Review: Rebel Mechanics by Shanna Swendson

I wish I could say that I loved this book. As I have seen some people I adore having loved it already. I got this book many months back, but was nervous about reading it, since I had one some peeking. Then heard good things. So I was finally ready to read it. But oh, I'm just so disappointed. This book tricked me.

I'm deciding to give Rebel Mechanics two stars. I wish it could have been higher. But I really did not enjoy this book at all. I think that the plot could have been amazing. And I did like reading about what happened, most of the time. But it wasn't done well enough. Because I didn't care for the girl. Not one bit.

This book is told from the point of view of Verity. Whom is seventeen in the book, but summary says sixteen, so I'm not sure how old she is. No matter her age, though, in my eyes she was way too young to get a job as a governess. That part was silly to me. She was also supposed to be smart, and have read many books and such. But I found her to be silly often and just really dumb. She didn't see all the obvious things. But I didn't hate this girl. And I did like reading about Verity sometimes. I just didn't like or love her. She wasn't a character that I will remember at all. Which is just all kinds of depressing. Really did want to love her.

But my biggest issue with this book was the writing. I had so many issues with it. It wasn't good. Not for me. I felt nothing for the characters. I didn't care much for the plot. And the writing just annoyed me so much. I can't describe it, but yeah. I just did not like reading this book. I wish I had, because I really wanted to enjoy it. And it is so heartbreaking to not love books that you want to. Especially when it is a hardcover you have gotten from the publisher. Sigh. But that's how it was this time. Not a book for me.

I'm not sure how to describe the plot in this one. Verity gets to work for Lord Henry and his family. He is twenty-something. He cares for his dead brother's three children. I sort of liked reading about the kids. But they weren't that special either, and I grew bored. Sigh. But then there was Henry, whom I actually loved. Hence the two star. He was an interesting character. But he is not in this book a lot. He is not a love interest. He is just not written about enough. Which annoyed me, as he was what I liked about it.

Anyway. Back to the plot. In this alternate world there is magic, though only some people have it. Others are lesser than them. So there is a small rebellion. Which makes machines. Just, ugh. It was a bit boring to me. And not exciting at all. I feel like the plot could have been better, but to me it wasn't good at all. Then there was the part where Verity is half-magic or whatever. What was even the point of that? Nothing is done about it, so it was quite boring to read about. She was supposed to be special though.

See, Verity meets these people in this book. The rebels. She becomes their spy, and it was so silly and boring and I didn't like reading about it at all. Just, why? Why would she spy for them? I didn't see any connection between her and the rebels at all. I saw no friendship. No almost love. I saw nothing about it at all. Ugh. It bothered me. Then there was that boy, Alec. The romance. Gosh damn it was silly. It was probably supposed to be all romantic. But it was done so badly. He was not an interesting person at all.

I turned to look at him, and when my eyes met his, I forgot everything else: my recent near miss, Lizzie, the park. All I saw was his green eyes boring into my soul. From the way he looked at me, I guessed he'd been struck the same way. We were frozen together in that moment.

See the above quote. That was their first meeting. Which still makes me laugh inside. Seriously. It was so silly and cheesy and not in a good way. Especially since I had peeked ahead, and knew how it would end. Such a silly book and such an annoying romance thingy. Didn't get why she cared for him. They did nothing together. They didn't talk together. I knew nothing about Alec. Hmph. Well, he liked machines, obviously. That was it. So yeah. I didn't even enjoy the romance that was supposed to be in this one.

I have already talked too much about this book. Just, I was so disappointed in it. I didn't like the story. I didn't like the characters. It could have been good, had Henry been the love interest. But he wasn't. And this book wasn't good. I didn't like the writing. Sigh. But I do see that others might love it. Well, maybe. Unfortunately, I was not one of them. Huge huge huge thank you, though, to Macmillan Kids for sending me this gorgeous ARC copy for review a while back. <3 You guys are amazing. I adore you. Thank you.

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