ARC Review | Some Kind of Magic by Adrian Fogelin

Posted on Friday, March 13, 2015 12:00 AM

Format: e-ARC
Source: Publisher via Netgalley
Publication: April 1, 2015
Publisher: Peachetree Publishers
Pages: 192
My Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars


It's the summer before high school starts for Cass, Jemmie, Ben, and Justin, the neighborhood kids readers met in Crossing Jordan. Ben worries the break will be routine, until his little brother Cody finds a hat left by their missing uncle. The hat leads them to a lost house in the woods. They don't suspect the house with a tragic past might nudge them toward the future.

My Review

Something to Note: I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Characters: The boys (Ben and Justin): The guys in the group were my favorite, but that really isn't saying much. They seemed really whiny and I just wasn't interested in with what they were saying or doing throughout the book. Ben was just an older brother, who I get wanted his time with his friends, but he just complained way too much and it was irritating. Justin was okay, I liked how he was his own person (at times), but he was too worried about Jemmie.

The girls (Jemmie and Cass): These girls, my oh my, where do I begin? I get that they are just 8th graders, but they were so whiny. All Cass wanted was love, and Jemmie was just a side character that fell flat. I think so much could have came from Jemmie, but I think Cass over-shadowed her with her complaints and need for Ben.

Cody (yes, he has his own spot, aside from 'the boys'): Cody was my saving grace in this book. Everything he did was so adorable and I enjoyed reading each part from him. He was so intrigued with learning new things and I felt like he added so much to this book (which was much needed). He wanted nothing but to find his uncle and I found every idea that he through the gangs way was better than any other person he had. He was rational (yes, more rational then his older brother and friends), but he was so funny and I just wanted to give him a big hug. Thank you Cody for allowing me to finish this book.

My Thoughts: This book had so much potential. I really liked the plot and the whole idea, but it fell flat on it's face. The characters were lack luster and I just did not get into it very much. Everything was wrapped up so quickly which was so bad because I wanted something more to come out of it. But, on pointless parts there was so much time spent. The descriptions and additional time spent on some areas could have been spent at so many different areas.

I don't really have much to say about this book because I was so disappointed. From above you can see that I only really cared about Cody, and he is the reason I didn't DNF this book. I could go on and on about what I didn't like, but I don't see any use. It was just too slow and didn't really go anywhere for me. 

One Line Wrap Up: An adventurous book that didn't really take you on an adventure.


author image

Erica

Erica is a 20 year old college student and book lover. When she’s done with studying she’ll always want to relax with a book, of any kind. If she’s not reading she could be caught up in her latest Netflix series or lost in a conversation with her spectacular boyfriend.

Comments (4)

Loading... Logging you in...
  • Logged in as
Wow, apart from Cody these characters sound horrible. Get it though, I read one a few books back and this one character (I think 12-14) and she was just so selfish and whiny and annoying, done my head in, haha. At least there was one good character! It's the worst though when a book could've been so much better, but missed the mark completely. :(
My recent post Review: Liars, Inc.
Yikes. This sounds pretty awful. It actually reminds me a lot of this book I read, ages ago, that sounds pretty similar: It was a mystery that sounded amazing in theory, but was a huge mess of an execution. The characters were vile, the plot didn't end up making any sense and it was just an all around mess. Such a shame. Hope your next book works out better!
Yikes. It's a bad book day if you end up hating 75% of the characters D: I don't know if I would have lasted longer than you did if I had to endure whiny characters after another. I would be ranting 'til kingdom come! Sorry it was a disappointment to you, dear!
My recent post ARC Review: An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
Pam@YA Escape's avatar

Pam@YA Escape · 521 weeks ago

I hadn't heard of this book, but it sounds like this is one I can pass. Sorry it didn't work out!
My recent post Book Review: Denton Little's Deathdate by Lance Rubin

Post a new comment

Comments by

Copyright © 2014 Novel Ink
Template and Design by New Chapter Designs
Subtle Patterns (Subtle Patterns) / CC BY-SA 3.0