There's more to life than reading, but it's a good place to start

I finished this in one sitting, house sitting to be exact. Aside from feeding and walking the dog, and playing with some ultra cute (that's one level higher than super cute by the way ...) kitties, I have some time on my hands. So I'm powering on through!

False Memory was not on my reading list but it was lying right there on the coffee table, so I gave it a go. It was alright. I guess. 

The story goes that Miranda wakes up one day with no memory of who she is, where she's come from or what the hell is going on when she discovers she has the power to incite mass panic and fear in those around her. She goes on to discover she is a highly honed and trained superhero/weapon, part of a team called Roses. Miranda and the gang roam around and learn the truth (kinda) about what their true identity and purpose really is.

So my beef with the book is the emergence of the dreaded love triangle. Miranda is told that before she lost her memories she was the girlfriend of Noah, but upon wakening with her slate wiped clean she finds herself attracted to Peter. And with no past frame of reference she's unsure who to trust. Now, I cannot think of one single instance in my life where I have come up against a genuine love triangle situation. And yet, if you read a lot of YA it seems like such a common place occurrence, like girls are torn between two lovers every day of the damn week! The only vaguely love triangle-ish debacle I have any recollection of involved my ridiculous ex-room mate (yeah, that same one who I described in a previous post trashing my apartment and stealing from me. She was a real live-wire ..... ) and her very brief stint of dating two guys. But I wouldn't even go so far as to call that a love triangle. She was just greedy. Let's call a spade a spade here.

So why do authors so often feel the need to write this plot point in? To ramp up the tension? To add to the suspense? To create an intimate connection between reader and main characters? To convey emotion into the situation? There are other way to achieve these goals you know, without subjecting us to a bunch of sappy love scenes and simpering dialog. It really bugs me that this is such a standard relationship between the main characters. In my opinion, it's just boring. If I pick up a book touted as a tense, action thriller, I don't want to open it up to find boys' pouting lips, rippling muscles and a girl more obsessed with the guys fawning over her than the fact that the world is actually in danger of coming to an abrupt end any minute, between the pages.

However, despite my grumble about the character's relationships, False Memory in fact ain't half bad. It's alright.The writing takes a while to warm up and is a little blah in the beginning. I mean, it's fine. It's just kinda bland. It's well paced though, and I like the fact that the reader is dumped, along with Miranda straight into the action from page 1.

The plot twists are interesting enough. I think the problem I had was it was just all a bit too much. There was too much information, too many revelations. It became a bit exhausting after a while trying to hold onto the truth of the whole debacle in my head. I had to have a tea/cigarette break to regroup. I won't include any spoilers, but let's just say that what you thought was the truth, was the truth, but there was also another truth that while true, runs deeper than you thought and alongside that there is another truth that almost eclipses the first truth but all these truths are equally as important as every other truth. Yeah, it's kinda like that. Gives you the brain ache.

Onwards, to infinity and beyond!

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