lindaunconventionalbookworms's review against another edition
5.0
*I received a free ARC of Ransom from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review*
Excellent friends-to-lovers story, complete with rock-stars, rabid fans, fun and also some sad and hard stuff.
Full review to come soon.
This and all my other reviews are originally posted on my blog (un)Conventional Bookviews
Excellent friends-to-lovers story, complete with rock-stars, rabid fans, fun and also some sad and hard stuff.
Full review to come soon.
This and all my other reviews are originally posted on my blog (un)Conventional Bookviews
laikynmeng's review against another edition
5.0
ABSOLUETLY loved following these characters stories. I can not gush enough about this world of Daisy, her struggle to survive, her way of healing into a new aspect. I also enjoyed the life lessons Each charcter went through in order to grow up and find maturity to the level of where this book ended for them. Not everyone is meant to be together right now, and it was reassuring to the plot why things had to happen before they could reconcile their friendship and affection for each other.
joliendelandsheer's review against another edition
3.0
I think I got this book for free on Kindle. I liked it, and kept reading until I finished. But it wasn't the best new adult I've ever read either... Three stars: really enjoyable but not amazing.
jst1morechapter's review against another edition
4.0
Rachel Schurig has pulled out all of the stops to give us this emotionally charged friends to lovers story full of angst, drama and hot rockers!
Daisy seems like a really nice girl who ends up trusting the wrong guy when she gets lonely and it all goes horribly pear shaped... running away from her home town where all of the drama happened, she still can't escape the one boy who has been her world since the age of five... Daltrey Ransome... lead singer of Ransom and her very best friend...
Daltrey and his brothers are becoming the next big thing, making it big should be a big deal right?... but how can he feel completely happy without his best friend (and the girl he's been quietly in love with forever) to share it with, as she's been missing in action for the last year and he can't seem to find out why...
The book was nicely written with no noticeable typos or grammar errors... the story touched on sensitive areas including bullying, depression and suicide and, although there are reviews that disagree, I believe it was handled really well considering this is supposed to be a Young Adult Romance...
I thought the main characters were really likeable, Daisy had obvious issues that I would normally find irritating, but considering her past I found that it was tolerable... I really liked Daltrey, but he did come across as being quite young and, as he points out himself, he should have stood up and fought for her!... There were parts that made me tear up a little, but it was funny and completely heartwarming in places too... my favourite scene is where they are in the tattoo parlour and Daltrey tells the story of his tattoo... I totally loved that!!!
I liked most of the secondary characters, Paige and Karen were great, and I loved Levi as well, you really can't dislike the boy!... I'm not sure how many books are going to be in the series, but I'm assuming Daltrey's brothers will be getting their own stories and I can't wait to read them... will definitely be looking for more from this author, well done Rachel :)
Recommended for ages 17+ because of language and sexual content...
Daisy seems like a really nice girl who ends up trusting the wrong guy when she gets lonely and it all goes horribly pear shaped... running away from her home town where all of the drama happened, she still can't escape the one boy who has been her world since the age of five... Daltrey Ransome... lead singer of Ransom and her very best friend...
Daltrey and his brothers are becoming the next big thing, making it big should be a big deal right?... but how can he feel completely happy without his best friend (and the girl he's been quietly in love with forever) to share it with, as she's been missing in action for the last year and he can't seem to find out why...
The book was nicely written with no noticeable typos or grammar errors... the story touched on sensitive areas including bullying, depression and suicide and, although there are reviews that disagree, I believe it was handled really well considering this is supposed to be a Young Adult Romance...
I thought the main characters were really likeable, Daisy had obvious issues that I would normally find irritating, but considering her past I found that it was tolerable... I really liked Daltrey, but he did come across as being quite young and, as he points out himself, he should have stood up and fought for her!... There were parts that made me tear up a little, but it was funny and completely heartwarming in places too... my favourite scene is where they are in the tattoo parlour and Daltrey tells the story of his tattoo... I totally loved that!!!
I liked most of the secondary characters, Paige and Karen were great, and I loved Levi as well, you really can't dislike the boy!... I'm not sure how many books are going to be in the series, but I'm assuming Daltrey's brothers will be getting their own stories and I can't wait to read them... will definitely be looking for more from this author, well done Rachel :)
Recommended for ages 17+ because of language and sexual content...
heatheray's review against another edition
5.0
This was so refreshing for me. I have come off a string of 2 – 3 star reviews and 2 DNFs and I was starting to doubt my book picking abilities.
In Ransom Daisy and Daltrey meet when they are 5 years old and bond over the fact that neither of them have their mothers.
