal underground reality game. 
Kira Jordan survived her family's murder and months on plague-devastated city streets with hard-won savvy and a low-level psi ability. She figures she can handle anything. Until she wakes up in a barren room, chained next to the notorious Rogan Ellis. 
1 reason Kira will never, ever trust Rogan. Even though both their lives depend on it. 
Their every move is controlled and televised for a vicious exclusive audience. And as Kira's psi skill unexpectedly grows and Rogan's secrets prove evermore deadly, Kira's only chance of survival is to risk trusting him as much as her instincts. Even if that means running head-on into the one trap she can't escape. 
GAME OVER

My Opinion:

To me, first chapters are everything. They're what define if I'll stick with a book or not. 

Sadly, Countdown's first chapters didn't do it for me. I got no substantial backstory (only a brief mention of some Great Plague, which, by the way, wasn't explained in the following chapters). 

Until chapter five I had no idea how Kira looked like. She did detail her and Rogan's clothes, but it was a long list I soon forgot and didn't feel like going back to check again. 

And Kira's power... it just felt forced. The narrative didn't do it for me either. 

In the second stage of the game, Kira magically finds the bell to get them to the next level. Here there's a passing mention of her life before, trying to give the story some backdrop (why would she be so comfortable going through the Dumpster?). But just as easily as it appears, it vanishes, and we're left with Kira and Rogan meeting a random man who wants to fix Rogan's shoulder. This did not seem plausible to me. Kira wanted to run at the first opportunity, so why would she act so nonchalant in front of a stranger who is clearly working for the people who've put her in this game? 

It all happens too fast and it doesn't get a chance to be properly developed. Five chapters were more than enough for me. 

Sorry, Michelle!

DNF: What We Saw At Night, by Jacquelyn Mitchard

Release Date: January 8th, 2013
Age Group: Young Adult
Publisher: Soho Teen
Source: NetGalley

Overall: Did Not Finish

Categories: Contemporary, Thriller, Suspense

Goodreads 

Read in February 2013

Summary:

Allie Kim suffers from Xeroderma Pigmentosum: a fatal allergy to sunlight that confines her and her two best friends, Rob and Juliet, to the night. When freewheeling Juliet takes up Parkour—the stunt-sport of scaling and leaping off tall buildings—Allie and Rob have no choice but to join her, if only to protect her. Though potentially deadly, Parkour after dark makes Allie feel truly alive, and for the first time equal to the “daytimers.” On a random summer night, the trio catches a glimpse of what appears to be murder. Allie alone takes it upon herself to investigate, and the truth comes at an unthinkable price. Navigating the shadowy world of specialized XP care, extreme sports, and forbidden love, Allie ultimately uncovers a secret that upends everything she believes about the people she trusts the most.

My Opinion:

I've been dancing on this book for way too long, and have finally decided to put it to rest. 

After reading the blurb and one very promising review, I requested it from NG, but sadly, I found out that this book isn't right up my alley. 

The pacing was way too slow for my taste, I didn't get emotionally attached to any of its characters, and I felt like Jacquelyn took too much time setting the suspense in the story. Half way into it is not the right moment to start introducing the wow-ing factors. 

The romance fell flat to me too, I didn't feel that "Oh, they want to be together, awww" sense I like to get when I read romances. Juliet was annoying, and I didn't like that Allie didn't do anything to change that. I mean, here's a girl you call your best friend, acting like an idiot to you... I might not be as forgiving Allie was. 

The bad man, Blondie, appeared a couple of times in the first half of the book, and I was not even spooked by him.

All I got from this book is a little bit more knowledge about the illness XP, the allergy to the sun. 

It's too bad too, because the premise sounded so appealling, but the writing didn't do it for me. But hey, it might do it for you. Read some more reviews first. 

DNF: The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove, by Lauren Kate.

Summary (from Amazon):

A steamy Southern beauty makes one fatal mistake

Natalie Hargrove would kill to be her high school’s Palmetto Princess. But her boyfriend Mike King doesn’t share her dream and risks losing the honor of Palmetto Prince to Natalie’s nemesis, Justin Balmer. So she convinces Mike to help play a prank on Justin. . . one that goes terribly wrong. They tie him to the front of the church after a party—when they arrive the next morning, Justin is dead.

From blackmail to buried desire, dark secrets to darker deeds, Natalie unravels. She never should’ve messed with fate. Fate is the one thing more twisted than Natalie Hargrove.

Cruel Intentions meets Macbeth in this seductive, riveting tale of conscience and consequence.

Applying the read-until-after-the-100th-page rule, I couldn't get into this book, as much as I wanted to. 144 pages later and the only thing interesting that had caught my attention was Natalie leaving Justin at the church.

Of course I want to finish this book, but I feel like now's not the time for me to read this.

Moving on to Surf School, by Laurine Croasdale.