My Summary:
April is sixteen and in her junior year of high school. Her parents have divorced and remarried. She lives with her Dad and her brother lives with her mother, in Paris. When her Dad decides to move to Ohio to take a new job, April can't stand to leave her boyfriend and "life". Her senior friend has room for her and her mom is away, a lot - well like always. How does she accomplish this? She lies. Her friend pretends to be the mom. Fake email accounts are involved. And it works. She moves in and her Dad moves away. Going from one questionable decision to the next, April tries to balance her life without adults around. What could possible go wrong?
My Thoughts:
3 stars - a good read
So this book is funny, unpredictable and well written. The characters are clearly acting like teenagers. While I didn't really get attached to any of them, they were well written. So why only 3 stars? Umm, well it's like this.
I started the book. I stopped the book. I read another book. I picked the book back up. I put the book back down. I read another book. I picked the book back up. I put the book back down. I read another book. Okay, you get the idea. But I couldn't really put my finger on what the problem was. Finally, I got it. It's contemporary fiction, right? Well, it's more like fantasy from my prospective. So many things that happened, I just didn't buy. I shook my head and went, right! I could make a list but I don't want to ruin it for anyone else. I just struggled with one thing after another. If it's contemporary, it ought to be realistic. It's like watching a movie about flying with a pilot who keeps ruining everything by pointing out that it could never happen like that. That's exactly how it was for me reading this book.
Beyond the not so real realism, the book was great. It's funny. The characters were interesting. The writing was good. I loved the ending. The author did a great job of tying everything together. I liked the resolutions to so many problems that are going on in the book. If you like YA fiction (can't really claim contemporary here), then this is a great choice.
Sarah Mlynowski | Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
I like this author, but she does tend toward the fantastical. Hey-- it was hard to read your whole review because there were buttons all over it that I couldn't click out of. May be my browser, but thought you should know.
ReplyDeleteI've been wondering about this book. I think I would have a problem w/the lack of realism. If I walk in knowing it's a fantasy, no problem. But if it's a contemporary, I don't want up be distracted by asking myself "How could they possibly do that?"
ReplyDeleteGreat review!
Forgot to mention, I didn't have any problems reading this review b/c of buttons.
ReplyDeleteI want to get to this book soon; mixed reviews? I love contemporary (you know that) so, I don't know. Also, no problems reading the post. Looks okay.
ReplyDelete- Mary [Anxirium]