India Lee

Hmm. What to say about this one. I thought it was a fun little book (don't read too much into me using the word 'little'). I originally had this on my Chick-Lit shelf, because I had spotted it there and so placed this book on that shelf when I added it. But this book reads a lot more like a coming of age, young adult book than a chick-lit book.

One of these days I probably need to find a check list. Or make one. Since I have such a hard time wrapping my brain around the genre. But, whatever it is, it probably doesn't involve sixteen year olds. I assume, but I could be wrong. It's just that I keep running across main characters that are between the ages of 26 and 33. Nothing really younger, nothing really older than that. So sixteen is probably too young.

Regarding family - it's supposedly a big factor in chick-lits, something that differentiates it from contemporary romances - the one in this book confused me. I do not really understand the dynamic that is going on. The book opens with Gem going to go live with her aunt in New Jersey to attend high school. As a junior. At the same school her brother is a senior. They, apparently, have spent most of their lives separated. If the parents had been divorced, dead, or otherwise unavailable, siblings being separated, and children separated from parents might make certain sense but, as far as I could tell, none of that applied here. I assume. I mean, Gem does call her parents by their first names. This is normally a sign of something or other (like adoptive parents, step-parents, etc.).

I never got a good explanation as to why Emily and Malcolm lived separately from their children. Emily and Malcolm being the parents of Gavin and Gem. I got two impressions – they’re rich fucks that prefer bouncing around the planet on perpetual vacation and they have some vague need to take long visits with one of their mothers – spending the time that Gem is in New Jersey at school (first time she’s been in a school, tutored and home schooled before; while Gavin was off at boarding school, these parents sure enjoy pushing off their parental responsibilities onto others) living with ‘grandma’ something or other in London. If Gavin got kicked out of the last private school that would accept them, and Gemma is being forced to attend public school by Malcolm who wants her to have a ‘normal’ experience at some point in her young life, then why are they not in some school in London? Why pack them up to live with the aunt?

Sorry, these unexplained little plot points bothered me from page one, all the way to the end of the book. No explanation was given. Vaguely pisses me off.

Plot point two that vaguely pisses me off – why the fuck was Gemma always walking everywhere or bumming rides from others? Why don’t her super rich parents get her a car so she doesn’t walk miles and miles while her brother is off ditching her fucking some girl?

Well, I’ve hit a wall. Not sure what else to write. The whole Aunt Mira thing pisses me off. Might not if I had some more background about everything. But I don’t. They apparently went to live with her to go to high school, but she never appears to be around. Plus she kept making stupid cryptic annoying comments and cut up Gemma’s dress. Gemma was way too relaxed about finding her dress all cut up, sure she was annoyed, but that was quickly over taken by other thoughts

I suppose ‘plot point that annoyed me’ number three might be how vague all of it was. There were some good in-depth scenes, I state at the outset but . . . this is set in a high school. The whole point was to have Gem attend a high school. There is mention of her attending said high school but . . . other than mentions of lunch, studying in the library, skipping class, and leaving for the day, nothing much occurred at said high school. I’ve no real clue if she’s hates math, loves math, hates English, etc. etc. All silent. You’d think that’s something that would pop up at least once. I mean, I realize she’s in the popular girls group, but we are also inside her head, so thoughts about school subjects should have popped up at least once to intermingle with the many thoughts about boys and not looking stupid.

This vagueness also turns up with her touring. And lead to at least one confusing moment. Gem was going to start a US tour. First spot: NY. Her friends got tickets. Gem, strangely (I joke), couldn’t attend with her friends. Then there’s this brief comment that the concert went well. I scratched my head in confusion. That was kind of abrupt. Fairly shortly thereafter, though, I learned that that ‘concert’ was . . . well, not sure what, but wasn’t the NY one that was supposed to open the touring. Maybe I just got confused as to what the first stop was supposed to be. Still, the concerts mostly get described like so ‘my handlers put make up on me. Put outfits on. Mostly new dresses, but always that same one for the last number. My handlers take off my Queen Bee costume and put on a disguise so I can flee. ‘ Every once in a while something else would turn up, like when she bumped into her friends after the NY concert, and when she bumped into the 15 year old super-star Tyler Chase who has a crush on Queen Bee outside of LA. But vagueness overwhelms most scenes. At least in terms of school and concerts. There were details, just not as much as I would expect on certain topics.… (mais)

So this was my first reading of this celeb-romance subgenre. And let's be clear from the outset that it's a fairly low-brow subgenre at that. I wanted to really like this. The idea of the story is kind of fun. A sad, lonely no-career young woman is a moderator for a a celeb social media type of site and has her favorite male celeb she likes to bash. She gets an email from his truly and he wants her to be nice for awhile so he can get a different more serious type of part than he's been getting. Through machinations galore, he takes her on as an "everygirl" fake girlfriend and they fall in love.

I think maybe I'm too old for the story--because I detested the whole be famous for being famous storyline with the evil girls that push that through. But the story of the transformation of the main girl is kind of interesting. She kind of comes into her own -- somewhat. The romance is not great though--there's no where why or when of their falling in love and what would make it last other than that they are "comfortable" together. Yawn.

Unless you're a diehard for this subgenre, I'd say give this a skip. I didn't waste my time on the sequel.… (mais)

Originally reviewed at Witchmag's Boekenplank

*May contain some spoilers if you have not read the other books in the series*

Yes! I’m back to loving this series. And just as I did with the first book, I read it in one go. Finally we get the story I’ve been waiting for: someone is out to reveal Queen Bee. I’m sorry but we live in a very advanced world where camera’s and mobile phones are everywhere. Therefore it seems a bit unbelievable to me that a secret like that could be kept forever. Especially with rabid fans like T. around. But oh well, it still makes an entertaining story ^^

It was very captivating to experience all the emotions Gemma goes through. Her stalker is so good it’s creepy. He / She completely shatters Gemma’s trust in other people. How could it not, if even your boyfriend doesn’t recognize you? Even at home she doesn’t get any rest… Didn’t she lock her door?

Gemma’s emotions are beautifully written. It almost seemed as if I was the one who wasn’t believed, was frightened to death, because I was sure I locked the door…. Wonderful! It made Gemma more human, more real. And I loved her more for it. Even if she doesn’t always make the right choices in the thick of the fight. Fortunately, she realizes her mistakes afterward and makes amends. She really has grown a lot.

Even better was the hunt for the impersonator. You only get the smallest of hints, which only serve to set you on the wrong path. Till the last moment I didn’t know, till the last moment I was guessing. Only to be surprised even more when the real culprit is revealed. Oh I loved that part the most!

There was only one thing that put me a bit off. Every book a new guy. Really? Why? Maybe because Gemma needs to learn how to NOT act if I have a boyfriend or if the other boy has a girlfriend? Fortunately it seems she finally learned her lesson. And she doesn’t plan on having a setback.

I also would have liked it more if Taylor was a bit more “fleshed out”. His character didn’t have much depth, besides being the perfect boyfriend. He felt more like a mix between Lucas and Damion. I’d preferred a bit more variation and less perfectness.

Conclusion

4 HEARTS. It’s a very good book and I loved it more than I did with book 2. This is the real continuation of the story. And in a magnificent way. The emotions were raw, real. As if you were the one who was being stalked and impersonated. There’s also a great mystery and I enjoyed every minute of it. The only downside was the new boyfriend, Tyler, who didn’t felt as real as the emotions. He was too perfect and a bit “flat”.… (mais)