Revel-yawn

Reading a messy book is an interesting sensation. You know it's a complete mess, with aimless chapters and repeated phrases/emotions/statements. You want it to get better, especially if it's in a series you've enjoyed, but wishing does not make reality happen, so you force yourself to read each page until, suddenly at the end of the book, whole new twists are thrown in and you know you're going to read the next book and you're not happy about it. Welcome to Melissa de la Cruz's Revelations.

Pretty cover, yes? It's so much better than the scary second one. I liked the first two books in the Blue Bloods series. Although to be fair, they were the sort of books I read and then immediately forget. It was bad when I started reading Revelations. I couldn't remember anything about the plot other than the character's relationships.

Here's my first complaint: the book opens up with a "here's what happened in the last few months" which included the main character, Schuyler, hooking up with a certain someone, losing her emancipated status, being forced to go live with another family instead of her grandfather, becoming best friends with another girl and a few other things that I can't remember. A lot happened in those few months...which maybe explains why nothing happens in the first three quarters of the book.

The book just didn't seem to have a plot. I really felt like it meandered all over and never really settled on anything. Schuyler was much more annoying in this book, too. And, for some reason, the pop culture references in this book really got me. (Quick rant: Authors, using tons of pop culture references dates your books. Seriously. Do you really think people are going to remember The Hills and random top 40 hits you reference? The classics survive because they don't; they keep most modern references out--just look at modern classics like The Painted Veil or Mary Stewart. Stephenie Meyer discusses this in one of her interviews; she didn't name the band Bella and Edward were supposed to go see in Twilight because she didn't want to date the book. Yet another reason why I admire her...) Anyway, I didn't remember those references being in the earlier books.

Of course, although I suffered through the book, the ending had so many twists and so much action that I will read the next one. ARGHHH.

Rating: 4/10