Runes by Ednah Walters

"Seventeen-year-old Raine Cooper has enough on her plate dealing with her father’s disappearance, her mother’s erratic behavior and the possibility of her boyfriend relocating. The last thing she needs is Torin St. James—a mysterious new neighbor with a wicked smile and uncanny way of reading her." -Goodreads synopsis
This book has been popping up everywhere... Booktube, UK list, and was even recommended to me several times on Goodreads. However, I'm a little confused as to why this book has so much growing hype surrounding it. I have a lot of issues with Runes. This is a Frankenstein's monster version of Twilight, Lux, and The Mortal Instruments (very heavy on the Twilight). It's this freak creation that shouldn't have been brought to life.This review is going to be messy and unorganized, but I don't feel like putting that much effort into it. Here are some of my issues with this book...

Raine is a very unlikable character. She's suppose to be this reversed, athletic, bookworm, but everything she does contradict this. She's actually this vapid, controlling, irritating, shallow, and annoying shell of a human being with priorities that are so F'ed up. She's was also constantly using her best friend/boyfriend Eirik to make Torin jealous. She would throw herself on her boyfriend-make out with him- then look to make sure Torin saw it. That just shows what kind of person she really is! BARF!

So yeah, as you might have guessed, there is an awful mess of a love triangle going on. Raine the "good girl" would make out with one of them than walk away with the other!! LIKE WTF! Raine treats Eirik like trash, and uses him as a back burner boyfriend in case her and Torin don't end up being a thing. She is a flawed character! A MC being so flawed can make or break a story, and Raine's flaws broke it. My biggest issue with her however is this... You know how in Twilight Bella knows something is up with the Cullens, and starts to look into it and do research, and quickly figures out what is up... Well Raine isn't like that, she can't put two and two together! For someone who is sooooo book smart you think she would of I don't know PICKED UP A BOOK!! On to the guys. Eirik is a sweet boy, but that's where his qualities ends. He is naive, and basically walks around like a lost puppy dog. Torin, the mysterious bad boy with- the wicked grin, wicked eyes, wicked body, wicked hair, wicked wicked wicked. You know all the things Edward does in Twilight that are creepy yet somehow alluring, well Torin has those qualities too, but the author just decides to let them be creepy. She doesn't even try to make them appealing!

Oh and before I get to the plot I just wanna mention how NASTY her best friend is... making videos about the sexy boys in town and calling herself  "a male aficionado" or some BS like that! This happens in the first ten pages or so. I should have known then to put it down, but I keep trying to give this book a shot.

Okay, the plot... wow the plot is all over the place. I think when an author is writing they have to make you believe the unbelievable. This one massive crazy impossible idea is placed, than everything after it has to build up and make you believe that even though you know it can't be true that it still feels real... If that makes sense. Walters failed to make me believe. The ideas and events are so far out there! You can't just info dump, not give anything to back it up, and thinking covering it up with insta love will fix the problem! Let me give you an example that I think wont really ruin the story for you... So around the middle of this story Raine's friends take her to a nightclub (even thought they're underage they still somehow manage to get in- "guess Eirik took care of everything before we came"), then once in the nightclub the whole school manages to be there for a surprise birthday party for Raine. This is where things start really getting out there for me... there's a town blackout which turns into a giant club riot... yeah people start going insane!!! Fighting and trampling- the whole nine yards! One girl get trampled and Eirik "protect her" with his body, but still ends up in a comma or something. I just don't see things going down like this. One time I was shopping in Harris Teeter and the power went out because of a storm, and since the doors are the automatic kind we were all basically stuck in there till the power came back on. While I was there no one started rioting and freaking out. Everyone basically hung out for thirty minutes and chilled. No one started rioting, grabbing canned goods, and throwing flat screens through the glass Jumanji style. So I found it so hard to believe that things escalated that quickly and in that manor. This isn't a World War Z end of the world kind of event, it's just a power outage. I just... I just can't, and this is just one of the many unbelievable acts that happen.

Everything I dislike reading in Ya books is what made up Runes. I didn't like the characters, I couldn't stand the plot, the romance was lacking everything, and I'm just glad I didn't waste any money on purchasing this. I would say instead of picking up Runes to just re-read Twilight.

1/10 Stars 
-Angela