Rating: ☆☆☆ Stars
Shelve: 3 Star Kingdom
Genre: YA Contemporary
*Spoiler FREE*
The title is what instantly grabbed my attention. It was so unassuming & bold. A majority of publishing houses would demand it be shortened-As Short & Striking is essentially what motivates the Catchy Snatchy philosophy. So this indie published debut has defied the very fundamentals of marketing & Yet,
I was instantly interested & simply charmed by it’s rebellion.
Unfortunately,That quirky,organic feel that resonated off the visual cover,Did not transcend to the content.
Don’t get me wrong,This is not a terrible book by any means,In fact,it’s quite lovely really.
To draw a rough portrayal of our premise,Imagine a typical southern small-town. That’s where my description would cease. Abrupt,Is n’t it? Reading being such a visual process,That the writing has to be descriptive enough. The initial allure that the title & synopsis present,only lasts past the prologue-By which one should get a vague sense of the visual world,& their senses should be stung-If not quite yet entrapped & intrigued. This is a vital building block to constructing the portal-if you may, through which we readers will be diving into this alternative reality,Into this alternative psyche.
I lay in this abyss of disconnected observance. I had no feel of the ambience,I was not entranced,I did not feel present.
That being said,I can condone this literary blunder,Because for all intents & purposes,This book does aim at a target audience. When your view is concentrated largely to simply the world of HighSchool-Geographical sketches,Variation in family dynamics & Descriptive analysis do not necessarily concern you.
I do truly believe I would have giggled along & grinned my way though this,Had I been 11 years old again. Whilst this story is not precisely appropriate for one so young (Due to mildly sexual scenes & implication of premarital sex), It is honestly perhaps more entertaining to that who is prepubescent.
I was simply not intrigued by the achingly cookie-cutter characters,
We have our bubbly,effortlessly resplendent cheerleader,Courtney,Who on a deeper dig,Is in fact endearingly geeky & struggles with the anxiety of growing comfortable in her own skin. I did like her.
Though my favourite character was Luke,The affable jock. He was quite endearing in his simplicity of intent,That guy who is on the surface a bit of a douche,But there’s no malice to him whatsoever.
Luke,Who is Vanessa’s boyfriend. Vanessa being the fashion conscious,extroverted,snarky best friend to our protagonist.
Finally,There’s Fisher. Ethan Fisher. The “Fisher” of the ladies,The hot new guy. Ofcourse he’s the rising star in his own Alternative Rock band,& his wild heart was instantly enamoured upon glancing upon our protagonist Courtney.
Oh,Don’t fret,
It’s all spun into action so impeccably,You probably won’t care about the technicalities.
I cannot fault the writing,there is nothing glaringly offending about it. About this entire story as an entirety. It’s a pleasant story. A swoon worthy-if typical-summer romance.
Negatives:
- Non-Satisfactory Build-Up
- Initial Dialogue could use a review
- Lack of suspense to the plot progression
- Lack of supplementary character insight
Positives
- Smooth deliverance of a Summer Romance
- Relatable & Realistic portrayal of the average american teenager
- 90’s film worthy romantic interest
- Likeable Characters
- DIY Crafty gift giving
- #SquadGoals
- Donuts 😛
PS: I received an ARC from the author (Affiliated via Polyethnic Taurus ) in return for a honest review.
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