Book Review: Erased – Jennifer Rush

Erased
Author: Jennifer Rush
Series: Altered #2
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Mystery, Thriller
Release Date: January 7, 2014
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers

Goodreads | Amazon | TBD

Summary:

 
First Sentence: Like clockwork, I woke after midnight and immediately had the urge to see Sam.

My Review:

Lately, I’ve had bad luck picking the books I read. During this past week and a half, I picked up three books I was absolutely sure I’ll love, judging from other people’s reviews and the fact that I also enjoyed two of the authors’ previous books. Sadly both Uninvited and Evertrue disappointed me so much that I was so desperate to pick up a book that I thought I would definitely love, Erased, especially since I really enjoyed Jennifer Rush’s debut, Altered. I didn’t expect to be disappointed with Erased; I expected to be wowed, to be fanning myself during those hot moments, and to be goshing over Erased like how I was goshing all over Altered, but alas, that sadly did not happen.

Where to start, where to start? I’m sorry to say that one of the biggest problems I had with Erased was Jennifer Rush’s writing. Her writing just makes it extremely hard for you to be engaged with the story. I don’t know how to describe Jennifer Rush’s writing exactly; all I can say is that it’s mediocre at best and sometimes just plain awkward and clumpy. Her writing fails to engage the reader and actually almost put me to sleep on the train. I don’t know if Jennifer Rush’s writing is only like this in Erased because I know I really loved and enjoyed reading Altered, but it probably is and that just disappoints me because I expected and wanted to be wowed again. Beside these problems, Jennifer Rush’s writing also led to a whole new different set of problems as you can see below in the next paragraph.

I sighed. Of course, we all had the right to leave the group whenever we wanted.
I haven’t thought any of us would actually do it, though. (22)

Unlike Altered which made me gasp in dismay and shock me multiple times, Erased did not do that for me. When Anna and the boys were in danger in Erased, I felt nothing. I didn’t worry for them, feel any sadness for their awful situation, bite my fingers during the fight scenes; I literally felt nothing. Jennifer Rush’s writing made it impossible for me to connect to anyone and anything in the story – it was like I was completely separated from the story, on the outside peering in. As I was reading Erased, I was waiting for any type of emotions to come to me, whether it be happiness or sadness or whatever, but in the end, I felt absolutely nothing but really annoyed at a character, which you pretty much know is not good thing.

What, or should I say who made me really annoyed? Simple, who also greatly annoyed me in Altered because they were so annoying and indecisive and just plain clueless? Anna, aka the narrator and the main character of the Altered series so far. Seriously, I just wanted to pop myself into the story and shake her non-stop. Anna insists that she doesn’t want any of the guys to think she’s weak, to think that she isn’t strong enough to protect herself, but Anna again and again proves them right by making dumb mistakes that could be easily prevented. To make matters worse, Anna repeats the exact same mistakes she made in Altered: she’s so slow in figuring out what’s happening that she always lands in trouble and has to fight her way out, dragging other people down with her. I dare say that in Erased, Anna is a very clueless and annoying (wait, when is she not annoying?) Mary Sue.

I’m sorry, I mouthed.
This was my fault.
Because I’d doubted him. (211)

Like the other past two books I’ve just read, I also guessed the huge should be jaw-dropping plot twists way before it was actually revealed in Erased. This one was even worse than the plot twist I predicted for Evertrue; I predicted one particular plot twist on page 47 of Erased. Page freaking 47. Let me explain this to you guys a little more clearly: basically, I predicted the whole storyline on page 47. I also predicted all the other minor plot twists in Erased before they actually happened about, let’s say, a hundred pages or so ago. I don’t know if I’m just getting too good at predicting all these plot twists or if you guys also have the same problem as I do too, but I’m just so tired of it.

The worse part of Erased is the ending. It’s simply so rushed that in the end, when you finish and close the book, you’re simply like what? Things did not make sense. I had this goofy what-on-earth-just-happened look on my face when I finished the book and I’m pretty sure that you would too. When you read Erased, you will know what I mean and which part in the ending I’m talking about, I guarantee you.

We knew the risks were huge. We knew it could be a trap.
“Ready?” I said.
The boys nodded. (271)

Overall, I’m mighty disappointed with Erased and my book picking skills to read in general. I was just so sure that Erased would break my low-rating book spree, but alas, that didn’t happen.

Do I recommend Erased? I’m truly sorry to say this, but no. For those of you who’ve read and also loved Altered like me, I strongly recommend you stick with reading Altered and that’s it. In fact, I’m so disappointed in Erased that I’m no longer in the mood to read the third book in the series. I just don’t want any more disappointments.

I need book recommendations people, anyone, anyone? I can’t take another disappointment again.