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Title: Graceful (Willow Falls, #5)
Author: Wendy Mass
Published By: Scholastic Press (2015)
Synopsis:
Angelina D’Angelo has left town to see the world. It’s now Grace’s turn to use her magic to protect the people of Willow Falls, and she is up to the challenge. This is her destiny, after all. But destiny is a funny thing—it doesn’t always behave the way you’d expect it to.
Mysterious postcards from Angelina begin showing up in the mail, Grace’s parents are freaking out with worry, and something BIG is coming to town that will affect everybody who lives there. But all Grace is powerful enough to do is turn leftover meat loaf into pizza.
Fortunately, she’s not alone. She has Team Grace on her side! Amanda, Leo, Rory, Tara, David, and Connor know a thing or two about magic and how it works. But none of them are prepared for what’s coming, and none of them know how to stop it. Life in Willow Falls is about to change forever. (Taken from Goodreads)
Review:
Remind me again why I decided to read this book? Maybe because I had nothing else to read.
Simply put, it was a silly book. (Unrelated to the story, but seriously, who dedicates their book to their fictional characters???)
First of all, let’s address the love and romance. THESE CHARACTERS ARE THIRTEEN YEARS OLD. Are you trying to encourage relationships that young? There is no 13-year-old in the world who acts like that. Are there 13-year-olds who say they have a boyfriend or girlfriend? Sure. But that’s besides the point. There is simply no 13-year-old who acts like this. I mean, seriously? Things like “My heart does kinda ache” “I’ll stand by her to the end” “I just want her to be happy” Are you kidding? Unrealistic romance that would never be seen from 13-year-olds!
If the end of the book came and I found out Amanda and Leo and the others are sixteen, the book would make a lot more sense. Never mind, I take that back, because all the characters act and speak no more maturely than a fourth or fifth grader. There is no noticeable age difference between Grace and the others, despite the fact there’s three years between them. If anything, Grace acts older!
Anyway, back to the point, it was ridiculous. And over-the-top. Unintentionally over the top. The love was supposed to look natural—not a chance.
Secondly. Most of the story made absolutely no sense whatsoever. Oh, they’re going here now—wait, why? She has powers—wait, didn’t she just say she didn’t have powers yet? Who’s that character again? Wait, how is that exactly important to the story? Here, Grace is going to go unfreeze time—waaaait a second, wasn’t the whole last scene written to help Grace figure out how to unfreeze time because she didn’t know how? And I don’t recall her learning how to!!
Lots of scenarios like these made it very hard to keep track of things. Everything was just so confusing! Maybe if I’d devoted every ounce of my attention to this book, I would know. Unfortunately, this wasn’t interesting enough to be worthy of every ounce of my attention.
On the positive side (there isn’t much), the plot was action-filled. It was interesting enough for me to keep reading, if anything. The author did do a good job of tying in everything and everyone and connecting it all to the magic. I did like the way each character got their own sections and you could see a bit into their minds, even it was mostly Grace.
Overall: There isn’t really much else to say except for more things I didn’t like, so I’ll end it here. I suppose that if you like unrealistic romance (did I mention every single character besides Grace and Bailey are involved in some sort of relationship?!) then you will like this book, but otherwise…don’t waste your time.
Negative Content:
None.
Rating: 2.0
Recommended to: Not recommended.