The Scorpio Races

Summary:
It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Some riders live. Others die.

At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.

Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn’t given her much of a chance. So she enters the competition — the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.

I've been trying to write one-sentence reviews of the books I read on goodreads, and to illustrate how I felt about this book, this was my one sentence: "Even the man-eating horses weren't able to make this book more exciting."

I was both unsurprised and disappointed to find that I disliked this book. I've read really positive and really negative reviews. One book reviewer I really like recommended this book if the reader liked The Blue Sword and Fire (by Kristen Cashore) - both books I love. So, even though I wanted to be done with Maggie Stiefvater after Forever, I decided to pick this up.

It dragged and dragged and I found myself skipping forward, scanning pages for more interesting bits (something I never do). You would think, wouldn't you? That if there are brutal, flesh-eating horses on nearly every page that there would be some action? Something exciting going on? Nope.

And the thing that I just couldn't figure out (and maybe I missed it because I skipped that part) was why on earth anyone would choose to ride these horses in a race every year, especially because people died constantly. Why??? What was the point? It wasn't like in the Hunger Games where if you're going to be subjected to brutal violence at least it was because you had no choice. The only thing I could figure is that the people in Maggie Stiefvater's world lusted for violence.

And the romance took up such a very small amount of page time (I know because once I got sick of the plot that's what I started scanning pages for). Overall, this book was frustrating and I could barely finish it.  The only reason I still have this two stars on goodreads instead of one is because Maggie Stiefvater has a gorgeous, poetic way with words. I paused several times to reread her descriptions. The setting really came alive and I could imagine and feel exactly what her world looked like, smelled like, tasted like, sounded like. Maybe she'll release another book and I'll try again someday, but I won't be in any hurry.

The Lucky One

From Goodreads:
When U.S. Marine Logan Thibault finds a photograph of a smiling young woman half-buried in the dirt during his third tour of duty in Iraq, his first instinct is to toss it aside. Instead, he brings it back to the base for someone to claim, but when no one does, he finds himself always carrying the photo in his pocket. Soon Thibault experiences a sudden streak of luck—winning poker games and even surviving deadly combat that kills two of his closest buddies. Only his best friend, Victor, seems to have an explanation for his good fortune: the photograph—his lucky charm.
Back home in Colorado, Thibault can’t seem to get the photo—and the woman in it—out of his mind. Believing that she somehow holds the key to his destiny, he sets out on a journey across the country to find her, never expecting the strong but vulnerable woman he encounters in Hampton, North Carolina—Elizabeth, a divorced mother with a young son—to be the girl he’s been waiting his whole life to meet. Caught off guard by the attraction he feels, Thibault keeps the story of the photo, and his luck, a secret. As he and Elizabeth embark upon a passionate and all-consuming love affair, the secret he is keeping will soon threaten to tear them apart—destroying not only their love, but also their lives.
Filled with tender romance and terrific suspense, The Lucky One is Nicholas Sparks at his best—an unforgettable story about the surprising paths our lives often take and the power of fate to guide us to true and everlasting love.

This is me, trying to read more books for grown-up people. :D Which just proved to me that I like romance for young adults much better. I read The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks a few years ago and it made me cry like a baby. Don't remember much more about it than that, though. I never saw the movie. While looking at things on IMDB the other day, I ran across a trailer for the movie based on The Lucky One and thought it looked interesting. Typical me, what did I do? Get the book from the library.

And without the sweetness that was present in The Notebook, The Lucky One really fell flat for me. Flat all around. The characters had no dimension and seemed to be stock characters from every bad romance novel ever written. Logan, the strong silent type - what's his face (can't even remember his name now) the ex-husbad, complete sleazebag - Elizabeth, the lonely girl - grandma, the comic relief (she really wasn't that funny either)... etc...

There was almost no conflict driving the plot. It was so dull. I kept asking myself, "where is this going and why?" because I had no hints from the book. I felt irritated when I suppose I should have been feeling emotionally touched. It wasn't working for me. Part of me wonders if it's because this is a romance book written by a man. I'm not anti-men, heaven forbid, but I don't think that men's brains work quite the same way as women's brains. I just didn't get the feeling that Nicholas Sparks knows what woman want to know about in a love story. It's not just about getting physically involved as soon as possible. Women want to feel loved and cared about. They want friendship. And those are the things we want to read about. At least, those are the things I want to read about.

I haven't read any other Nicholas Sparks (besides The Notebook) so I can't say if this is typical of his writing, but I can promise you that I won't be wasting any more time reading his books.