Daltrey and his brothers go on to form a rock band under the guidance of their father, Daisy helped out in the beginning, but then something happened that had Daisy pushing them all away. As you can see from the blurb, she doesn’t talk to people, she doesn’t reach out, she wants to live in complete isolation.
And Daltrey let her.
He was confused and upset. He didn’t understand why she pushed him away completely. They had been best friends forever and now they weren’t anything.
So the story goes.
I loved it. I loved the interaction between Daltrey and his brothers, between Daisy and her friends, especially Paige, his friend Levi, who had some very good points to make at one moment in the book.
This is a coming of age story, a story of finding out you are stronger than you thought, a story of survival and not letting our past and things beyond our control break us, and a beautiful love story about two best friends finding their way back to each other.
I cannot wait to see what comes next for the brothers since this is book 1. I really cannot wait to read Cash’s story when we get to it.
Thank you to NetGalley for my copy of Ransom.
In Ransom Daisy and Daltrey meet when they are 5 years old and bond over the fact that neither of them have their mothers.
Daltrey and his brothers go on to form a rock band under the guidance of their father, Daisy helped out in the beginning, but then something happened that had Daisy pushing them all away. As you can see from the blurb, she doesn’t talk to people, she doesn’t reach out, she wants to live in complete isolation.
And Daltrey let her.
He was confused and upset. He didn’t understand why she pushed him away completely. They had been best friends forever and now they weren’t anything.
So the story goes.
I loved it. I loved the interaction between Daltrey and his brothers, between Daisy and her friends, especially Paige, his friend Levi, who had some very good points to make at one moment in the book.
This is a coming of age story, a story of finding out you are stronger than you thought, a story of survival and not letting our past and things beyond our control break us, and a beautiful love story about two best friends finding their way back to each other.
I cannot wait to see what comes next for the brothers since this is book 1. I really cannot wait to read Cash’s story when we get to it.
Thank you to NetGalley for my copy of Ransom.
heidi_boyles's review against another edition
4.0
This book was a great read. I loved Daltrey and Daisy and how they were destined to be be together since they were 5. Their story along with Daisy's trauma made for an interesting story. I can't wait to read about Dalt's brothers!!
rosepetals1984's review against another edition
2.0
Initial reaction: I may end up bumping this rating to 1.5 stars, but I need to think on it. Some parts attempted development, but this feels like a very formulaic addition to the genre with little distinction.
Full review:
Yeah, I think more often than not, I keep running into NA titles that really feel like a paint by numbers display, and it's really not hard to avoid doing this, so I find it frustrating whenever I come across a title, which has a decent or potentially decent premise, end up dropping the ball for execution on a number of levels.
Such is the case for Rachel Schurig's "Ransom". No, it's not about a kidnapping plot, more like a self-contained love story about a group of brothers who form a rock band and the girl, a fan in more ways than one, who somehow got away because of a painful secret. Told between two perspectives, the girl (Daisy) is socially awkward on behalf of being brutally bullied in various modes, suffers panic attacks, and distances herself from her friend/potential lover as a result of the measure. The guy (Daltrey) is on the verge of burnout from playing one too many shows in a rapidly rising band for popularity.
I had trouble with this book from the very beginning because of the very inauthentic and awkward presentation of a number of things, including the bullying. We're told that Daisy breaks ties with Daltrey without even so much as telling him why - a complete cut-off socially from her former life in traveling with Daltrey's band. He's devastated by the cut-off, and she's trying to recover from severe social setbacks and panic attacks. The narrative did a terrible job of revealing the bullying (supposedly delaying the reveal for anticipation purposes, then info dumping it), social anxiety, and creating empathy for Daisy's experiences. It made it seem like she made very ill (and arguably silly) decisions in a flippant way, rather than showing her emotional setbacks and breaking down. There are so many narratives that I could name off the top of my head in YA and NA that give a more realistic feel of the issues this narrative showed (i.e. see Jennifer Brown's "A Thousand Words" and Robin York's "Deeper") that create sympathy/empathy for the characters while showing the same issues portrayed here.
I think Schurig attempted to develop Daisy's ordeals as the narrative went on, but it was a rough measure because it was heavily reliant on cliches and very surface character development. Not to mention a very convenient reunion with the guy she'd cut off.
Getting into Daltrey's perspective - I was very disappointed because I felt the presentation of his voice was very forced. His concerns were not, but his voice didn't feel right for the character.
After a certain point, as the characters were going on tour, the narrative dragged its heels more often than not getting to some of the bigger/deeper plot points. Parts of the narrative repeated information that didn't need to be repeated (i.e. in the trading of perspective points - Daisy would say one thing, and Daltrey would pretty much say the same thing. It would be different if they had something new to add, but it felt like a slog), and that bothered me for the length of the narrative.
