A review by pegahe
Swear by Nina Malkin
2.0
*Mini-review, just for Goodreads. This was written on my phone so U apologize for any mistakes.*
I seem to be rating books pretty low these days, at least compared to even six months ago. that's because my standards have changed. A 3 star book must be a book that I liked. A two star book is a book that I didn't like, but also didn't hate.
My thoughts on Swear can be summed up in one sentence: it just wasn't right for me.
The writing I couldn't get into at all. I often reread several scenes in the beginning because I thought I missed something. By the end I gave up. The writing style isn't to my tastes. It distracted me from the scenes so that the book had terrible flow, plus I just couldn't believe it. The language was super casual at times, resembling what I'd hear at school, and then all of a sudden these big words would be put in, completely confusing me. How does someone near my age talk like that? I've been told to have a good vocabulary just because I said "the deceased" instead of "the dead dude." I appreciate a good vocabulary (seriously, I memorize some words just cause they sound cool) but due to previous experiences, I wasn't buying Dice's.
That was another issue. Not buying into the plot. The end ended up perfect. After all this time spent bemoaning the villain, and how she's so strong it's impossible to stop her we get that as an ending? I'm not satisfied. I feel like there is actual substance in the story line and it might be quite interesting if I bothered to dig deep and stuff. But I'm a lazy reader who just finished exam week. Entertainment is all I really want.
On to the characters... I'll just talk about Sin and Dice, starting with Sin.
(Completely random, but I did my math exam a few days ago and couldn't stop reading "Sin" as Sine. Which isn't a very delicious name.)
I remember liking Sin at some point in Swoon. I remember wishing for Sin to show up to being some flavour to Swear. I don't remember being so bored with him. He was so contrary and... well, Dice always says how he always gives in to impulse. But then we see stuff like he resists the urge to slap/run away from someone. And you always saw him being so good, so why the heck does she call him a demon? He flirts with everyone and Dice doesn't care at all. Except he cares when she flirts. I didn't buy into the love either. Or the fact that he's so charismatic. It's practically shoved down the reader's throat all the ways Sin is amazing, but there doesn't seem to be enough evidence to prove that. He didn't attract me so I missed out on the whole desparity in the situation.
Dice herself isn't the kind of character I like. She's sassy, but I can't stand her attitude sometimes. Like the fact that she often makes jokes about the native "Swoonies" and feels better for being different that way. Stuff like that always manages to annoy the heck out of me, even if it happens only once or twice. Being is awesome, but you.should own it. Not feel in any way superior to everyone else because you're so different and special. Rant aside, I realize what an annoying nitpicky reader I was while reading Swear, so I'll wrap up this paragraph and say I never connected with Dice, nor did I particularly like her.
If I didn't like so much stuff, why was this book not a DNF? I'm not entirely sure. I constantly thought about putting it down when I realized it would never appeal to me. But then I'd look at the stunning cover, or I'd be interested in some examples of Sin's charms. Something would make me continue. I think if this is your kind of book, you'll love it. Really, if you really liked Swoon, be sure to read Swear. If you were a meh on Swoon like me, you might also feel blah about Swear so I'm not sure I recommend reading it.
There's nothing I hated about the book, but I also didn't think it was executed very well either. All in all,my lesson learned is to put a paper bag over the cover of the book I'm reading so it doesn't influence me to read something I'm not interested in. And that I probably won't read the sequel because this was not my kind of read. 2 stars.
**
(That was the longest mini review I've ever done. I guess I have a lot to say about books that don't appeal to me :p )
I seem to be rating books pretty low these days, at least compared to even six months ago. that's because my standards have changed. A 3 star book must be a book that I liked. A two star book is a book that I didn't like, but also didn't hate.
My thoughts on Swear can be summed up in one sentence: it just wasn't right for me.
The writing I couldn't get into at all. I often reread several scenes in the beginning because I thought I missed something. By the end I gave up. The writing style isn't to my tastes. It distracted me from the scenes so that the book had terrible flow, plus I just couldn't believe it. The language was super casual at times, resembling what I'd hear at school, and then all of a sudden these big words would be put in, completely confusing me. How does someone near my age talk like that? I've been told to have a good vocabulary just because I said "the deceased" instead of "the dead dude." I appreciate a good vocabulary (seriously, I memorize some words just cause they sound cool) but due to previous experiences, I wasn't buying Dice's.
That was another issue. Not buying into the plot. The end ended up perfect. After all this time spent bemoaning the villain, and how she's so strong it's impossible to stop her we get that as an ending? I'm not satisfied. I feel like there is actual substance in the story line and it might be quite interesting if I bothered to dig deep and stuff. But I'm a lazy reader who just finished exam week. Entertainment is all I really want.
On to the characters... I'll just talk about Sin and Dice, starting with Sin.
(Completely random, but I did my math exam a few days ago and couldn't stop reading "Sin" as Sine. Which isn't a very delicious name.)
I remember liking Sin at some point in Swoon. I remember wishing for Sin to show up to being some flavour to Swear. I don't remember being so bored with him. He was so contrary and... well, Dice always says how he always gives in to impulse. But then we see stuff like he resists the urge to slap/run away from someone. And you always saw him being so good, so why the heck does she call him a demon? He flirts with everyone and Dice doesn't care at all. Except he cares when she flirts. I didn't buy into the love either. Or the fact that he's so charismatic. It's practically shoved down the reader's throat all the ways Sin is amazing, but there doesn't seem to be enough evidence to prove that. He didn't attract me so I missed out on the whole desparity in the situation.
Dice herself isn't the kind of character I like. She's sassy, but I can't stand her attitude sometimes. Like the fact that she often makes jokes about the native "Swoonies" and feels better for being different that way. Stuff like that always manages to annoy the heck out of me, even if it happens only once or twice. Being is awesome, but you.should own it. Not feel in any way superior to everyone else because you're so different and special. Rant aside, I realize what an annoying nitpicky reader I was while reading Swear, so I'll wrap up this paragraph and say I never connected with Dice, nor did I particularly like her.
If I didn't like so much stuff, why was this book not a DNF? I'm not entirely sure. I constantly thought about putting it down when I realized it would never appeal to me. But then I'd look at the stunning cover, or I'd be interested in some examples of Sin's charms. Something would make me continue. I think if this is your kind of book, you'll love it. Really, if you really liked Swoon, be sure to read Swear. If you were a meh on Swoon like me, you might also feel blah about Swear so I'm not sure I recommend reading it.
There's nothing I hated about the book, but I also didn't think it was executed very well either. All in all,my lesson learned is to put a paper bag over the cover of the book I'm reading so it doesn't influence me to read something I'm not interested in. And that I probably won't read the sequel because this was not my kind of read. 2 stars.
**
(That was the longest mini review I've ever done. I guess I have a lot to say about books that don't appeal to me :p )