german and english review (spoilerfree)

mir wurde das Buch vom Penguin Verlag für eine Testleserunde zur Verfügnung gestellt

Inhalt: Sommer 1969: Die Amerikanerin Terry Ives studiert am College, als sie von einem bedeutenden Experiment im Auftrag der Regierung hört. Sie meldet sich als Testperson, aber schon bald muss sie feststellen, dass es sich um keine normale Studie handelt: Unter dem Decknamen MKULTRA werden ihr in einem geheimen Labor bewusstseinsverändernde Substanzen verabreicht. Sie ahnt nicht, dass hinter den Mauern des Hawkins National Laboratory eine Verschwörung lauert, die größer ist, als sie sich je hätte vorstellen können. Doch es gibt jemanden, der ihr dabei helfen kann, das Böse zu besiegen: Ein Mädchen, das im Labor vor der Welt versteckt gehalten wird. Sie hat übermenschliche Kräfte - und eine Zahl anstelle eines Namens: 008 ...

Meine Bewertung: Trotz kleiner Startschwierigkeiten, hat mich das Buch total begeistert.

Der Anfang war unheimlich langsam für mich. Natürlich hat mich die Geschichte interessiert, weil ich einfach alles Liebe was mit Stranger Things zu tun hat und auch der Schreibstil hat mir wirklich gut gefallen. Trotzdem hat mich keiner der Charaktere wirklich interessiert. Bis ich dann die 30% in dem Buch erreicht hatte und sich auf einmal alles komplett geändert hat.

Ich fand es total klasse, wie sich die Truppe um Terry, Alice, Gloria, und Ken gefunden hat. Wie sie zu einer kleinen Familie geworden sind, die sich umeinander gekümmert haben, mit denen sie reden konnten, wenn sie sich niemand anderen anvertrauen konnten, und wie sie sich unterstützt haben in der ein oder anderen schrecklichen Situation.

Terry. Ich liebe was für eine Kämpferin sie ist. Sie muss wirklich so viele Schläge verkraften aber sie ist wirklich unheimlich stark, beißt sich wirklich durch jede Situation und gibt niemals auf. Ich hab einfach so viele Gefühle wenn es um Terry geht.
Alice ist mir ebenfalls extrem ans Herz gewachsen. Sie war wirklich die kleine Schwester in dem Buch und ich wollte sie einfach nur von allem und jeden beschützen.
Gloria. Sie ist großartig und ich mochte auch die Familienmomente, die wir bei ihr zu Hause sehen konnten.
Ken. Ken ist bei mir ein bisschen untergegangen, das muss ich ganz ehrlich gestehen.

Andere Charaktere wie Andrew. Was für ein toller Kerl. Es hat echt weh getan.
Kali. Mein Kind. Acht. Ich fand sie einfach wirklich klasse und auch wie sie in die Geschichte reingepasst hat.
Brenner. Ich dachte nicht, das ich ihn noch abstoßender finden könnte aber siehe da. Er ist wirklich unerträglich grausam.

Alles in allem, hat mir das Buch wirklich richtig gut gefallen und war ein wunderbares Buch um die Serie zu ergänzen. Ich glaube nicht, dass wir irgendwas Neues gelernt haben, aber es war wunderbar mit der Serie verbunden, hat ein paar Dinge erklärt und einen den ein oder anderen Charakter einfach nochmal viel näher gebracht.

Ich bin wirklich auf weitere Bücher gespannt.

***

Summary: A mysterious lab. A sinister scientist. A secret history. If you think you know the truth behind Eleven’s mother, prepare to have your mind turned Upside Down in this thrilling prequel to the hit show Stranger Things.

It’s the summer of 1969, and the shock of conflict reverberates through the youth of America, both at home and abroad. As a student at a quiet college campus in the heartland of Indiana, Terry Ives couldn’t be further from the front lines of Vietnam or the incendiary protests in Washington.

