Category: Rated

colby?

Posted on by Greig

Along For The Ride

Sarah Dessen

along for the rideAuden is a brilliant student living with her academic mother in the wake of her parent’s divorce. She’s feeling out of sorts and lonely with her brother traveling abroad and all her friendships broken after a move to an elite prep school. She surprises herself by accepting an invitation to stay over summer with her dad, her stepmother and newborn half-sister in their seaside town.
The summer changes Auden’s life and opens her up to a whole new world of possibilities.
This YA novel is solidly written and succeeded in making me want to smack Auden’s parents heads together. Which means that it connected with me more than a lot of this teen/romance stuff I’ve been reading of late.
I would certainly recommend this if you’re into contemporary YA family relationship stories.

Rating: B

pizza?

Posted on by Greig

Will Work For Prom Dress

Aimee Ferris

will work for prom dressQuigley Johnson and her best friend Anne have a plan. They’re going to work every spare hour they have working to earn money for a truly great prom dress.
This particular YA novel is a predictable mix of teen romance and angst but it does have a dash of celebrity secrets to enliven one of the plots.
It’s a quick read and while there’s nothing awful about it the book just has nothing to recommend it.
If it sounds like your kind of thing and you have plenty of spare time to waste then go for it.

Rating: C

call?

Posted on by Greig

Charlie All Night

Jennifer Crusie

charlie all nightAllie is a radio producer. After her relationship with the morning show DJ ends he replaces her with a younger model as both girlfriend and show producer.
Allie freaks and tries to pick up the first presentable guy she spots in the bar next to the radio station. He turns out to be the new DJ for the late night show – which Allie is now asked to produce.
New in town and determined to move on in six weeks Charlie wants to lay low and not get involved in any commitments. Plans, of course, go awry.
This romance is good fun and particularly strong in terms of witty dialogue. Not unusually for a Jennifer Crusie book the plot is thin and the ending rather predictable but that’s a feature rather than a bug with this type of novel.

Rating: B

lipring?

Posted on by Greig

Keeping The Moon

Sarah Dessen

keeping the moonWhen Nicole “Colie” Sparks is farmed out to live with her Aunt in small town America for the summer by her weight loss guru mother she’s forced to look at life from a new perspective.
This YA novel is well written and features a very likeable lead character. Even though it’s a pretty entertaining read the story just seems stop rather than have an actual ending. I found this pretty annoying.
Still this does mean that it’s ripe for a follow-up with so many plot threads and character acts left hanging at the end.

Rating: B

worry?

Posted on by Greig

The Secret Diary Of Lizzie Bennet

Kate Rorick and Bernie Su

Secret diary of lizzie bennetAs I may have mentioned before (maybe more than once) I am a huge fan of the web series The Lizzie Bennet Diaries (just go watch – that link is a complete playlist) which is a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. So what we have here is a novelization of a web series based on a novel. By any rights this should be a heinous cash in on the success of the show but somehow it turns out to be an entertaining read and offers a behind the scenes perspective that doesn’t just flesh out events but puts a new spin on things. Obviously it’s definitely not in the same league as a piece of literature as Austen’s original work.
Rorick, who is the principal writer here, wrote for the show and that results in a good translation of the characters and their personalities to the printed page. (Bernie Su was the chief writer, showrunner and director for the series and such wrote much of the material)
Overall, while the book is fun and has a couple of great moments, it doesn’t spark fully into life and frankly in places it must be really confusing for anyone who hasn’t seen the webseries. Also some of the puns don’t work if you haven’t read Pride and Prejudice.
I missed Ashley Clements – her performance as Lizzie in the show was extraordinary – and something is lacking without her to bring it to life. I guess that means I’ll have to buy the audiobook to see if her narration can take the story to another level.
As a fan I’m glad I don’t feel let down by the book and I look forward to the discussion on twitter and tumblr about some of the revelations the book delivers. If I’m being honest I suspect this is a real fans-only affair.

Rating: B+

techno?

Posted on by Greig

Just Listen

Sarah Dessen

just listenThis is an enjoyable YA book. Annabel used to be the ‘girl who had everything’ – at least on the surface – popular at school, a model away from it. Then things go wrong and she finds herself isolated at school, sick of being a model and feeling trapped by her complicated family life. She finds escape with another school misfit called Owen, whose anger management issues and vehement interest in music brings out something new in her.
This book is about learning to be honest with yourself and facing your problems. Though it’s handled with a light touch by the author there is a lot of dark stuff going on beneath the surface.
This was an entertaining, speedy, read. It just wasn’t original, exciting or eloquent enough to be rated any higher.
Defintely recommended to fans of female led, contemporary young adult fiction. Whether it appeals to anyone else is another matter.

Rating: B

amulet?

Posted on by Greig

Twisted Sisters

Jen Lancaster

Twisted SistersReagan is a success. She’s put her private practice as a Psychologist on hold to be a counsellor on a reality TV show.
Everything should be wonderful, indeed that’s what she tells herself, but instead of being happy, she’s a mess. She’s resentful of her sisters, failing to handle a break up and under pressure from the TV network to improve people’s lives in a single three hour session.
This is when the plot jumps into being a body swap story.
This is not a very good book. The lead character is oblivious and self-centred, her actions are insane and while I’m sure it’s meant to be funny most of the time it just never sparks into life.

Rating: C

denver?

Posted on by Greig

Fake Marrieds Meme

Waking Up Married

Mira Lyn Kelly

Waking Up MarriedMegan, in Las Vegas for a wedding gets drunk to deal with teasing over her decision to try artificial insemination. She wakes up the next morning with no memory, a terrible hangover and a new husband.
This new husband is looking for committed marriage without love and is very keen to stay married.
The rest of the book follows them after she agrees to a three month trial marriage.
This is easily the worst of these “fake married” novel(la)s.
The characters are selfish assholes or just plain jerks. The storyline runs on rails made of pure cliche and the dialogue – which aims for witty repartee – is excruciating and wooden.
In fact this one is so bad I’m instituting a new lowest rank just for it…

Rating: D

astronaut?

Posted on by Greig

Fake Marrieds Meme

I Married A Billionaire

Melanie Marchande

I Married A BillionaireA graphic designer with crushing debt agrees to marry her Billionaire boss so he can stay in the country.
She’s introduced to the high life and their whirlwind fake romance turns all to real for her.
After the wedding the story takes a strange diversion into mild BDSM as her new husband seems to run hot and cold for her.
The plot ends with the predictable admission that the ‘fake marrieds’ are actually in love with each other.
This is basically blooming awful.
I’ve read many better stories using this meme in fan fiction.

Rating: C-

masked?

Posted on by Greig

Fake Marrieds Meme

Married By Mistake

Abby Gaines

Married By MistakeSometimes Casey Greene has bad ideas.
Deciding to take part in a wedding reality show as a way to force your fiance to finally marry you is a bad idea.
Not checking that the fake marriage you agree to to save face after being jilted is actually a fake marriage is a really bad idea.
Finding herself married to an embattled TV exec and unable to annull until a Judge can look at the case she agrees to a pretend to be a happy couple to save face in his boardroom battles.
On the plus side she can escape from her needy and dependent family.
This is a Harlequin romance and it never rises above the level of mediocrity both in prose and plotting though I must admit to quite liking Casey.

Rating: C