Notice for Review Requests

I receive review requests weekly. However, my personal schedule is hectic and I no longer review actively. (I also manage another blog called The Toronto Cafe and Food Blog). I do read every request sent but I apologize in advance that I do not reply to them all.

If I do take on a request, I will forewarn that it may take some time before I can review it. I am now looking to review adult fiction and self-help books instead of young adult fiction because I have grown out of it. If you are to request a review for either adult fiction or self-help, I will more likely to give it a shot.

In the meantime, Stop, Drop, and Read! serves as an archive book review blog. When I have the time, I may post a review. Thank you for understanding.

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Watersmeet by Ellen Jensen Abbott

Title: Watersmeet
Author: Ellen Jensen Abbott
Type: Young Adult
# of Pages: 341
My Rating: 2.5/5

Abisina is an outcast since birth because of her hair colour and skin. She lives a miserable life but is only protected from the village's true wrath because her mother is their only healer. One day, a powerful and mythical leader arrives to Vranille and claims to lead them to a better life. Abisina ends up running for her life when he turns the village against all the outcasts. She must find her father that she never knew in Watersmeet, a place of legends.

As you may have noticed, my blog is a lot more active lately. Now that I'm done with university and taking it slow with the job hunt, I have more free time to read again. I got to admit, my reading pace is a lot slower than it used to be back in 2009. My patience grows thin easily and I put books down instead of plowing through them, no matter how bad, like I did back in the day. I realized I have accumulated a mass of books and I want to start diminishing my collection. It's another reason why I don't take requests anymore (except for one recently). I've decided to go through my entire collection and go through my TBR pile in alphabetical order by author's last name. Depending how active I am again with this blog, I may revamp it.

Anyway, Watersmeet is the first YA novel I have been able to complete in a long time. I wouldn't say that it's great but it gets by. The writing is pretty good but the plot itself doesn't always stand out. When I first started, it had potential. Then afterwards, the storyline was just meh throughout. Abisina is a decent character and could've been much more. I wasn't keen that her father, who never knew she existed, accepted her so easily. It suited with what was happening in the story but I like to think of things realistically. 

The climax wasn't at all exciting and pretty much was there to wrap up the story. [SPOILERS] I was confused with the Epilogue though. When the battle and everything ended, all the sudden a new character called the Green Man entered. He was a mythical creature that everyone knew of. Though it made no sense, whatsoever, to bring him in. He did not contribute to the plot in any way and was there to pay respects to Abisina's father's death. It bugged me, even though I have a feeling it was to set up the sequel. [SPOILERS END]

Watersmeet is readable but it won't get you excited. There were many times where my eyes just glazed over the pages. If you have this book on your shelf like I did, maybe give it a shot. However, it's nothing worth going out to buy or borrow. 
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