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Thursday, April 12, 2012

ARC Book Review: Glimmer

Author: Phoebe Kitanidis
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Release Date: April 17, 2012
Pages: 352
Read it in: 2 days
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Summary: When Marshall and Elyse wake up in each other’s arms with zero memory of how they got there or who they are, it’s the start of a long journey through their separate pasts and shared future.

Terrified by their amnesia, the two make a pact to work together to find the answers that could jog their missing memories. As they piece together clues, they discover they’re in the idyllic mountain resort town of Summer Falls, where everyone seems mysteriously happy, but as Marshall and Elyse quickly learn, darkness lurks beneath the town’s perfect facade. Not only is the town haunted by sinister ghosts, but none of its living inhabitants retain bad memories of anything—not the death of Marshall’s mom, not the hidden shame in Elyse’s family, not even the day-to-day anguish of high school.

Lonely in this world of happy zombies, Marsh and Elyse fall into an intense relationship...but the secrets they uncover could be the death of this growing love—and the death of everyone, and everything, they love in Summer Falls.

Video Review:
So as you may know, I have started doing video reviews for some of the books I read. Here is my review for Glimmer-- also see my full review below!


 
LC's Take:

So, what would you do if you woke up naked in a strange bed, in a strange room, with a strange guy you've never seen before? And you have zero recollection of how you got there or even who you are? Elyse Alton wakes up in this strange predicament-- and things are only about to get stranger.

Glimmer was a very... interesting story, let me put it that way. For the most part I did enjoy reading it, but at the same time, I felt like it was trying to do too much, and I would've liked it a lot more if the plot hadn't gotten so nuts towards the end. So first, here is what I did like about this book:

The town of Summer Falls that Elyse and Marshall find themselves in was flipping creepy-- and the residents are even creepier. As Elyse and Marshall try to find answers to who they are and what their pasts were like, the townspeople of Summer Falls seem oddly ignorant to anything strange or unnatural going on-- and they also have a weird habit of fainting dead away whenever something negative happens to them. And when they wake up, they can't remember anything. I thought that the eerie atmosphere of the book was done perfectly, it seriously gave me the chills!

I also really loved how the mystery and suspense in this story built gradually-- not too much was given away all at once, and it kept me guessing pretty much the entire way through the book. However, as the story unraveled, I felt like it left me more confused than anything else.

Which leads into the main issue I had with Glimmer, which is that I couldn't for the life of me figure out what the heck was going on for the last half of the book. Now of course, this could just be me. Maybe I just confuse really easy, but I just felt like the plot got sort of "whacky" if you know what I mean, and I found myself stopping to figure out whole chunks of the plot multiple times. And DON'T read any more of this paragraph if you don't want any spoilers, but the whole explanation with the founder Preston putting this occultist magic spell on the town using the waterfall as his power source, and then Marshall having to do all this strange voodoo magic to erase Elyse's memory and save the town, and then the ghosts and the native american spirits-- I was just like, HUH?! I just don't like when plots become super odd and complicated.

But then there was also the fact that when I started reading this book, I was expecting it to be a dystopian, because it takes place in this seemingly perfect town with all this strange, scary stuff going on to these brain-washed people-- and it even says on Goodreads that Glimmer is a dystopian-- well let me tell you, it's not.  Not that that's a bad thing, I just went into it expecting one thing and ended up with something completely different. There's the ghosts and magic, and all of sudden, it's not dystopian, it's actually a supernatural/paranormal-- I don't know, I just got pretty confused with the gist of the whole plot. And the fact that it was sometimes really hard to distinguish between Elyse and Marshall's alternating points of view didn't make things any easier.

I did like the dynamics that played out between Elyse and Marshall, I thought it was awesome how their pasts slowly unravel and we discover piece by piece what their connection is. I can't say I really bought into their romance however, since it was really more physical, lusty attraction than anything else, but whatever, it was still pretty hott so I'm not complaining ;)

Overall Glimmer was a like and not a love. I liked it for the built-up mystery and suspense of the plot and the awesomely creepy atmosphere created in Summer Falls-- it's rare to find an author who can literally create a "mood" or atmosphere so perfectly as Phoebe did in this book, I swear you will get chills from reading it! Unfortunately, I started losing interest in the story about three-quarters of the way through, because there was just too much going on-- ghosts, magic, elemental spirits, memory-erasing, brain-washing-- I felt like the story was trying to do too much, and it just ended up being really overwhelming and confusing for me. I would still recommend this book to anyone looking for a very unique and creative story that takes risks and is different from anything else you've ever read!

~Cover Talk~

While I do like this cover, and think that it is very pretty, it's not my favorite or anything. First of all, something about the color combination isn't all that attractive to me-- the aqua fading into mauve and the lime-green title, I don't know, it's just not the best color combo ever. And second, while yes the doe-eyed model is super-pretty and all-- isn't Elyse supposed to have brown hair, not platinum-blond? So I'm not entirely sure who is supposed to be depicted on the cover!

LC's Rating:
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The mystery and suspense in Glimmer kept me guessing and turning the pages, and parts of the story were irresistibly creepy, which will have you on the edge of your seat! My only issue was that the plot became really confusing towards the end.
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14 comments:

  1. OMG I am so jelous. This book looks really good and I can't wait to read it! LUCKY!!!!!!! :)

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  2. I love the cover..the plot has me a little nervous, but overall it sounds like a good read. Wonderful review Lea!

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  3. Woah, trippy! This sounds so cool. Will be looking into this. Great review!

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  4. Great review, though it wasnt a love but a like, it does sounds interesting. Ill have to check this one out. x

    Ƹ̴Ӂ̴ƷFICBOOKREVIEWSƸ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ

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  5. I skipped over your little spoiler there. Only because this book sounds like it would be really interesting. Despite your dislike of the plot I still want to read it!

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  6. Fantastic review! It's too bad you didn't like it more. I am really looking forward to this book, so hopefully I like it more than you did.

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  7. Thanks for the great review!! While it's too bad you didn't love it, it still sounds like an interesting book.

    -Jac @ For Love and Books

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  8. I keep hearing such great things about this one...boo that the ending was confusing! I can't wait to buy it and check it out for myself.

    Amanda @ Letters Inside Out

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  9. Great review :) I've been seeing this one around and it does sound intriguing so I'll have to check it out. Also, I love the videos reviews you're doing hehe :D

    <3
    Taylor

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  10. I sort of agree with you on this one. I enjoyed the creepy feel of it, but about halfway to the final-third of the book, my enjoyment just sort of flew out the window as I tried to figure out what was going on and also deal with the occult-ish behavior. (I don't dig occult stuff. Too scary for me.) I liked the relationship between the two MC's and I like what the author was trying to do. As far as I'm concerned she met what *I think* her goals were in the vast majority of the book. Towards the end, I just have NO IDEA. None.

    Excellent thoughts. (Yes! The hair on the cover!)

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    1. Figuring out WHAT was going on was definitely the big challenge with this book haha :P I loved the fact that the book had a very unique plot, but it was wayyyy too confusing for me!

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  11. Great review! I really want to read it now :)

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  12. I love that the whole town is creepy and the characters sound like they have a lot of ground to cover in terms of their journey.

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  13. I've been considering whether or not to add this to my TBR pile.. the plot seems interesting enough, though when I read the excerpt I get more of a mystery-thriller vibe than a paranormal/dystopian one as it says it is. But I am intrigued, I didn't finish the review cause I don't want spoilers :P So thanks for the first half, it seems like a good enough book, I'll keep this at the top of my 'considering' list :D Thanks.

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