Tris and Izzie by Mette Ivie Harrison

Title: Tris & Izzie
Author: Mette Ivie Harrison
Release Date: October 11th, 2011
Publisher: Egmount USA
Pages: 272
Format: Electronic Copy
Acquired: ARC; Netgalley
Age Group: Young Adult
Rating: 2 Stars

A modern retelling of the German fairytale "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

I have heard so much hype for this book. It's been all over the blogespher and people have it on their wish lists, and I was crazy excited when I got the opportunity to review this ahead of time. And of course with college, making time usually means having to stay up until three in the morning in order to read a book for fun.

But anyways, when I finally did get this book, even from the beginning this had been a great disappointment. In the beginning everything was going great, Mark and Izzie were all lovey dovey on each other and than all of a sudden she goes into her dad. I just think to myself, "What does this have anything to do?" I understand if the author would have placed this somewhere else, like when Izzie was at home or something, but putting that right in the middle of a Mark-Izzie moment was so random.

I felt like a lot of the book just had so many random moments, like the author was forcing the book to move forward. The character's were so flat, I felt like I was watching a bad soap opera. And then there's the whole love potion thing. I get it, this is a work of fiction, thus anything can happen, but when it comes to writing, even fantasy, there has to be some sense of reality. And then Mark goes from loving Izzie to being with her best friend like nothing happened. I was honestly expecting a lot more from them.

The character's moods change so rapidly, and I feel like there was no growth. They were very one dimensional, with no believable aspects to them.

I almost didn't finish this book. Now, I can't judge too harshly because I don't know the actual legend of Tristan and Isolde, but from what I could pick up here and there, I feel like the legend is for mature characters, which we didn't have here.

I gave this a two because this is one of those quick reads that you can have fun, because despite the fact that I keep bashing this book in, there were some fun moments, which should be taken into consideration, which tells me this author isn't lazy, that she was trying. And that's something that should be looked into.

Would I read this book again or even recommend it? I'm afraid not, but again, that's my own personal feelings towards it.