DNF: Confessions of Almost girlfriend by Louise Rozett and Ink (Paper Gods #1) by Amanda Sun

 Confessions of Almost girlfriend (Confessions #2) by Louise Rozett

Rose Zarelli has big plans for sophomore year—everything is going to be different. This year, she’s going to be the talented singer with the killer voice, the fabulous girl with the fashionista best friend, the brainiac who refuses to let Jamie Forta jerk her around...
...but if she’s not careful, she’s also going to be the sister who misses the signals, the daughter who can only think about her own pain, the “good girl” who finds herself in mid-scandal again (because no good deed goes unpunished) and possibly worst of all...the almost-girlfriend.
When all else fails, stop looking for love and go find yourself.

Publishes in US: June 18th 2013 by Harlequin
Genre: YA Contemporary
Source: Harlequin via Netgalley
Series? Yes. Confessions #2. Confessions of an Angry Girl (Confessions, #1) My review here

Buy it:  Amazon  Barnes & Noble
IndieBound  Book Depository

Find Louise online: ~site ~twitter ~facebook

Ink (Paper Gods #1) by Amanda Sun

I looked down at the paper, still touching the tip of my shoe. I reached for it, flipping the page over to look.Scrawls of ink outlined a drawing of a girl lying on a bench.A sick feeling started to twist in my stomach, like motion sickness.And then the girl in the drawing turned her head, and her inky eyes glared straight into mine.On the heels of a family tragedy, the last thing Katie Greene wants to do is move halfway across the world. Stuck with her aunt in Shizuoka, Japan, Katie feels lost. Alone. She doesn’t know the language, she can barely hold a pair of chopsticks, and she can’t seem to get the hang of taking her shoes off whenever she enters a building.Then there’s gorgeous but aloof Tomohiro, star of the school’s kendo team. How did he really get the scar on his arm? Katie isn’t prepared for the answer. But when she sees the things he draws start moving, there’s no denying the truth: Tomo has a connection to the ancient gods of Japan, and being near Katie is causing his abilities to spiral out of control. If the wrong people notice, they'll both be targets.Katie never wanted to move to Japan—now she may not make it out of the country alive.

I wrote a post awhile back about negative reviews, and how I don't review if I don't finish, and a very wise blogger pointed out that knowing what a blogger doesn't like can be valuable to publishers and authors too. Then another blogger mentioned she did a did not finish post and I thought it was a great idea. That isn't to say that the writing is poor or the characters are poorly constructed, it's personal on my end. So, here we go:

Confessions

Stopped at: 5%

   I totally would have gotten this reviewed before or on the pub date but I didn't realize the date had been changed. When I look on Netgalley first I write that date on my calendar. :)

   I just couldn't get back into Rose's head. The first bit was all about partying and  people picking on homosexuality and none of the stuff that I remember liking about the first book. I know that Rose didn't agree with what they were doing as far as gays and that she didn't like the hazing, but still, it was there. These are all important topics and I think that the author did a good job showing it wasn't okay from Rose's eyes. 

   Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for the topics or for Rose, but I just wasn't immersed into the story. I kept putting it down, and looking for other stuff to do, so maybe a reread at another time. 

Positive reviews from my bloggy buddies:

Readers Den 5/5

Pure Imagination "Loved it"

YA's the Word

Ink:

Stopped at 5%

    I think that the cultural references and the use of Japanese turned me off immediately and then I had problems with Tomohiro. He was too big of a jerk for me to even classify it as a bad boy with a soft spot. Because he was obviously hiding a lot, but just the way he was talking to and treating his exgirlfriend it was too much for me to handle. 

   I didn't connect with Katie. She was stalkerish and too impulsive for me to relate to. 

   I loved the concept and the cover, but ultimately it didn't work for me. 

Positive reviews from blogging buddies:

Fighting Daydreamer

Paranormal Pages

Books and Things

My question to you, my lovely readers:
Have you ever had an "almost" relationship? How did it turn out?