Review: 18 Things and 18 Truths by Jamie Ayres (Two-book review)

                  

This is a two-book review.

I received these books from Curiosity Quills Press, since I am taking part in a review tour for the third book, 18 Thoughts, next month.

 18 Things summary:  Amazon US | B&N 

        Olga Gay Worontzoff thinks her biggest problems are an awful name and not attending prom with Conner, her best friend and secret crush since kindergarten. Then, Conner is killed in a freak boating accident and Olga feels responsible for his death.

       When she downs an entire bottle of pills to deal with the emotional pain, her parents force her into counseling. There, her therapist writes a prescription in the form of a life list titled “18 Things”: eighteen quests to complete the year of her eighteenth birthday.

       But there’s more to Olga’s quests than meets the eye and when her therapist reveals a terrifying secret, her world is shaken.

       There’s only one thing she knows for certain: her choices won’t just affect her future, but all eternity.

18 Truths summary:   Amazon US | B&N 

        Olga Gay Worontzoff ended her senior year as an eighteen-year-old girl totally in love with Nate, enjoying their new romance and about to attend the university of her dreams. Now she’s spending her summer in the weird subculture of the Underworld, with charmingly witty and powerful angels, and problematic demons, trying to rescue Connor, the best friend and secret crush she was unable to save during a freak accident.

       But Nate has other things on his mind, mainly Grace. She’s their first assignment as joint spirit guides, and Olga’s feeling hurt and jealous. His mysterious behavior has Olga questioning everything she believed about him and now she must decide whether to stick to their plan, or follow her heart. Unfortunately, a series of mistakes threatens everyone around her and plants Olga in the center of cosmic events much larger than she ever imagined.

       Only one thing is certain: the chilling truths uncovered during her journey will leave no one untouched.

    Going into these books, I had no idea what they were about. I thought it would be fun to take part in a blog tour, 'cause I like doing those.

The books were fine, I guess. Part of my "problem" with them is that I am kind of agnostic, and these books are heavy on religious themes, and those kind of, for lack of a better word, bother me. 

    The characters weren't overly likable, but I didn't dislike them either. I read other people's reviews after finishing the books to see if any opinions matched up with mine (none did) but many people were picking sides with Nate and Olga in the sequel over who was right and who was wrong about some shenanigans that happened. Personally, I think they were both being idiots.

    Part of me liked the first book better, until the end of the book. I think I may have felt how I expect the characters did in the sequel. A little like I was duped, the first book had some great character development, humor, some wit, the dialog got to me a little sometimes. For example, all the characters when referring to a conversation they had with someone would always say 'convo'. I don't know anybody that talks like that, not even when I was as young as the characters.

    The sequel was kind of a different story. It took all the character development Olga and Nate went through and stripped it away. Olga was back to concerning herself about Conner, and Nate was back to trying to get over his guilt. Which lead them both to making rash and really dumb decisions.

    The "romance" in the sequel also bothered me. I am not a fan of love triangles, love hexagons are even worse. I had a hard time figuring out who was "in love" with whom half the time.

    There were a couple interesting and surprise plot lines that made reading the sequel worthwhile. I still just prefer the first book a little bit more.