The Fine Art of Truth or Dare - Melissa Jensen
Synopsis: Ella is nearly invisible at the Willing School, and that's just fine by her. Still, it's hard being a nobody and having a crush on the biggest somebody in the school: Alex Bainbridge. Especially when he is her French tutor, and lessons have started becoming, well, certainly more interesting than French ever has been before. (From Goodreads)
I knew I needed to read this book when I saw that it was compared to both Pretty in Pink and Anna and the French Kiss. In the end, I liked the Pretty in Pink aspects; however, the Anna aspects were just too similar, to the point where I was a little annoyed. I think those two comparisons just completely got my hopes up way too high and I definitely expected more out of this book than what I actually got.
I loved the beginning of the book. I got this great feeling of everything that was going on around Ella - there's so much motion - while she was standing still. I feel like I came to understand her character and her place so quickly, just based on her observations. The scenes with her family were by far the best parts of the novel - there's so much activity and so much love and loudness - it was like My Big-Fat-Greek Wedding, only they're Italian and it's Ella's sister getting married. I actually think each secondary character that belonged to Ella's family had more personality that Alex.
However, after the beginning was over, I feel like this story fell into a rut. It did feel like a compilation of several other stories (mainly, the three I've already mentioned - Pretty in Pink, Anna and the French Kiss, My Big-Fat-Greek Wedding - and then Possession by A.S. Byatt). It didn't feel original and I kept thinking that I'd seen this before.
I was a little disappointed, but it was a fun book. There's a lot that can be taken away from this -but you can get those things elsewhere as well. I guess, I'm still a little conflicted because I wanted to love this book, but in the end I just wasn't feeling it.
The Fine Art of Truth or Dare - Melissa Jensen
Synopsis: Ella is nearly invisible at the Willing School, and that's just fine by her. Still, it's hard being a nobody and having a crush on the biggest somebody in the school: Alex Bainbridge. Especially when he is her French tutor, and lessons have started becoming, well, certainly more interesting than French ever has been before. (From Goodreads)
I knew I needed to read this book when I saw that it was compared to both Pretty in Pink and Anna and the French Kiss. In the end, I liked the Pretty in Pink aspects; however, the Anna aspects were just too similar, to the point where I was a little annoyed. I think those two comparisons just completely got my hopes up way too high and I definitely expected more out of this book than what I actually got.
I loved the beginning of the book. I got this great feeling of everything that was going on around Ella - there's so much motion - while she was standing still. I feel like I came to understand her character and her place so quickly, just based on her observations. The scenes with her family were by far the best parts of the novel - there's so much activity and so much love and loudness - it was like My Big-Fat-Greek Wedding, only they're Italian and it's Ella's sister getting married. I actually think each secondary character that belonged to Ella's family had more personality that Alex.
However, after the beginning was over, I feel like this story fell into a rut. It did feel like a compilation of several other stories (mainly, the three I've already mentioned - Pretty in Pink, Anna and the French Kiss, My Big-Fat-Greek Wedding - and then Possession by A.S. Byatt). It didn't feel original and I kept thinking that I'd seen this before.
I was a little disappointed, but it was a fun book. There's a lot that can be taken away from this -but you can get those things elsewhere as well. I guess, I'm still a little conflicted because I wanted to love this book, but in the end I just wasn't feeling it.
