All You Never Wanted: Review

Title: All You Never Wanted
Author: Adele Griffin
Release Date: October 2012
Published By: Knopf Readers
Pages: 240
Goodreads Rating: 3.25 stars

Review: Alex has it all—brains, beauty, popularity, and a dangerously hot boyfriend. Her little sister Thea wants it all too, and she's stepped up her game to get it. But she'll stop at nothing to get what she wants, no matter the cost. Even if it means spinning the truth to win the attention she deserves. Even if it means uncovering a shocking secret her older sister never wanted to share. Even if it means crying wolf.

ALL YOU NEVER WANTED is a dark contemporary novel that unfolds some very gritty issues. Each of the characters struggle with their own obstacles, and I liked seeing their individual lives mesh together into a painfully honest story. It can be hard to write an "issues book" well without coming across as too sappy or exaggerated, but Adele Griffin pulled this off with the same skill I've seen in her previous novels.

Perhaps the most notable aspect of this book is the fact that it's told through alternating perspectives, which can be a tricky thing to write. Sometimes authors use it when it's not really necessary, but luckily, this was not the case here. The alternating chapters lent insight into both characters, providing deeper looks into what made them tick and how they were grappling with the issues at hand.

However, not every part of this story was perfect, and one part that rather bothered me was the ending. The book was building and building up, and then I felt like the ending didn't truly resolve everything. It wasn't as summative as it could have been and didn't address all that it could have - or as I felt, should have. If the ending had instead covered more (not necessarily everything), I would have finished with a better feeling about it.

All in all, ALL YOU NEVER WANTED is nearly all you've ever wanted (the pun was impossible to resist). From its sensitive but bold handling of difficult issues to the well-written alternating viewpoints, the beginning and middle of this book will keep you thoroughly absorbed in the story. I did wish for a better ending, which was the main part that disappointed me, but other than that, I would recommend this to any fans of contemporary.
 

The Julian Game: Review

Title: The Julian Game
Author: Adele Griffin
Release Date: August 2010
Published By: Putnam Juvenile
Genre: Contemporary
Pages: 200 pages
Goodreads Rating: 3.41 stars

Review: Raye is far from popular, as the new scholarship girl, and spends her Friday nights watching sci-fi movies with her friend, Natalya. One night they decide to create a fake Facebook profile for "Elizabeth" and use her to talk to all the boys they're too afraid to approach as themselves. While it wasn't as successful as they hoped, Elizabeth and the extremely popular, extremely hot Julian become friends. But then the queen bee of the school, Ella, learns about Elizabeth and wants to use the fake profile to exact revenge on Julian, her ex. However, things don't stay innocent for long, and as the situation escalates, Raye is forced to question: how far is she willing to go to be with the "in" crowd?

THE JULIAN GAME had its ups and downs. The beginning of the book sucked me in quickly and for a while, I was deeply engrossed in the story. Cyber-bullying, privacy, and other Internet-related issues are hot topics in today's society, so I felt like this book had a lot of potential to be a relevant and relatable read. However, as I progressed to the middle and end, my enjoyment ebbed as I grew increasingly frustrated with the characters, especially Raye.

Raye's a smart girl - after all, she is the only scholarship student in the grade. And yet she was unable to see the most obvious things. Ella was clearly manipulating her but Raye continued to do as she requested and ditched Natalya. I wanted to be able to get into her head in order to understand the decisions she made and figure out why she was so willing to overlook how obviously unstable Ella was (her OCD tendencies were way more than just tendencies), but I simply couldn't. Her inability to see Julian as the jerk and player he was bothered me as well.

Henry and Natalya were the saving graces of this book. Both were original and seemed like people I would want to get to know in real life, but they weren't featured as much as I hoped they would be. In fact, we rarely get to see them, which made Raye's developing romance with Henry fall flat for me.

I did like THE JULIAN GAME. It had an intriguing concept and while it was well executed, I had higher expectations. I so wanted to adore this book, but I came away disappointed. Towards the end, I felt a little unsettled because there didn't really seem to be much of a resolution. It was like there was something missing. But while I didn't fall in love with it, this is still a good, fast-paced book for those who want a quick read as well as anyone who's intrigued by novels dealing with social networking.

Cover Love (2)

Let's have some cover love for...

The Julian Game by Adele Griffin!

There are so many elements of this cover to discuss, but I'll start with the background. The black and white tiles seem to be very simple, but they actually add a lot to the cover. Those kinds of tiles can mean anything, but to me, they seem rather ominous and creepy, emphasized by how they fade into black at the edges.

The model, of course, is fantastic as well. Her shirt makes her look a lot like she's wearing a school uniform, but then you see her awesome light blue hair and that makes you realize that she's probably not the stereotypical preppy girl. I love the bright green latex gloves she's pulling on, because this is such a perfect way to show that the girl's up to something. It was smart of the designers to make them such a bright color too, because that makes them really stand out!

The title was very clever, too. It's clearly modeled after the Facebook logo, and I love love love that it covers her eyes and thus her identity. It says so much about the book, which is excellent in a cover. The author's name placement is good as well, in a prime location to be seen without taking up half the cover. The only I don't like is the red "Play or get played" at the very top - it's kind of distracting and I don't really like the use of the color red in a cover that otherwise doesn't use warm colors.

So, there you have it! What do you think of this cover?