There's no cover available yet, but I can't wait for A Midsummer's Nightmare by Kody Keplinger because hello, it's Kody Keplinger! Here's what Goodreads has to say:
Whitley Johnson's dream
summer with her divorce dad has turned into a nightmare. She's just met
his new fiancee and her kids. The fiancee's son? Whitley's one-night
stand from graduation night. Just freakin' great.
Worse, she totally doesn't fit in with her dad's perfect new
country-club family. So Whitley acts out. She parties. Hard. So hard she
doesn't even notice the good things right under her nose: a sweet
little future stepsister who is just about the only person she's ever
liked, a best friend (even though Whitley swears she doesn't "do"
friends), and a smoking-hot guy who isn't her stepbrother...at least,
not yet. It will take all three of them to help Whitley get through her
anger and begin to put the pieces of her family together.
Filled with authenticity and raw emotion, Whitley is Kody
Keplinger's most compelling character to date: a cynical Holden
Caulfield-esque girl you will wholly care about.
A Midsummer's Nightmare releases June 2012 from Poppy. What do you think of this book? What are you waiting on this Wednesday?
Showing posts with label kody keplinger. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kody keplinger. Show all posts
Shut Out: Review
Title: Shut Out
Author: Kody Keplinger
Release Date: September 2011
Published By: Poppy
Pages: 273
Goodreads Rating: 3.79 stars
Goodreads Rating: 3.79 stars
Review: Lissa is sick of the rivalry between her school's football and soccer teams, especially because Randy, the quarterback and her boyfriend, always chooses to fight and do stupid things over her. She decides to take matters into her own hands by getting all the other players' girlfriends to withhold sex until the teams make peace. But what ensues is an all out boys-vs-girls war, with one element Lissa could never have expected: the leader of the boys, Cash Sterling.
I was a big fan of the author's first novel, The DUFF, and so I built up high expectations for this one, and that may be why I was mostly disappointed with SHUT OUT. Honestly, I liked it and overall I enjoyed reading it, but it wasn't as good as I hoped it would be and there were definitely some flaws I found in it.
One of these aspects that bothered me was the character development. Lissa started off fairly relatable and likeable, but as time went on, I became irritated with her obsession with winning the war at all costs. It felt over-the-top dramatic, and her blindness towards how bad of a boyfriend Randy was made me want to shake her at points.
As for Cash, I don't have anything specific against him, and that's partly where the problem lies. He was a decent love interest despite his made-for-romance name, but I felt like I just never got to know him and what he was like. He definitely had a personality and didn't feel like a one-dimensional character, but it seemed like there were sides of him we didn't get to see.
The themes on the other hand were very fleshed out, and perhaps too much. I'm all for learning about sex in a healthy way, and I agree with the lessons Keplinger showed through the novel, but many of them felt basic and a bit repetitive, covering all the bases (e.g. it's okay to have lots of sex, it's okay to have no sex, it's okay to like it, it's okay not to, etc.). Most likely, I found these lessons a little tedious because I already know them.
I do want to emphasize again that I did like this book. There were some characterization quibbles and I felt the theme bordered on preachy, but the plot itself was engrossing and there were many parts where I had difficulty putting down the novel. I would still recommend SHUT OUT to fans of the author's first novel as well as to younger readers who have had little exposure to this sort of topic.
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I received a free copy of this book from the publisher for review. This in no way affected my review.
The Duff: Review
But things aren't so great at home right now. Desperate for a distraction, Bianca ends up kissing Wesley. And likes it. Eager for escape, she throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with Wesley.
Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out that Wesley isn't such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she's falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.
Details: The Duff by Kody Keplinger, 288 pages, 4.04 stars on Goodreads
Why I Picked This Up: I knew I wanted this the first time I laid eyes on the cover. I knew I wanted it even more when I read the synopsis. And I knew I absolutely, one-hundred-percent had to have it when I saw it wasn't going to come out for, like, a million years. It didn't help that I've probably read at least six thousand reviews of this book since then, each and every one glowing. But finally - finally! - I got my hands on this one.
Characters: Bianca is absolutely amazing. She's sarcastic, cynical, drenched with wit, and one hundred percent honest. She seems like, by all rights, she should be a jerk, but she's not because she's also loyal and cares about her friends. And while she is definitely strong, she's also insecure, just like pretty much every teen girl out there. She's always felt less pretty, less skinny than her gorgeous friends, but it didn't really hit her until she was labeled the Duff - the designated ugly fat friend.
Oh yeah, and her voice? Completely fantastic. Bianca doesn't just have a voice, the pages leak voice. Every word is sopped with it, each one unmistakably hers. She's smart and even funny at times, while still maintaining the seriousness of the story.
Of course, no analysis of characters is complete without talking about Wesley. He's that guy who's the big bad wolf in so many YA stories - the guy who can't keep his hands off every mildly attractive girl who walks past him. He's disgusting and repulsive and so, so hot. The calculating jerkwad only decided to talk to Bianca because he wanted a shot at her friends, and he told her so, too.
And yet, there's more to him than that. He has depth to him, and he matured. Don't get me wrong, by the end of the book, he hadn't exactly transformed into Prince Charming of Celibacy, but he was a little different. More grown up. He knew what he was doing had real consequences, and it made him the teensiest bit more likeable.
Plot: Obviously awesome. Bianca's life is dissolving and there's nothing she can do except try to hold it together, to keep everything from crumbling in her hands. And while all that's going on, she has to deal with that awful Wesley Rush. Yet even though I kept thinking there was no way she should get it together with Wesley, that what she was doing with him was wrong (how could you do it with someone who calls you fat and ugly?), I couldn't help hoping they would end up together.
This is an edgy book. It has sex scenes that the author was clearly not afraid to write, and so it's more for a mature teen audience - not something you'd want to hand to a tween.
Cover: Love it! Those yellow letters don't seem like they would work and yet they do, because they're so bright they pop, but in a good way. I like the smaller print of "Designated Ugly Fat Friend", and especially the model they chose. The girl on the cover seems normal, not a supermodel like so many other books.
First Line: [Unavailable.]
Overall: This is one of the best reads I've gone through this year. The romance is amazing and unique and edgy, the characters are real and honest and funny, and even the whole concept is exciting. Every bad review I've read of this was basically because it was too edgy for that reviewer's tastes, so if you think the sex scenes aren't for you (they're really not graphic, but there are a lot of them), you probably should avoid this one.
Plot - 5/5
Characters - 5/5
Writing - 5/5
Impact - 4/5
Inability to put it down - 4/5
Total - 92% = A
