Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book. Unfortunately, while the blurb really interested me, I have been unable to get into the book.

Imagine by Jenna Greene.
This was a good read with likeable characters. Although written very well it did get slow in places.  I liked how it was described and I could see the world easily in my mind. I liked the main characters Becky and kat.  There were characters I didn't like.  Can Becky and kat find their way home? But first they must help save a world they know nothing about.  I am curious how book 2 turn out. 4*.

I actually was just starting to love this book when it all went sideways. About halfway through the writing, in my opinion, takes a really weird turn. But I was sticking with it because the plot was great, and I really wanted to know more about Ino.
But then... the attempted rape happened. I just... why? Why did that need to be in an MG book? It really served no purpose, it was already clear that the town they were in wasn't not a great town. And there are many ways to introduce that one character, without including That.
So in truth, I did not finish this book. And I am very disappointed.

DNF at 21%

There comes a time when you just have to give up on reading a book even if you really wanted to enjoy it. I was determined to finish this book; however, I got bored every time I sat down to read it. It was coming to a point where I just stop reading all together because I knew I had to read this book, but did not want to.

The cover of this book is beautiful, and the synopsis is very intriguing. However, from the first chapter, I knew that this book was not going to be something I would enjoy. I thought it might get better as I continued reading, but it just did not capture my attention like the cover and synopsis did.

I am not someone who typically enjoys reading middle grade books, and I honestly felt like this was more middle grade than young adult. The writing style seemed like it was aimed at a fourth or fifth grade student, rather than someone who is older. I am not sure if it was the writing style or the fact that the book seemed completely different from what I thought it would be, but I just did not like this book.

I think this might be a great book for someone who is in fourth or fifth grade, or to be read to a younger child; it is just not a great book for someone in their early twenties.

This is a very easy read.
The world is fairly well developed with reasonable characters.
A weak ending spoilt the story.

*thank you to Netgalley and Champagne Book Group for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

DNF

I just couldnt get into this. Im not sure exactly what i didnt enjoy about it but it just wasnt for me. I couldn't connect with it and was a bit bored.

Imagine is the first book in the Imagine series, a crossworlds/epic quest fantasy by YA author Jenna Greene and Champagne Book Group.

The premise is wonderful and I did like seeing a very young protagonist having a positive influence in a story and I thought her motivations were the most believable and reasonable of the characters. The world building was interesting and the idea of a tide-shift age in magic in the world was original. However...

I struggled with this book. There are some issues with the plotting and the story arc. The character dialogue is often stilted and the characters seem unnecessarily angry and hostile (to one another, to strangers, to everyone). I'm not sure who the target audience is, it's quite long for younger readers at 344 pages, and there's a considerable amount of fairly graphic violence (stabbing, strangling, spine injuries, etc) as well as a fair bit of rough language (nothing completely over the top, but more 'damns' and 'dammits' than I would usually want in a read-along young reader book). The main characters spend most of those 344 pages running from one violently bloody encounter to the next without any pause or, frankly, reason. One of the main protagonists is 10 years old, and every time someone said her name, Becky Thatcher, I was yanked completely out of the story. (Becky Thatcher is Tom's love interest in Tom Sawyer). In addition, for my taste, the violence was often gratuitous with graphic descriptions of glass cuts and parasitic plant injuries, talons digging into victims' spines, etc. It felt like every single page, the protagonists were right on the very edge of an unpleasant death. Perhaps that will appeal to many readers, for me it just felt exhausting and unrelenting and somewhat meaningless. Then again, I haven't been a teenager for decades.

I understand that a certain amount of teen angst is just about de rigueur for YA books, but even by those standards, this book is on the outside edge.

The cover art is beautiful, though, having read the book in its entirety, I'm still not sure who it's meant to depict.

Not for me, but given the overall ratings from others on Goodreads and Amazon, etc, I seem to be in the minority.

Two and a half stars for originality and concept.

[This review will go live on my blog on December 4, 11:00pm GMT+8.)

I was very tempted to DNF this book. Despite what seemed like an interesting concept, I just could not get into it. The writing came across as rushed and amateurish, and I could not place what the age group this was written for. Was it for younger kids or was it young adults? I still cannot say.

Kat as a character did not mesh with me. She seemed far too stubborn and a little bit inconsistently written. First she was unwilling to believe Enalia’s words, then she wakes up in Areth and instead of coming up with a ‘logical’ explanation for the happenings, she is willing to go along with everything? But she’s also somewhat in charge and listened to despite clearly knowing very little and having no experience? Her treatment of the other characters just felt very entitled to me. The only time I really felt for her was in the epilogue, which was also the only time I ever really felt an interest in the story as a whole.

Ino was another character that seemed inconsistently written. For a captain of his standing to be so stubborn when he started off as a reasonable character was a stretch. And then the bit where he got drunk on the job? Unrealistic with what we knew of the character.

In my opinion, Becky was a far better written character, even if she did initially start off a little bit whiny. But as a ten-year-old, that is a believable character trait. Her chapters were much more interesting to me, and I would have prefered more of them. But even that would not have saved the novel for me.

The plot as a whole had a lot of action, but I felt no tension build. Things moved so quickly there was barely any emotional resonance.

This is what I would call an epic adventure through different worlds. Starting from page 1 you are thrown in, quite confused, into a new world. In this new world pretty much anything you believe or can dream up can show up. Step in a teenager who doesn't believe in magic and a little girl who believes with her whole heart and you have a book.
I enjoyed the world building and the fact that this was not like any book I had read before. The fantasy and characters were unique but there were a lot of them to keep track of.

This book was beautifully written. It took a little bit for me to get into, but when I kept reading, it got better and better.

The description of this book sounded amazing, and I thought I would like it more than I did. The writing is simple, so it’s an easy read. Just not what I was hoping it would be.