As seen on my blog: http://bookdictivereviews.blogspot.com/ 
 Crewel is a great example of my bookshelf "luv like an ex boyfriend." 
 Let me explain real quick: You know when you really have moved on from a guy, but since he made some sort of impact in your life, whether good or bad, you still have SOME sort of feeling towards him. It's not love, but it's not exactly hate. That's what luv for an ex boyfriend is; that in between state of contempt and disapproval, where they have a shot at maybe being your friend but nothing more. If anything, they'll remain a distinct memory. Not necessarily a fond memory, but a distinct one nonetheless. 
 That is why I have placed Crewel on my "luv like an ex boyfriend" shelf. Crewel left an impression on me, but I can't tell if it's a good or a bad one. Which isn't good in itself, because my feelings towards a book are either this: 
 or this: 
 But I'm more so left thinking "what exactly did I just read?" If you happen to enter this crewel world of dystopia, YA love debacles [it's not a triangle if the reader isn't sure if you even like the other guy], and coming of powers/age/etc, you'll be left asking these questions: 
 "Why are all the Spinsters dressing up? Why do they give interviews? It's like a tribute from the Hunger Games during the opening ceremonies, except without the fighting...and the killing...and the badassery that should come with YA DYSTOPIA." 
 "Oh, this characters ISN'T a good character? Are you sure? Because you keep giving me reasons to think this is a good character, and now you're telling me there's something untrustworthy about them. Unless you've changed your mind again?" 
 "I'm just confused again." 
 Because confusion is what will be woven for you in Crewel. The premise is so cool at first that it earned automatic stars, but once I got past the weaving-is-important-to-Arras campaign, I was not so enchanted. Fancy dresses lack luster when the character talks about them more than actually wearing them. In fact, Adelice [would you call her Lice or Licey for short?!] spends part of the book holed up in her room, basically wearing sweats and drinking. Moaning about her life. Etc. Sounds familiar? That's because even though there is this sterile, dystopian setting around her that actually has a magical-ish element to it, the character is more concerned about how sucky her life is. 
 AND SHE BARELY DOES ANY WORK. The book is not only called Crewel, but the series is called Crewel World. And we learn what Creweling is--so where is it?? The amount of time spent Creweling and weaving is less than the time Adelice is eye-raped by Cormac. Cormac, of course, would be best served evil, except that he's a little overdone and never spent much time marinating. Same with Maela. The two evilest characters in the book fall short because they're thrown in so sporadically. At some point, Maela had a chance to be a bad bitch but her character got cut off. There were just so many things that seemed to have been thrown in last minute, and I think this premise perhaps went too beyond what it could have done. 
 ^^^^what I mean by this statement is that Crewel could have been far, far shorter. Shorter like The Giver, which had tons of impact and fewer words than Brave New World. Dystopia can be done long or short, and if you have an awesome idea, you can get away with 150-200 pages. That's what Crewel should have been. It's not for me to decide, but I know that I would have enjoyed it a lot more if the author had realized she couldn't/shouldn't stretch out this plot so much just to have filler, which ruined her pacing and the want to actually finish this book. 
 So I just feel all meh from Crewel. If I read the next book that comes out in the series [and it won't for awhile], I think I'll have to wait and read some of the reviews first. And by some I mean one or two, since most people seemed to give this 4-5 stars. meh meh meh