DNF REVIEW: Mila 2.0 by Debra Driza

Title: Mila 2.0 (Mila 2.0 #1)
Author: Debra Driza
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction.
Publication Date: March 12th 2013
Publisher: Harper Collins
Format: Paperback
Pages: 470
Rating: 1/5

Pitched as a "Bourne Identity"-type sci-fi thriller about a teenage girl who discovers that she is a Mobile Intel Life-like Android, an experiment in artificial intelligence created by the U.S. government, and her scientist mother, who kidnapped her when she was found to have human emotions.

I’m not in the habit of DNFing books. I can generally tell whether a book is going to be for me or not from the synopsis. Sometimes though, I get it wrong.

I can remember the day I bought this. It was on the shelf at Readings (one of my favourite bookstores) and it was reasonably cheap for Australia — about $14. I’d never heard of it before I picked it up that day, but it sounded like a good Sci Fi so I bought it.

It sat on my shelves for probably about two years, and then I decided I read it for Round 5 of RYBSAT. I should have known when I picked this up and wasn’t excited to read it at all that it probably wasn’t a good sign, but I ignored that.

Anyway, enough story time let’s talk about why I DNFed this. For those of you who don’t know, the basic premise of this story is that Mila is a cyborg (and I checked Goodreads and every review mentioned this so I don’t think that’s a spoiler). Cyborgs are cool though right? I mean, Cinder.  Apparently cyborgs belong in the same category as dragons for me, which is the ‘only if it’s done really super well’ category.

The thing that gets me the most is that I read chapter one and I thought it sounded great. I was interested in where it was going, and then I read chapter two. Suddenly it was like every other YA ever. Let me break it down for you, in chapter two Mila and her friends are in this café/diner/thing. We have Kaylee, Mila’s best friend, who is a bubbly, (far too) energetic, sort of ditzy girl. Then we have Ella, one of those characters who I like to describe as the ‘Peter Pettigrew in fanfiction’ characters — basically they serve no purpose other than just to be that fourth friend. Finally, we have Parker, the stereotypical mean girl who lives to make Mila’s life a living hell, but somehow they’re friends? Anyway, Mila is being all distant and spacey, thinking about the memory loss she’s suffering from when a boy walks in, naturally he’s new to town, incredibly hot, named Hunter and Mila is weird in front of him. Have you read this before? Because I know I have.

I kept going. I read chapter three, in which Hunter turns up at Mila’s school. Chapter four, in which she and Hunter flirt, share number and then Kaylee (her best friend, remember?) yells at her for talking to Hunter because that’s a totally normal thing to do. #friendshipgoals

I skim read up to page 100 but I just couldn’t push any further. I know quite a lot of people love this, and I really wish I did but it was just too generic for me. I’m sorry!

DNF REVIEW: You're the Kind of Girl I Write Songs About by Daniel Herborn

Title: You're the Kind of Girl I Write Songs About

Author: Daniel Herborn

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary.

Publication Date: May 1st 2015

Publisher: HarperCollins

Format: Paperback

Pages: 336

Rating: 2/5

Tim’s a young singer-songwriter with a guitar case full of songs and dreams of finding an audience to embrace his tunes.  

Mandy’s obsessed with music and a compulsive dreamer. She’s longing for something more fulfilling than daytime TV and cups of tea with best friend Alice, something like the excitement and passion of rock ’n’ roll.

When their eyes meet at a gig, sparks fly across a crowded room and hope burns in their hearts.

But in a city of millions and a scene overrun with wannabes, can they ever get it together? Will Mandy’s nerves doom their romance before it even starts? And where does the darkness in Tim's songs come from?

This is a story of Sydney's Inner West, of first love, crush bands and mix tapes; of the thrill of the night and what happens when the music stops.


Set in the cafes pubs and dives of Sydney's Inner West YOU'RE THE KIND OF GIRL I WRITE SONGS ABOUT is a ballad to that time of your life when you are trying to work out who you are, what it is you want and what will it take to get you there.

You’re the Kind of Girl I Write Songs About was one of my most anticipated releases this year — so what went wrong?

I know the few people that have rated this on Goodreads have given it pretty high rating which is the only reason I made it to page 107 at all. I’m mentioning this book, like with every book, everyone is going to have a different opinion — this is mine. 

Music books are difficult to read in my opinion. Everyone listens to different bands, different albums, different genres and sometimes the music just don’t click for you. This was the case for me with this book. I hadn’t heard of a lot of the music, except for The Smiths (which felt a little too Perks for me) and the few lyrics that were in what I read weren’t my kind of thing at all. I’m not saying the music isn’t good, but I just found it hard to read about what I wasn’t into.

On that note about Perks, I felt like this was trying a little too hard to be like that. Not only with the music, but the writing and just the general feel of it too. It was trying very hard to be that sort of weird, depressing but beautiful thing that, if you ask me, only the Perks movie manages to pull off. I know the reviews I saw really liked the writing, but it just annoyed me. 

So yes, unfortunately this wasn’t my kind of thing.