But the world is changing, and Terry isn’t content to watch from the sidelines. When word gets around about an important government experiment in the small town of Hawkins, she signs on as a test subject for the project, codenamed MKUltra. Unmarked vans, a remote lab deep in the woods, mind-altering substances administered by tightlipped researchers . . . and a mystery the young and restless Terry is determined to uncover.

But behind the walls of Hawkins National Laboratory—and the piercing gaze of its director, Dr. Martin Brenner—lurks a conspiracy greater than she could have ever imagined. To face it, she’ll need the help of her fellow test subjects, including one so mysterious the world doesn’t know she exists—a young girl with unexplainable, superhuman powers and a number instead of a name: 008.

Amid the rising tensions of the new decade, Terry Ives and Martin Brenner have begun a different kind of war—one where the human mind is the battlefield.

My review: Even though I had some issues in the beginning, I ended up totally loving this book.

The beginning was a rough one. Of course I was totally interested in the story cause I love everything Stranger things, and I also really enjoyed the writing. Still, none of the characters did anything for me and didn't interest me at all. Until I reached the 30% mark of the book when everything changed.

I loved the whole group dynamic between Terry, Alice, Gloria, and Ken, and how they just found each other. How they became this little family that took care of each other, who they could talk to when they couldn't talk to anybody else, how they supported each other through every awful situation.

Terry. I love what a fighter she is. She had to overcome so many things, one awful thing after another, and she still stayed so strong, fought through everything and never gave up. I just have too many feels when it comes to Terry.
Alice snuck her way into my heart right away. She really was the little sister in the book, that I wanted to protect from everything and everyone.
Gloria. She is just amazing and I truly loved every little moment she had with her family at home.
Ken. Well, Ken kinda fell through the cracks for me a bit, to be completely honest.

Other characters like Andrew. What a great guy. Everything about his whole situation just hurts like hell.
Kali. My child. Eight. I just love her so damn much and how she fit into the whole story.
Brenner. You know, I thought I couldn't hate him more or find him any more disgusting but look at that. He is just insanely aweful and cruel.

All in all, I truly enjoyed this book a lot and think that it really complemented the tv show. I don't think that we learned anything new, but it still tied in really well with the show and explained a few things more and it really brought me closer to some of the characters.

I'm truly excited for the following books.

YESS, finally reached the part where I'm actually interested in the characters and care about them. YESSS. Now the book is really starting for me.

♥♥♥ 2 STARS ♥♥♥

After I read the blurb, I thought this would be an interesting read. Unfortunately, it didn't end up really working for me.



This book starts off with a man named Lorenzo Moreno, who finds out that his girlfriend cheated on him with her baby daddy and immediately dumps her. The event completely altered Lorenzo, he has become distrustful and swears he will never fall in love with another girl. Olivia Romero hasn't fared too well either in the romance department. Her ex-boyfriend wasn't exactly the best, but she loved him. He was manipulative and would try to control her. After she finally had enough of it all, she leaves him. Nine months later, Olivia and Lorenzo meet at a bar. After they begin to talk, they realize that an attraction is there. So they decide to have one night together with no strings attached.

After their first encounter, I wasn't really feeling Lorenzo because he seemed like a jerk. Later on, they see each other again, and end seeing more of each other since Olivia becomes friends with Lorenzo's brother's wife. At first, Lorenzo is a total tool towards Olivia and they both try their best to avoid each other. The more they see each other, the more Lorenzo wants to have her and even give the relationship thing a try again.

These two characters had quite the baggage. I get that Lorenzo was cheated on and that this brought on some insecurities in his relationship with Olivia, but damn, I did not like how jealous he could be over every little thing. And then I hated how after being with a man who controlled Olivia and her not wanting it ever again, ends up in a new relationship and still she acted a tiny bit meek. I didn't like how she seemed to be walking on eggshells, and have to explain her every move whenever she thought Lorenzo was getting suspicious. I also didn't understand how she didn't see what her brothers and Lorenzo saw in her boss and her ex-boyfriend Jay, that they were both creepy and weird about her. I wish Olivia would have grown a backbone sooner, but I was glad that she finally did in the end. She wasn't all bad, I actually liked how loyal she was to those that truly meant something to her.

