Towering (Kendra Chronicles #3)

Author: Alex Flinn
Goodreads Rating: 3.69
Pages: 304
Format: ARC from YA Book Exchange

At first, I merely saw his face, his hands on the window ledge. Then, his whole body as he swung himself through the window. Only I could not see what he swung on.Until, one day, I told my dream self to look down. And it was then that I saw. He had climbed on a rope. I knew without asking that the rope had been one of my own tying.
Rachel is trapped in a tower, held hostage by a woman she’s always called Mama. Her golden hair is growing rapidly, and to pass the time, she watches the snow fall and sings songs from her childhood, hoping someone, anyone, will hear her. 
Wyatt needs time to reflect or, better yet, forget about what happened to his best friend, Tyler. That’s why he’s been shipped off to the Adirondacks in the dead of winter to live with the oldest lady in town. Either that, or no one he knows ever wants to see him again.
Dani disappeared seventeen years ago without a trace, but she left behind a journal that’s never been read, not even by her overbearing mother…until now. 
A #1 New York Times bestselling author, Alex Flinn knows her fairy tales, and Towering is her most mind-bending interpretation yet. Dark and mysterious, this reimagining of Rapunzel will have readers on the edge of their seats wondering where Alex will take them next!

 Okay, where to start on this book. I had enjoyed Bewitching when I read it for the First Reads program, it wasn’t fab, but it was pretty  dece. And then I saw that’s she was doing a retelling of Rapunzel, and that is something that my mom loves, and that I wanted to get for her, and I figured I would enjoy it as well. I was so off on that count, it was almost painful. I was kinda ambivalent towards the book as I started it because the writing didn’t seem to improve, it still seemed juvenile and simplistic, but I wanted to keep going because there was a really great mystery about missing kids that I was like I can read 100 more pages to find out what is going on.

I almost wish that I hadn’t kept going. There were just so many flaws in the characterization that may be because it is geared towards a slightly younger crowd. Let’s start with the basic plot elements and go from there.

Characterization: Was okay, I didn’t like Rachel because even though she living a tower, she spoke in such a strange manner which was fine, because it was oddly formal, and maybe if all she had were books, then maybe I could see it, but she had contact with Mama who by no means spoke like she lived in 18^th Century England. I can understand this feeling that I got that she was out of touch with reality, after all, she lived in a tower with no one to talk to except her crazy Mama. I felt that Wyatt was the most logical of everyone in this story, or at least the most realistic-ish because no one in this story was very realistic. At all. I felt bad for Wyatt as he dealt with the consequences of his actions and he tried to make up for them by saving Rachel.

Setting: Alright, nothing to really be said about this, although how an old woman built a giant tower and no one found it, went unexplained, fine, I’ll roll with it though. I did get a little annoyed at how the author made it seem like snow was a foreign concept to Wyatt. He was from Long Island, not the Sahara Desert, it snows all over NYS, just ask Nemo how much ground he covered.

Plot: Okay, this is where the book redeemed itself, but then lost me again. I kept reading because there were these little mysteries about who Rachel’s mother was and where she came from. And then there were all these missing people in town and no one seemed to care, and lastly something happened to Wyatts best friend, and we have no idea what it was. And I want to know so bad. All of those questions get answered, but I think I was unsatisfied that it was so, plain, it was a strange twist on this really common thing and while it wasn’t all bad it just seemed like Flinn had all this build up and said “Crap, I need an explanation.”

In the end what really killed this book for me was the instalove. and it wasn't just insta love it was "I just met you and this is crazy, but I love you so call me maybe?" And I just couldn't handle it. Like at all. I wanted to grab their heads and knock them together and tell them that they were being dumb, I totally get that they were hearing eachothers voices in their heads, but that doesn't mean that you're doing this whole love at first sight thing. Ugh. That is my biggest reading pet peeve. Especially when its as extreme in this book.

I had a subpar expectation for this book, but it still failed to meet my expectation. I think this book also put the nail in the coffin for any more of Flinns books for me.

The Courts Decision: