The Dysasters by P.C. and Kristen Cast

GoodReads Summary:
Foster Stewart knows she’s different. Her life has never been “normal.” Talking to plants and controlling cloud formations aren’t things most seventeen-year olds are into. Tate “Nighthawk” Taylor is perfect. Star quarterback and all-around dreamy boy next door he never thought about his “extra” abilities. What quarterback wouldn’t want night vision? That’s not weird, right? It’s cool!
But on the night of their first meeting a deadly tornado brings them together and awakens their true abilities – the power to control the element air. Unbeknown to Tate and Foster, they are the first in a group of teens that were genetically manipulated before birth to bond with the elements. Which truly sucks for Foster, as she has to face the fact that Dr. Rick Stewart, her beloved scientist father, betrayed her and now wants to use her and the others for his own nefarious world domination plot.
Foster and Tate must stop Dr. Stewart and his minions before he destroys their lives and the world.
Review:
I would like to thank NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of The Dysasters to read and honestly review. Reading this ARC saved me two hours of driving and buying a book that I wouldn’t have liked. I planned to go to the book signing for this book in a few weeks and now I’m definitely not going. I had such high hopes for The Dysasters because I’ve loved some other books by these authors but this was just an all-around disappointment.
I didn’t like most of the characters. Foster and Tate were annoying. I didn’t really care about them at all. I think they were immature and rude to each other until all of a sudden, they’re making out and going on dates instead of trying to find the others like them. I think they were both not well developed and almost seemed like they were trying too hard. I’m not sure if Foster was supposed to be an unlikable main character, but I certainly didn’t like her. Tate was the opposite. I think he tried too hard to be a likable character (name dropping certain authors when talking about his five favorite books). It was overkill and make me not like him. They also don’t seem to be actively trying to figure out their abilities which really annoyed me. Charlotte and Bastien were not really present enough in the story for us to know, but I think they might be the only reason I attempt the next book. The only character I genuinely enjoyed was G-pa. Tate’s grandfather was smart and funny and didn’t take anyone’s shit. He made me laugh out loud.
Additionally, the writing could have been better. It almost seemed like it was meant for a younger audience because it was simpler except for the fact that half the characters cursed like sailors. There were a few times where it changed from telling the story in third person and then jumped to first person which was very jarring and just didn’t make sense. Then there were all the different POVs. There were too many perspective changes. And it didn’t make any sense when they changed. We saw the two characters with water powers for like one chapter a third of the way into the book and then didn’t see them again until over 60% of the way into the story. Then there were the changes between Foster/Tate and the villains. The villain’s chapters almost make it seem like we should sympathize with them, but I just didn’t care enough at all.
Overall, I would have DNF’d this book if it hadn’t been an ARC. The concept of the story is super cool but it was not well done at all. I didn’t really care about any of the characters. Everything seemed rushed, but also felt like nothing was happening at the same time. I think this could have been a five-star book, but something went wrong during the writing process. I really wanted to like this book. It was one of my anticipated released for 2019, but I am very sad to say that I didn’t enjoy it very much. To end this review on a more positive note, there were a few things that I did like. I liked the concept of the story as I said, so maybe they will get better as the series goes on. I loved the diversity. There are all kinds of people represented in this story and I think that was done well. I also liked the pictures. There were pictures here and there throughout the book and I think they definitely added to the story. Despite these few good things, I expected more from this story.

Keep on reading lovelies, Amanda.

Amanda’s Top Ten Tuesday – Series I’ve Given up on

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week we’re given a new prompt for a top ten list of all things bookish. This week is top ten series I gave up on or do not plan to finish. This is going to be a bit of a challenge for me because I rarely give up on books. So let’s see what I can come up with this week. Okay, so after coming up with an insufficient list I’ve decided I’m going to do a few series that I will definitely be finishing, but haven’t managed to get around to it yet.

1. House of Night by P.C and Kristen Cast – This series just had so many books. It got to the point where it was hard to keep up with the story and when new books came out. So I just stopped trying to stay on top of it. Now they’re coming out with books again and I just don’t think I’ll ever get around to rereading them all.
2. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon – I read the first four books in this series. I borrowed them from Antonia’s mom. But I ended up losing the fourth book and by the time I bought a new copy she had caught up to me and needed the books back for her to read them. I may eventually pick this series up again, but I have no real burning desire to do so anytime soon.
3. The Bridgerton series by Julia Quinn – These books were another series that I had a hard time keeping up with. There are so many books and I just lost track of which ones I’ve read and still need to read. I may pick them up again because I did really like the books, but it’s not high on my priority list.
4. The Women’s Murder Club by James Patterson – Once again, too many books coming out to keep track of. I will eventually read these again because they’re easy mystery reads but it won’t be anytime soon.
5. The Princess series by Alexa Riley – I just was not impressed by these books. I think I only read the first and part of the second before giving up.
6. The Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard – The final book in the series came out recently and I’d like to reread the whole series. When am I going to do that? Eventually, my TBR list seems to just keep growing instead of getting smaller.
7. The Talon series by Julie Kagawa – Again, the final book in this series was finally released and I’m planning to reread the entire series, eventually.
8. Zeroes by Scott Westerfeld – A few weeks ago, I learned that the third book, Nexus, was released sometime last year and I didn’t even realize. So I need to buy this and get around to finishing the series.
9. Millennium series by Stieg Larsson / David Lagercrantz – Literally just now while looking for books to add to this post learned that another book has been released in this series. I will read it, but when I get around to it and who knows when that will be.
10. Shadow Falls series by C.C. Hunter – I finished the main series of these books; I actually own all of them. But there’s a few spin-off series with other characters that I haven’t managed to get around to reading yet, but I definitely plan to.

This is my top ten for this week! What series have you given up on?

Keep on reading lovelies, Amanda.