Biggest Flirts by Jennifer Echols

Another bit of summer fluff here...or is it? Well yes, it is. But it's very good fluff. I was somewhat torn throughout reading this book. On the one hand, it is so very close to basically having an Idiot Plot. On the other hand, the author just about saves it.

Okay, so the blurb of this book is a little misleading. There are quite a few pages before we even get to the yearbook titles thing and really, the story isn't about the titles at all. But I understand the author is making this a series and the yearbook titles are the glue holding it together so I'll let that slide. Really, this book is a romance pure and simple. It is about nothing more than the relationship between Tia and Will and, while this would usually be a bad thing, remarkably, it works.

A lot of this is down to Tia's character I feel. She is immensely likable, outgoing and free from all the petty insecurities/complaints most female YA characters sadly have. In short, she's just fun.

Will is equally well-crafted. He's not quite as likable as Tia perhaps but he's definitely well-rounded and seems realistic. In fact, all the characters in this book are extremely well done. My only complaint is that side characters didn't get more of the limelight but given that the sequels are apparently going to focus on them, that could be excused.

Sadly this book's plot is what lets it down. Will and Tia can't be together because Tia doesn't want a boyfriend for almost justifiable personal reasons. They flirt, get together, break up for 180 odd pages and while it is handled far better than it could have been, it's still not entirely thrilling. I was also startled by the abruptness of the ending which just came out of nowhere. Again I'm torn though because would dragging it out longer really have been much better?

Overall, Biggest Flirts is one of the better attempts at YA romance I've seen. It's fun, the characters are engaging and while there is some hints of an Idiot Plot, the characters themselves do not actually behave like morons. As far as fluff goes, you could do a lot worse.

Overall Score:

.5

Tease by Amanda Maciel

Suicide is a popular topic for YA fiction. You know what else is a popular topic? A pretty girl's fall from grace. Tease tells the story of Sara Wharton, a typical high-school bitch who may have accidentally bullied a girl called Emma to death and now must deal with the consequences. Sadly, this sounds far more interesting in principle than its execution.

Okay, so really Tease is split into two stories-the present where Sara is dealing with the consequences and the flashbacks to the past when the bullying was actually occurring. I have to say, the chapters set in the past are far more interesting than the other half of the book. The present-day chapters deal primarily with Sara's lack of guilt (which I'll come to later), the potential lawsuit she faces and her falling for the outcast boy. None of these are particularly engaging or indeed, interesting. The popular girl falling for the outcast boy once she herself becomes an outcast is way overdone and frankly, Some Girls Are already did it much better. In this book it just sort of happens, with little resistance or development. The chapters set in the past however are the real story and I found myself skimming the present chapters to get back to the far more varied past.

My other main issue was with Sara's character. As I mentioned before, present day Sara has almost no remorse for what she's done. In fact, she doesn't even think she's responsible in any way. This doesn't really change by the end of the book and, while I can see the reasons behind the depiction, it does have the unfortunate side effect of not making her particularly likable. I hate to refer to Some Girls Are again but that book has a perfect example of how a character can be an unlikable person and yet still be sympathetic and ultimately good beneath it all. Sara...not so much. Her breakdown at the end doesn't feel genuine and it doesn't really excuse 200 odd pages of bitter denial.

Those two factors aside, Tease is an okay book. It isn't groundbreaking and doesn't really bring anything new to the table but it's told decently and the other characters are somewhat interesting. I can't help feel that there are many other books which have done this better though and if I'm honest, you should probably read one of them instead

Overall Score:

 

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

No matter how good a book might be, if it's the middle book of a trilogy then it is very likely that the whole thing will just feel like a setup for the exciting final. Now Insurgent manages to avoid this to some degree (or at least better than some series do). It has its own plot and while admittedly a lot of it is setting up for what seems like an inevitable war in the third book, enough happens that it isn't boring. Unfortunately it's not particularly memorable either. A lot happens but it isn't stuff which has a great impact on the overall story. The first third of the book is running away, the second third is trying to get something and the final third is the realisation they can't get something only for it to turn out to not matter anyway.

I had some problems with book Tris which I mentioned in my first review and sadly they only seem to grow more numerous with this book. Firstly, Tris is suffering from gun phobia after killing her best friend in the first book. This is perfectly understandable but it does mean that Tris becomes a teensy bit more useless in terms of things she can do. She also turns suicidal for a while which could work if it was handled better. Sadly all it does is make Tris seem whiny. And even more useless.

Okay, so one thing I did like about the first book was that it didn't have the dreaded love-triangle found in the majority of YA fiction. Is this still the case? Well...it's hard to tell. Technically there isn't a love triangle but there are a few hints towards Tris and Uriah (yes, I know he has a girlfriend but still) and they usually follow scenes where she's had some kind of dispute with Four.

Ah yes, Four...what happened to you? I'm not sure what it was but he seemed a lot flatter and less likable in this book. Aside from being far too harsh on Tris, he just seemed douchier in general. For me to root for him as a love interest, he's going to have to have some serious development occur in the third book.

Overall, Insurgent is basically the same as Divergent. It's an interesting enough story, not really amazing but probably worth it if you like this sort of thing. My only main problem was with the ending which was treated as some big twist despite the entire book building up to it and it basically already being revealed. I shall read the final book but only to see how it ends. So far I can't say I'm enamoured with the series.

Overall Score: