2011-11-01

Tris and Izzie

Tris and Izzie by Mette Ivie Harrison
Releaste Date: October 11, 2011
Egmont USA
ISBN13: 9781606841730

1/5 Stars

Goodreads Synopsis:
A modern retelling of the German fairytale "Tristan and Isolde", Tris and Izzie is about a young witch named Izzie who is dating Mark King, the captain of the basketball team and thinks her life is going swimmingly well. Until -- she makes a love potion for her best friend Brangane and then ends up taking it herself accidentally, and falling in love with Tristan, the new guy at school.

I've always had a soft spot for retellings of fairytales and myths. I'm really not picky about them, or how closely they stick to the "traditional" story (don't get me started on this, by the way. I have my own opinion on it). But as much as I wanted to love Tris and Izzie, I just couldn't.

Reasons to Read:
  1. You really love cheesy romances:
    I'm sorry, but this really was the best I could come up with. If you're a die-hard fan of cheesy, exaggerated teen romance then hey, this might be the ideal book for you. But I wasn't impressed with this, or any of it personally. And while there is "romance"; but it's a different kind of romance.
Remember when Ron Weasley ate Harry's gift of love potion chocolates? Or even Lavender's obsessive relationship with him? It was like an entire book of that. The problem was that I don't think the love story was supposed to be humorous. And minus the awesomeness that is Ronald Weasley.

Now, that being said I had a difficult time involving myself in the story and the romance didn't come off as believable. It felt forced, and poorly developed. And not just because it started with a love potion- no, even aside from that it was hard to believe.

Also, I'm not a fan of the best frenemies concept that seems to be overpopulating YA books recently. Yes, I know this is the case sometimes. But if two characters are best friends, then at times they should at least SEEM to like each other- but Branna and Izzie rarely came off that way to me.

There was just so much emphasis placed on teenage love, but it felt fake to me. It didn't sound like anyone had an idea of what a deeper love could entail, and the characters fell flat for me as well which made it even harder to relate to their stories.
Ultimately, I was disappointed. I'm not too familiar with the story of Tristan and Isolde, but a fair amount of the mythological background wasn't very well explained either.

e-galley received from publisher via netGalley in exchange for my honest review; no other compensation was received.

10 comments:

Giselle said...

Ugh. I've heard the same complaint on all the reviews I've read so far I have since removed it from my TBR. I enjoy cheesy romance but only as a filler.

Giselle
Xpresso Reads

Maji Bookshelf said...

LOL i agree~ Im currently reading this book, and i just cant get myself to accept this "sudden" love between the two.

-Farah @ Maji Bookshelf

Amanda @Stuck In YA Books said...

I completely agree with your review. I thought it would have been a lot better. I couldn't even finish it, got bored.

Anonymous said...

Yes! We shared the same insights on the title. I'm not sure what's going on, exactly, with this particular novel.

-Wendy from A Cupcake and a Latte: YA Reviews

-k said...

le sigh - I had a nice comment all written and then blogger was an ass...

Anyway, I'm glad that I didn't suffer through my e-galley copy from NetGalley after reading your review. I think I made it about 10 pages in and just couldn't make myself go any further.

Kat C @ Books and Sensibility said...

I haven't read this, but you review seems right on par with the other reviews. It's too bad because the cover is TDF.

Julie@My5monkeys said...

I saw all bad reviews for this book and since dropped this book from reading pile. love the cover

A Canadian Girl said...

I was auto-approved for this one but I didn't bother to read it after I saw Wendy's and so many other people's 1 star review. I really don't like cheesy romances so it's good I skipped it :)

Unknown said...

I was really looking forward to this one but when I read it I just couldn't like it. I love Arthurian legends and I love retellings, but this one was very disappointing.

Asheley T. said...

This is so unfortunate, really, because I really was excited to read this book. The cover art really is stunning and I DO love retellings. However I haven't been able to find ONE SINGLE positive thing about this book. I haven't taken it off of the tbr yet, but I haven't read it yet either. But everyone's reviews just make me...sad about it.

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