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A Reader of Fictions: Wake Up, Little Susie - The Everly Brothers

A Reader of Fictions

Book Reviews for Just About Every Kind of Book

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Wake Up, Little Susie - The Everly Brothers

Once
Eve, Book 2

Author: Anna Carey
Narrator: Tavia Gilbert
Duration: 7 hrs, 9 mins
Publisher: Harper Audio
Publication Date: July 3, 2012
Source: HarperAudio

Description from Goodreads:
When you're being hunted, who can you trust?

For the first time since she escaped from her school many months ago, Eve can sleep soundly. She's living in Califia, a haven for women, protected from the terrifying fate that awaits orphaned girls in The New America.

But her safety came at a price: She was forced to abandon Caleb, the boy she loves, wounded and alone at the city gates. When Eve gets word that Caleb is in trouble, she sets out into the wild again to rescue him, only to be captured and brought to the City of Sand, the capital of The New America.

Trapped inside the City walls, Eve uncovers a shocking secret about her past--and is forced to confront the harsh reality of her future. When she discovers Caleb is alive, Eve attempts to flee her prison so they can be together--but the consequences could be deadly. She must make a desperate choice to save the ones she loves . . . or risk losing Caleb forever.

In this breathless sequel to "Eve," Anna Carey returns to her tale of romance, adventure, and sacrifice in a world that is both wonderfully strange and chillingly familiar.


Prior Book: Eve (Goodreads|my review)

Review:
Eve was a book that I was mostly meh about. I try to read all of the dystopias, or at least the first book in each series. Obviously, I liked it enough to want to continue with the series. I read Eve around the same time as I read Wither, which I thought was better. With the sequels, though, I think I like Carey's series better, at least for consistency's sake.

The basic society seen in Once is interesting enough. I am always horrified by dystopias about women being demoted in society again after some cataclysmic event. Let's be honest: I can imagine women being forced to breed if that's what the people in power thought was necessary. The divide in the society, between the wealthy and the poor also seems a fitting theme. Once added this by showing that as part of the whole rebuilding effort, the King is trying to rebuild a theme park, instead of trying to help the poor. Much as I love roller coasters, I'm going to have to go with bad plan.

I wish more had been done with Califia, but we really don't get much of a feel for this haven for women. Anyway, she's quickly captured and taken to the city, where she learns 'a shocking secret' as the description says. That certainly was surprise to me as a reader, but my reaction was mostly 'of course she is.'

The main thing that kept throwing me out of the story was the romance. I do not ship Caleb and Eve at all. Though I remember that they were not instalove, it sure reads like it. Eve is so freaking sappy and she thinks about him CONSTANTLY. Caleb this, Caleb that. I mean, at the beginning, her friend shows up bleeding and Eve wants to know what happened. The girl tells this terrifying story about what happened to her on the run. Eve listens and then responds with "CRY FOR ME BECAUSE I HAD TO SEPARATE FROM CALEB!" Girl, hold up for a moment, okay. What an awful friend. I would like them better as a couple if I didn't have to hear about how much she loves him all of the time. SHOW your love for him; don't just moan about it all the time.

Also, Caleb and Eve are so stupid together. She does all sorts of dumb stuff to see him. Their situation is made so much worse, because of how they behave. Admittedly, they have big problems, but if they weren't so rash about everything, they could have managed. For example, I chose this song because of this scene where she sneaks out to see him and THEY ACCIDENTALLY FALL ASLEEP for too long despite the fact that this will, of course, get them caught. When your life is on the line, you set an alarm. *headdesk*

The saving grace of the book was that Anna Carey is willing to make some of the tougher decisions. The ending definitely kept my attention and guaranteed that I'll be reading the next book.

Narration:
Tavia Gilbert's voice worked really well for the character of Eve. She has a voice that really sounds like it could belong to a teenager, especially a naive, innocent one like Eve. Gilbert did a fantastic job of conveying emotion with her voice and pacing.

