Review
This contemporary YA
romance attempts to offer more than the average by taking the classic
line of having two completely incompatible teenagers fall in love,
with an additional critical complication. I felt that it was
derivative, and in that sense a poorer cousin of books like John
Green's The Fault in Our Stars. However, if you like that kind of
story you may well like this one.
The
story is good and engaging, the writing average to good. The
characterization was, for me, below average. Ciera is a good
character, if just a little sylized, but Topher is almost a
caricature rather than a character - and the biggest problem is that
there is no real explanation of why he changes his attitude. Even if
one were to attribute it to the power of love, this does not really
work because he begins to change his ways too soon. Another issue was
Topher's relationship with his girlfriend, which just did not ring
true. The opening sex scene seemed to be quite unnecessary to the
book. Final editing and language use seemed to be only average, and
below that at times.
In
spite of the fact that I liked the premise, this story did not
succeed in winning me over, but then I can be a fussy reader. This
review has focused on negatives, but I repeat: the story is good and
engaging, and the writing acceptable. I expect that many readers will
enjoy it.
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