I almost put this read at 1-star, but thinking about it - it's not so much that I was put off by this read (apart from moments of usual slut shaming/bitch slamming seen in this genre) as it was that it really did not distinguish itself from genre cliches as well as the awkward presentation of events and details. It did progressively attempt to develop its conflicts and characters, which is something many NA narratives I've read fail to do. I did like that Daisy ended up coming to terms with her fears, but there was nothing for me to really hold onto in terms of the characterizations here because they didn't stand out to me. They weren't memorable and didn't hit home as hard as I would've liked them to.
I'm willing to try another narrative by Shurig in the future, but I'm not seeing how this is supposed to endear me to the band Ransom or the characters within when they're so threadbare and cookie-cutter, despite the well-intentions of showing their growth from certain, even significant, challenges. The presentation isn't there.
Overall score: 1.5/5 stars
Note: I received this as an ARC from NetGalley, from the publisher.
Full review:
Yeah, I think more often than not, I keep running into NA titles that really feel like a paint by numbers display, and it's really not hard to avoid doing this, so I find it frustrating whenever I come across a title, which has a decent or potentially decent premise, end up dropping the ball for execution on a number of levels.
Such is the case for Rachel Schurig's "Ransom". No, it's not about a kidnapping plot, more like a self-contained love story about a group of brothers who form a rock band and the girl, a fan in more ways than one, who somehow got away because of a painful secret. Told between two perspectives, the girl (Daisy) is socially awkward on behalf of being brutally bullied in various modes, suffers panic attacks, and distances herself from her friend/potential lover as a result of the measure. The guy (Daltrey) is on the verge of burnout from playing one too many shows in a rapidly rising band for popularity.
I had trouble with this book from the very beginning because of the very inauthentic and awkward presentation of a number of things, including the bullying. We're told that Daisy breaks ties with Daltrey without even so much as telling him why - a complete cut-off socially from her former life in traveling with Daltrey's band. He's devastated by the cut-off, and she's trying to recover from severe social setbacks and panic attacks. The narrative did a terrible job of revealing the bullying (supposedly delaying the reveal for anticipation purposes, then info dumping it), social anxiety, and creating empathy for Daisy's experiences. It made it seem like she made very ill (and arguably silly) decisions in a flippant way, rather than showing her emotional setbacks and breaking down. There are so many narratives that I could name off the top of my head in YA and NA that give a more realistic feel of the issues this narrative showed (i.e. see Jennifer Brown's "A Thousand Words" and Robin York's "Deeper") that create sympathy/empathy for the characters while showing the same issues portrayed here.
I think Schurig attempted to develop Daisy's ordeals as the narrative went on, but it was a rough measure because it was heavily reliant on cliches and very surface character development. Not to mention a very convenient reunion with the guy she'd cut off.
Getting into Daltrey's perspective - I was very disappointed because I felt the presentation of his voice was very forced. His concerns were not, but his voice didn't feel right for the character.
After a certain point, as the characters were going on tour, the narrative dragged its heels more often than not getting to some of the bigger/deeper plot points. Parts of the narrative repeated information that didn't need to be repeated (i.e. in the trading of perspective points - Daisy would say one thing, and Daltrey would pretty much say the same thing. It would be different if they had something new to add, but it felt like a slog), and that bothered me for the length of the narrative.
I almost put this read at 1-star, but thinking about it - it's not so much that I was put off by this read (apart from moments of usual slut shaming/bitch slamming seen in this genre) as it was that it really did not distinguish itself from genre cliches as well as the awkward presentation of events and details. It did progressively attempt to develop its conflicts and characters, which is something many NA narratives I've read fail to do. I did like that Daisy ended up coming to terms with her fears, but there was nothing for me to really hold onto in terms of the characterizations here because they didn't stand out to me. They weren't memorable and didn't hit home as hard as I would've liked them to.
I'm willing to try another narrative by Shurig in the future, but I'm not seeing how this is supposed to endear me to the band Ransom or the characters within when they're so threadbare and cookie-cutter, despite the well-intentions of showing their growth from certain, even significant, challenges. The presentation isn't there.
Overall score: 1.5/5 stars
Note: I received this as an ARC from NetGalley, from the publisher.
thebookdisciple's review against another edition
4.0
Cute, sweet, romantic. This book deals with some heavy topics, but I think the author did a good job. And Paige makes the book worth reading. To think there are people in the world like her and Karen make me happy.