However, her attempts at doing voices for the other characters were made of fail. She does a horrible impression of a man's voice. Seriously, I laughed every time. I could not take these supposedly-intimidating characters, like the King, seriously, because they sounded so absurd. Ditto Caleb's romantic lines. The audiobook would have been much stronger had she not tried to do voices.

Since I read Eve and listened to the audiobook, I wanted to compare which worked better for me. All things considered, I think it came out about the same. I think the audiobook made a nice change. I do love when people tell me a story.


"Wake up, little Susie, wake up
We’ve both been sound asleep, wake up, little Susie, and weep
The movie’s over, it’s four o’clock, and we’re in trouble deep
"

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12 Comments:

Blogger Lenore Appelhans said...

I LOL'd at the set the alarm thing!! EVE made me expect such convenient plotting, so it didn't really phase me while I was reading, but you are so right. WTH?!

August 18, 2012 at 12:34 PM  
Blogger Alessandra said...

I haven't read Eve, so I'm not really reading the review. I just feel accomplished that I know the song from which you took these lyrics!

August 18, 2012 at 4:39 PM  
Blogger Lilian said...

I have no intention of starting this series.

"Eve is so freaking sappy and she thinks about him CONSTANTLY."
ugh. *headdesk*

"She does all sorts of dumb stuff to see him."
Like Bella-go-speeding-with-a-motorcycle style?
I actually thought the accidentally falling asleep could pass as romantic. At least it wasn't on purpose.

I always want to try audiobooks. But the first time I tried (it was with Breaking Dawn a few years ago) didn't end up so well. I fell asleep or I started zoning out because I thought the narrator read too slowly.

August 18, 2012 at 6:38 PM  
Blogger aLilLacey said...

I would maybe give the book a chance just for the sake of her hair color on the book being strawberry blonde ( what color is it really supposed to be?) Somehow as a red head i feel obligated to support my fellow gingers and read the books they're in.

August 19, 2012 at 12:50 AM  
Blogger Lenore Appelhans said...

Also? The song choice is perfect for that scene, bwahahaha!

August 19, 2012 at 11:14 AM  
Blogger Christina said...

Yeah, I enjoyed both books, but I wasn't all that impressed with either. They're fun but cause some facepalming.

I thought so too!

August 20, 2012 at 7:58 AM  
Blogger Christina said...

Woo! Good job!

August 20, 2012 at 7:58 AM  
Blogger Christina said...

YOU WOULD HATE THIS SERIES. WITH FIERY, FIERY PASSION.

No, more like she sneaks out constantly and thinks she's stealthy, but she's not. Her plans are always awful.

You should listen to Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan Trilogy. It's the BEST.

August 20, 2012 at 7:59 AM  
Blogger Christina said...

Hahahaha, it does look pretty strawberry blonde. I love gingers, though I'm not one myself.

August 20, 2012 at 8:00 AM  
Blogger M.A.D. said...

Now I've simply gotta read Wither, which I've heard was terrific!! :)

And you also mentioned the forced-breeding thing, have you read Partials? That was one of the sub-plots in that story, an uncomfortable one as far as I'm concerned. Scary, but plausible under the right (or WRONG) circumstances ;P

August 29, 2012 at 6:24 PM  
Blogger M.A.D. said...

Ps - as a genuine strawberry-blonde (now mixed with gray & white & God knows what else lol)I'd like to say that you are NOT missing a thing. We burn easily and have enough freckles to play *connect-the-dot* for all eternity ;P

August 29, 2012 at 6:26 PM  
Blogger Christina said...

Mehhhh. Wither was better than Eve, I guess, but I'm really not impressed with the series. I really didn't like Fever. I feel like DeStefano isn't willing to make things as harsh as they need to be.

Nope. I haven't read Partials...YET.

But gingers are SO CUTE!

August 30, 2012 at 9:25 AM  

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