Thursday, January 23, 2014

Review: The Moment Before by Suzy Vitello

Title: The Moment Before
Author: Suzy Vitello
Release Date: January 14th, 2014
Publisher: Diversion Books
Genre: YA Contemporary
Standalone
Book Link: Goodreads
Purchase Links: AmazonBarnes & NobleBook Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:
“Don’t get me wrong. I loved my sister. I never, not once, wished her dead.”

Brady and Sabine Wilson are sisters born eleven months apart, but they couldn’t be more different. Popular Sabine, the head cheerleader dating the high school hunk, seems to have all the luck, while her younger, artsy sister "Brady Brooder" is a loner who prefers the sidelines to the limelight.

After Sabine dies in a horrific cheerleading accident, grief unravels Brady and her family. Once recognized for her artistic talent, 17-year-old Brady finds herself questioning the value of everything she once held dear. Her best friend betrays her. Her parents’ marriage is crumbling. And the boy everyone blames for the accident seems to be her only ally in the search for answers in the wake of her sister’s death. As an unlikely friendship emerges, Brady learns more about Sabine – and love – than she bargained for.

Disclaimer: I received this e-ARC from Diversion Books via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Review:
Recently, I told a fellow book blogger friend that there are a lot of criteria that goes into rating a book for me. Character development is a big one for me. It's probably number 2 on my list of criteria. Unfortunately this book failed on this criteria. The characters all bored me and I found myself not caring about anything. The only character I seemed to like was Sabine and she was dead. Readers can forget about character development in this book as it was sorely lacking.

The pacing was so slow. Reading this book felt like pulling teeth because it seemed like nothing really happened. At least until the end when it got just a bit more exciting. I think if the events in the book were a bit more spaced out, it would have been much better. The writing, oh geez, I really hated the writing. It could have been something amazing but I didn't feel like the author committed to writing this book.

Brady and Connor bored me. I mean really I didn't see the attraction at all. It felt like she was just with him to get her parents to notice her. Which of course was akin to playing games which was something that was alluded to. It was like out of nowhere she was kissing this guy.Who she didn't even really know. So the romance definitely felt forced.

Martha was a terrible, horrible friend. I couldn't understand that dynamic at all. The only thing I could think of was that she had lost some brain cells recently. She seemed more interested in taking over Sabine's reign as Queen Bee, than being there for Brady and Brady's family who she claimed to love.

Up until about 80% in I was going to give this book one star, but the last 20% brought a bit more feeling into it. Unfortunately despite the effort to greatly improve this book in the end, it was too little, too late. So I have to give this book 2 stars.

4 comments:

  1. Ish when I read a book the last thing I want is for it to be like pulling teeth. I've had that done and it's not fun haha. Slow paced contemps are usually a no-no for me overall. I hope the next one is better for you!

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    1. I was really bummed about this one. There was a boatload of promise but the execution was quite poor. I've been on a Contemporary kick lately so I was excited for this one.. I'm reading like a million books at once so hopefully whatever book I finish next will be better.

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  2. The romance AND character development are big make or break books for me as well as the ending. I feel like since you addressed two of those as being "not for you" means that I should stay away from this book for right now. Like I said, romance is a big one for me, and the fact that you said that Brady was using Connor just to get her parents to notice her pisses me off. That's just wrong.

    Anyway, lovely review!

    T from YA Book Queens (:

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    1. Thank you Tori. Yes, character development is huge for me. I definitely felt that there was no character development in this book. Plus the romance, yeah Brady was absolutely using Connor to get her parents to notice her. I totally agree with your decision to stay away from this one.

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