Anyway, let's get onto the review.
Synopsis (Goodreads)
There are...uh... a few things I have to say about this book.
It's, for starters, certainly not something I would recommend to teen readers, whom the book is so clearly aimed at, even advertised on Goodreads specifically as a book 'for teenage girls'. That kind of irks me, when people advertise such things as books to be 'for girls'. One of the whole points of books is that they can be for anyone.
Anyway, the reason I wouldn't say this is a teen read, as such, is because of the way it is written. Kahler writes so childishly, and it even feels slightly patronising. It's definitely not at the level I would expect, especially as Kahler is a teacher.
It is riddled with bad grammar, spelling mistakes and limited vocabulary.
What's more, the book has a sort of dead-end plotline. Nothing changes, and for the whole book you sit waiting for it to actually go somewhere. But... it doesn't.
The characters are wooden and without personality. The main character wasn't relatable and she was just boring.
If you don't believe me about unrealistic characters and an unrealistic storyline, Julia was almost abducted or assaulted in the street. When she got home she said something about it to a family member and none of them were concerned or even reacted. What's more, after the incident was over nothing was said about it again, or the way it might have affected Julia.
The book was incredibly undeveloped, without tangible themes. Nothing had a long-term emotional impact on Julia, which was really unrealistic. When something big happened, like the assault or moving, that upset her, Julia spent a couple of paragraphs or maybe a page being upset. Then that was it. Done.
The prologue of the book looked promising, with good language use and a captivating start to the novel. But it only got worse from that point.
In summary, I found every aspect of this book to be very disappointing. It is worth noting that online most reviews are 3-5 stars. However, I have seen reviews which make similar points. The book just didn't do it for me, and it really isn't at the language level you would expect for a YA book. So I sadly have to award it:
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