Young Adult novels are not my typical genre but the premise
of this one intrigued me. Justin Case is an overweight high school senior who
gets picked out and has zero luck with girls. One day he begins to transform
into something else and he’s lost as he tries to figure out this new world of
the supernatural.
I was very excited about this book as it’s told entirely
from a male point of view. I was also excited because the main character was
not the most beautiful and popular boy in school. He had a lot of obstacles to
overcome.
All this excitement led to a big letdown for me for several
reasons.
The first 30%-40% of the book was all about how this poor
kid was bullied in school and no one would help him. The administrators were
all against him because they all love the football team and the football team
was the one picking on him. I quickly got tired of reading about one bullying
incident after another. It was almost like the author was trying to make a
statement about bullying.
Another area that was a big letdown to me was the mystery
behind what Justin was becoming. I felt this was drug out too long and too many
answers were left until the very end of the story. It was very frustrating for
me.
The last thing that disappointed me about the book and
really pissed me off was Justin’s parents. First, they let one children go in
favor of keeping themselves hidden. They didn’t fight to keep both children. I
am a mother and I could NEVER do that. I would rather live on the run without
anything than let one of my children go. Second, when the mother finally goes
after the daughter, the dad checks out on the son. No matter how hard things
are, you have to stay there for the kids. This was a throw the book across the
room moment for me.
The redeeming qualities for this story are the HEA with
Justin finally getting the girl and Justin rescuing his dad. The final showdown
when Justin rescued his dad was well written and kept me on the edge of my
seat. I just wish the rest of the book could have been exciting and thrilling
for me.
1 comment:
Sounds like an interesting book but like you YA is not my normal read- too much angst but this one does at least have an interesting premise. Well done review.
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