All These Things I've Done (Birthright #1)
User reviews
3 reviews
Overall rating
4.1
Plot
4.0(3)
Characters
4.3(3)
Writing Style
4.0(3)
Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)
N/A(0)
Already have an account? Log in now or Create an account
3 results - showing 1 - 3
Ordering
The novelty wears off fast.
Overall rating
3.0
Plot
N/A
Characters
N/A
Writing Style
N/A
Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)
N/A
The world Zevin creates is a bit dark but entirely possible. Everyday things we take for granted, such as coffee, chocolate and paper, are illegal. Many other things are strictly rationed: water, candles, fruit. You even need government issued vouchers for ice cream! Not to mention, eight-year olds mug you at gunpoint. However, none of that really matters, and we don’t get to see much of what is going on in this new government regime, because everything revolves around the main character.
Anya is 16, a good Catholic, and seriously full of angst! Within the first chapter she goes to a speakeasy (serving coffee), takes some chocolate from the family stash (which her bastard boyfriend swipes), covers her ex-boyfriend with piping hot lasagna, and steals a gun. Her family is also in the mafia, which is what the story mainly focuses on. Anya gets arrested for allegedly poisoning her ex-boyfriend with tainted chocolate. I actually was enjoying the story at that point even though crime dramas aren’t my thing.
But as soon as things were getting really interesting and gritty at the juvenile detention center, she gets released and cleared of all charges. This was less than half way into the book, so I had no clue what to expect in the coming pages. I think continuing her accusations and trial would have made a great story, since we’d get more peeks into how the new legal system is, but nope. The plot jumped right back to the illegal chocolate which was losing it’s novelty fast, especially when lines like “I must get to the bottom of this matter with the chocolate…” started popping up.
If the timeline had been condensed to just Anya’s detainment and trial, this could have been a really great read. It would have given us more insight into how this new world is working, and all of the corruption caused by the chocolate black market. Instead it feels like we’re getting a few, small, isolated plots: Anya falsely accused for attempted murder, then almost immediately released. Then it jumps into her secret romance, which a few pages later is no longer secret, and it’s like the chocolate conspiracy never happened. Then her romance gets dropped because Grandma dies and Anya and her little sister are left in the care of their older brother Leo. Now this could have also been really interesting, since despite being 19, an accident left Leo with the intellect of an 8-year old, making their situation very sensitive.
Unfortunately, that gets set aside because now Anya is being told she must step up and head her mafia family and run the chocolate business! Then…you guessed it, that gets dropped and the focus goes back to Leo. Each event is completely separate from everything else, and when one new situation appears, it’s like everything else never happened. That really frustrated me, but despite all of that, I was intrigued. I don’t know if I care enough to continue the series though.
The shelving of this book is also bit misleading. Dystopian? Not so much, unless not getting your morning coffee equals the end of the world. You wouldn’t call a book set during Prohibition Dystopian, and this is just like that. Mafia crime drama with chocolate on top? Definitely. Honestly, if the blurb had been the same but without the mentions of illegal coffee and chocolate, I wouldn’t have bothered picking this one up.
Anya is 16, a good Catholic, and seriously full of angst! Within the first chapter she goes to a speakeasy (serving coffee), takes some chocolate from the family stash (which her bastard boyfriend swipes), covers her ex-boyfriend with piping hot lasagna, and steals a gun. Her family is also in the mafia, which is what the story mainly focuses on. Anya gets arrested for allegedly poisoning her ex-boyfriend with tainted chocolate. I actually was enjoying the story at that point even though crime dramas aren’t my thing.
But as soon as things were getting really interesting and gritty at the juvenile detention center, she gets released and cleared of all charges. This was less than half way into the book, so I had no clue what to expect in the coming pages. I think continuing her accusations and trial would have made a great story, since we’d get more peeks into how the new legal system is, but nope. The plot jumped right back to the illegal chocolate which was losing it’s novelty fast, especially when lines like “I must get to the bottom of this matter with the chocolate…” started popping up.
If the timeline had been condensed to just Anya’s detainment and trial, this could have been a really great read. It would have given us more insight into how this new world is working, and all of the corruption caused by the chocolate black market. Instead it feels like we’re getting a few, small, isolated plots: Anya falsely accused for attempted murder, then almost immediately released. Then it jumps into her secret romance, which a few pages later is no longer secret, and it’s like the chocolate conspiracy never happened. Then her romance gets dropped because Grandma dies and Anya and her little sister are left in the care of their older brother Leo. Now this could have also been really interesting, since despite being 19, an accident left Leo with the intellect of an 8-year old, making their situation very sensitive.
Unfortunately, that gets set aside because now Anya is being told she must step up and head her mafia family and run the chocolate business! Then…you guessed it, that gets dropped and the focus goes back to Leo. Each event is completely separate from everything else, and when one new situation appears, it’s like everything else never happened. That really frustrated me, but despite all of that, I was intrigued. I don’t know if I care enough to continue the series though.
The shelving of this book is also bit misleading. Dystopian? Not so much, unless not getting your morning coffee equals the end of the world. You wouldn’t call a book set during Prohibition Dystopian, and this is just like that. Mafia crime drama with chocolate on top? Definitely. Honestly, if the blurb had been the same but without the mentions of illegal coffee and chocolate, I wouldn’t have bothered picking this one up.
Missed 5 stars by a teensy weesy bit!!!
