Book review: Introductions by C.L. Stone

Introductions by C.L. Stone
Series: The Ghost Bird #1
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Links: Amazon • Goodreads
Publication Date: December 23, 2012
Source: Kindle freebie

With an agoraphobic mother and a barely-there father, Sang abhors the isolation keeping her in the shadows. The only thing Sang craves is a fresh start and to be accepted as ordinary by her peers, because for her being different meant being cast out alone.

When her family moves to a new school district, Sang infiltrates a group of boys nearly perfect in every way. Grateful for an influence outside of her parents’ negativity, she quickly bonds with the boys, hoping to blend in and learn from them what it means to have a natural relationship with friends.

Only the boys have secrets of their own and they’ll do anything to keep her safe from the knowledge of the mysterious Academy that they’ve sworn allegiance to. Bit by bit, Sang discovers that her friends are far from the normalcy she expected. Will her loyalty change when she’s forced to remain in the dark, or will she accept that she’s traded one house of secrets for another?

Meet Kota, Victor, Silas, Nathan, Gabriel, Luke and North in a story about differences and loyalty, truth and mystery, friendships and heart-throbbing intimacy.

The Academy, ever vigilant.

I don’t even remember where I saw this book or why I decided to download it, but it’s a thing that happened and now here we are. Three months later. Trying to decimate my TBR by marathoning one book after another. It’s been a bad month for this.

MAYBE MINOR SPOILERS BELOW.

I’m not really sure what the point of this book is. It’s a girl who meets a new boy in every chapter. Every boy is amazing. So perfect. They’re all fifteen years old, but they look like models, are built like professional athletes, and wave around their black AmEx cards to purchase their custom Armani suits.

I’m not sure that any of the characters understand the concept of time, because everything happens in approximately thirteen seconds.

“I make a halfway decent friend if you give me a chance.”

Okay, I mean, so do I, but I also don’t invite random strangers into my house four seconds after meeting them for “hot cocoa” and to “clean their wounds” because I’M NOT A MURDERER. Sang is, to her credit, at least a little bit worried about being raped and/or kidnapped, but she figures that rapists and would-be kidnappers wouldn’t go through the hassle of making her hot cocoa first. She’s clearly highly intelligent.

“We’re friends now, aren’t we?”

Well, you just met three minutes ago, but okay. Every boy in this book is about to lay his life down for Sang the second he meets her. I’m not sure what’s so special about her, but just wait… it’s coming…

“You’re not like other girls, Sang.”
“You’re far from normal.”
“I mean different.”
“It’s not a bad thing.”

Maybe stop talking, Silas. Or just keep digging yourself in deeper, whatever works. I figured this scene was coming because of course it was, but somehow I’m still disappointed. Just once I’d like to read a YA book that doesn’t use the “not like other girls” trope.

Also, everything is green. Green poncho. Green shirt. Green eyes. Green tie. Mr. Green. Is there some significance here that I’m missing? And one of these fifteen-year-old boys is taking particle physics, so that’s really interesting too. It ends with a cliffhanger that’s some real nonsense, but I honestly don’t care enough to find out what happens next.

Somehow this book has a 4.12 average on Goodreads, so it’s possible that I’m just cranky today or that I just didn’t get it, but yikes. This was a mess. At least it didn’t even take two hours to read it.

#killingthetbr: 3 months on shelf