Teaser Thursday: Tris and Izzie by Mette Ivie Harrison

Title: Tris and Izzie
Author: Mette Ivie Harrison
Publisher: EgmontUSA (October 11, 2011)
Source: NetGalley

From GoodReads:

A modern retelling of the German fairy tale "Tristan and Isolde," Tris and Izzie is about a young witch named Izzie who is dating Mark King, the captain of the basketball team and thinks her life is going swimmingly well. Until -- she makes a love potion for her best friend Brangane and then ends up taking it herself accidentally, and falling in love with Tristan, the new guy at school.

When I picked up Tris and Izzie by Mette Ivie Harrison, I expected a good romance story. And I got one. Kind of. 

It's really hard for me to describe this book. Part of me really enjoyed it and part of me completely didn't. It's not a book I would recommend to everyone, but it's hard to say I didn't like it because it did keep me reading very quickly. 

Here's what I didn't like:

1.) It moved way too fast. I like fast paced and lots of action, but this was too much. I could easily follow the story, but there was no time for the characters to adjust to what was going on around them. Without time for them to process, the sequence of events seemed really unbelievable to me. For me, this would have been a lot better if there was time to breathe between the events.

2.) I wasn't a fan of the characters. Now, there's something to be said about working with unlikeable characters. Some stories can do this successfully. I didn't think this story did. There was almost no reason for me to like Izzie, I didn't understand her attraction to Tris (although he didn't seem like someone I should dislike either), and I went back and forth with how I felt about Branna. Mark was the only I liked from the start, but even he got to me at later points.

3.) There's not a whole lot of romance moments. Sure, there's romance in the sense that there's relationships, but there are no real swoonworthy moments. There's a few kisses, but they seemed to be brushed over. That's fine, except when I'm expecting romance. Then I need a bit more.

Here's what I did like:

1.) It was a nice, quick and easy read. Seriously, I read this book so fast. The quick pace did do things for me to be able to read it quickly (which is super helpful when your TBR list is as long as mine).

2.) I didn't know what to expect next. In a lot of ways, I found this story a bit strange, but that totally worked for my desire to not know exactly what's going to happen. The surprises kept coming, so I kept reading.

3.) Something about this book just compelled me to keep reading. Despite any other complaints I might have about this book, there is some undefinable quality that made me keep reading. I'm not afraid to set down a book I don't like (even though I hate to do so), but I never thought to do that with this one. 

Sooooo, even though I wouldn't recommend this book to everyone, I thought it was interesting enough that you should check it out if you're curious already. You should know pretty quick whether or not you'll be entertained by it. 

Overall rating:  If interested, borrow it.