Overall rating
4.3
Plot
N/A
Characters
N/A
Writing Style
N/A
Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)
N/A
I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT I PUT THIS BOOK ON HOLD FOR SOOO LONG!Curse you review copies and schoolwork!:@This book deserves to be worshipped!I mean,a YA novel involving a girl of a mafia family?Now that's total awesomeness!Helloooo authors!Those who are too busy writing vampire novels!You do realize that it's time for a change,right?Instead of looking upon Stephanie Meyer as your role model,look upon Gabrielle Zevin instead!Miss Zevin,may I ask how you were able to come up with such a fascinating plot?I'm speechless!Though I would like to see a bit more action in the second book.It's about a mafia godfather's daughter,for god's sake!It's supposed to be all badass and everything!
But anyways,awesome book!!!Those who have kept this waiting are either really unfortunate or just plain stupid.This book is definitely worth your time!
But anyways,awesome book!!!Those who have kept this waiting are either really unfortunate or just plain stupid.This book is definitely worth your time!
No CHOCOLATE?!!! OR CAFFINE!?
Overall rating
5.0
Plot
N/A
Characters
N/A
Writing Style
N/A
Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)
N/A
Love the concept!
Good Points
** spoiler alert **
Wow what can I say about this book? It made me laugh, cry. During the whole book I was going back and forth between being happy and sad oh it was crazy. But I gave this book 5 stars because I thought it was absolutely brilliant. Gabrielle Zevin did an amazing job writing this, and in result I cannot wait to read some of her other books. So now on to the book.
The characters my favorite character was Win. Now I know what your thinking "What?! what about Annie?" Yes she was right up there with there with Win because of how strong and what a good guardian she was but Win because he was the good guy right from the start. He was always there for Annie even when she wasn't so nice to him herself. He didn't care what his father thought of them he just knew that he loved her and he wanted to be with her. Which in my book that’s so sweet. If I were to vote on favorite couples I would so vote for them and I’m still sad that Annie had to leave him in the end. I really hope that they get back together in the end because they were a really cute couple.
Now on to other things. I really like Leo & Natty's characters they were like my dream brother and sister even though Leo has problems. I'm the kind of person who would have been able to handle him and a younger sister. They were such good Leo might of had a little bit of a problem but he still had a good heart, and he was still there for his two sisters. But near the end I was so confused when I found out Leo shot someone I was like "What?! Leo couldn't have done that" But he did, I’m glad Annie was able to get him out of the country safely because he really did shoot his uncle for good reason even though his good reason was mislead. I hope that we get to see more of Leo in the next few weeks.
Scarlet and Annie’s relationship was a really good friendship and I really liked scarlet until she decided to date Gable. I mean she broke the girl code for one. Then when Annie told her Gable tried to pressure her for sex Scar had the audacity to say "He told me everything and you misunderstood." I mean really? come on now. If I told my friend that this guy tried to pressure me for sex and spread rumors and she went and dated him? Yeah that'd be it for the friendship. I guess Annie was a little bit more forgiving then me though.
So my last thoughts are that I hope that Annie and Win can get back together and be together because I loved them as a couple. My second last thought is I really hope we see more of Leo because he was an awesome character. I thought he was so cute just the things he said but yeah I hope to see more of him in the future! What do you think?
Wow what can I say about this book? It made me laugh, cry. During the whole book I was going back and forth between being happy and sad oh it was crazy. But I gave this book 5 stars because I thought it was absolutely brilliant. Gabrielle Zevin did an amazing job writing this, and in result I cannot wait to read some of her other books. So now on to the book.
The characters my favorite character was Win. Now I know what your thinking "What?! what about Annie?" Yes she was right up there with there with Win because of how strong and what a good guardian she was but Win because he was the good guy right from the start. He was always there for Annie even when she wasn't so nice to him herself. He didn't care what his father thought of them he just knew that he loved her and he wanted to be with her. Which in my book that’s so sweet. If I were to vote on favorite couples I would so vote for them and I’m still sad that Annie had to leave him in the end. I really hope that they get back together in the end because they were a really cute couple.
Now on to other things. I really like Leo & Natty's characters they were like my dream brother and sister even though Leo has problems. I'm the kind of person who would have been able to handle him and a younger sister. They were such good Leo might of had a little bit of a problem but he still had a good heart, and he was still there for his two sisters. But near the end I was so confused when I found out Leo shot someone I was like "What?! Leo couldn't have done that" But he did, I’m glad Annie was able to get him out of the country safely because he really did shoot his uncle for good reason even though his good reason was mislead. I hope that we get to see more of Leo in the next few weeks.
Scarlet and Annie’s relationship was a really good friendship and I really liked scarlet until she decided to date Gable. I mean she broke the girl code for one. Then when Annie told her Gable tried to pressure her for sex Scar had the audacity to say "He told me everything and you misunderstood." I mean really? come on now. If I told my friend that this guy tried to pressure me for sex and spread rumors and she went and dated him? Yeah that'd be it for the friendship. I guess Annie was a little bit more forgiving then me though.
So my last thoughts are that I hope that Annie and Win can get back together and be together because I loved them as a couple. My second last thought is I really hope we see more of Leo because he was an awesome character. I thought he was so cute just the things he said but yeah I hope to see more of him in the future! What do you think?
3 results - showing 1 - 3
Latest Additions
GET A YABC BUTTON!
We have all sorts of YABC buttons for your website. Grab one here and link to YABC!