The entire focus of the book seemed to surrounded on Lorenzo's jealousy and Olivia's ex-boyfriend drama. I never felt an emotional connection between the two, and had trouble finding the romance in this one. There was only one scene that made my heart melt by Lorenzo's sweetness, but that quickly became overshadowed by all the times Lorenzo was a prick because of his green-eyed monster. As a result, I didn't like Lorenzo much. I knew this is what the book was going to be about, but I wanted more romance, more heart, more chemistry. Instead, I got too much drama, especially at the end that didn't do much for me. I'm really disappointed that this book wasn't what I expected, and that I wasn't able to love it. It could be a case of it's just me, not you. So who knows if you might enjoy it more than I did.



~Ebook gifted to Kris & Vik Book Therapy Cafe in exchange for an honest review.~




View all my reviews

I struggle to find words to describe this story that aren't 'cute' or 'sweet'. Not in an exaggerated diabetes-inducing way that involved the main-couple telling each other how much they love the other every five pages, simply in the sense of 'this is a sweet story about good, nice and (mostly) happy people'. The case did require a bit of suspension of disbelief but not too much (especially as it is basically a cozy where I don't require as much adherence to reality as in 'serious' crime-novels') .

The characters and their relations with each other are where the book really shines. You can easily feel how much Jonty, Orlando and Jonty's family care about each other and everybody also seems like a really nice person you'd love to meet.

However, I would very much recommend to read this series in order. Having jumped right in the middle I have now been spoiled for several events that happened in the previous books. Not the solutions to any cases but events happening in the development of the personal relationship between the two. Not major things and no exact details but I'd definitely preferred to have learned about them a different way.

I did think the narration overused the phrase 'his lover' a bit (as in 'Jonty looked at his lover'/'Orlando went over to his lover'). I am a big fan of just calling people by their names or simply using pronouns (and yes, if just two men are in the room and it says 'Jonty looked at him' I am mentally capable of decoding that him refers to Orlando and not Jonty...) If it had been done just occasionally and to stress it for some reason I'd have been fine with it but here it threw me off.

I am also not sure about how much like sea-battles as metaphor for sex but it was at least a fascinating experience.

ARC provided by NetGalley

Recently I had a short discussion with Murder by Death on the annoyingness of the mothers of the amateur-sleuths in so many cozy-mysteries. They lack any respect for their children's privacy, meddle and seem to be stuck on an eternal loop of 'and when will you make babies???'. And by 'they' I do mean just about any mom-character in the cozies I read (and I've read many) so far. They're also never just a bit annoying, usually I want to yell at them after about one paragraph. Or, alternately, tell the child that it's probably better for their mental well-being if they stay away. (However if they ever get around to yelling at the moms it ends with a lot of tears 'BUT I ONLY CARE ABOUT YOU!!1!!! And by the way WHEN WILL YOU MAKE BABIES???' and the kid has to apologize...)

And this isn't just badly written cozies. There are series I love (Carola Dunn's Lady Daisy-mysteries or Lanyon's Adrien English-series) that have mums with the same annoying traits.

For that reasons I'm doubly happy that the Cambridge Fellows series has an awesome and likeable mum...but it also made me wonder:

Where the hell is this 'cozy-mothers have to be terrible' thing coming from?

As said: it really isn't something that happens occasionally. If a mother has screen time in any cozy there's an 98% chance that she is horrible. Why? Is there a secret agreement between cozy writers? Are they all mind-controlled? Often cozies draw a lot of inspiration from the golden-age crime novels but the big names there are Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers and neither Miss Marple nor Hercule Poirot ever have to deal with their mothers. Lord Peter does but his is again pretty laid-back and really can't be the template for those horrible caricatures...