Jenifer Rubloff
Autor(a) de The School with Chocolate Air
Obras de Jenifer Rubloff
Etiquetado
Conhecimento Comum
- Nome padrão
- Rubloff, Jennifer
- Sexo
- female
- Locais de residência
- Chicago, Illinois, Amerika
Zwitserland
Californië, Amerika - Ocupação
- Auteur
- Pequena biografia
- As a teenager in boarding schools in Switzerland and the US, Jenifer Rubloff learned from the people she met and the friends she made about different cultures, customs, religions and cuisines. When she sat in her school study halls, on many nights, she’d play ‘what if’ with her imagination about what could happen in her school with only a small tweak to reality. As an author of fiction, Rubloff twists reality to share her experiences and fascination with how people and events can be interconnected.
Membros
Resenhas
This review was written for LibraryThing Member Giveaways.
I appreciate receiving this ebook from the author, Jenifer Rubloff, through the Member Giveaway program. It is the first of the Betsy Butters series, of which I understand there is now a second installment.
After about the first 20% or so, I wanted to put this in my very small pile of "unfinished books". The story got more interesting (at least the subplot about the lost Van Gogh), but then tore off into a totally unnecessary sex slave subplot.
This is targeted toward teen or preteen age girls and perhaps those readers would not care about the factual and logical inconsistencies throughout (or they might very well notice even more than I did), but it is the author's writing style that I found most distracting. She uses very choppy sentences, weird idiomatic expressions and strained dialogue. However, she also provides detailed, sometime mouthwatering descriptions of food.
I sincerely commend anyone who completes a book. This author has completed two. This is an accomplishment. Perhaps as her writing continues to progress her writing style will smooth out and her story progression tighten up.… (mais)
After about the first 20% or so, I wanted to put this in my very small pile of "unfinished books". The story got more interesting (at least the subplot about the lost Van Gogh), but then tore off into a totally unnecessary sex slave subplot.
This is targeted toward teen or preteen age girls and perhaps those readers would not care about the factual and logical inconsistencies throughout (or they might very well notice even more than I did), but it is the author's writing style that I found most distracting. She uses very choppy sentences, weird idiomatic expressions and strained dialogue. However, she also provides detailed, sometime mouthwatering descriptions of food.
I sincerely commend anyone who completes a book. This author has completed two. This is an accomplishment. Perhaps as her writing continues to progress her writing style will smooth out and her story progression tighten up.… (mais)
I was asked by the author to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.
By the Seat of Her Pants by Jenifer Rubloff is the second in a series about Betsy Butters, an irresistible teenage girl that seems to sniff out mystery and intrigue no matter where she goes. In the first section of this novel, she is whisked away to France during the Christmas holidays by a very rich friend whose parents are more generous with their money than I've ever seen. Betsy meets a handsome boy, Alex, who reveals that his grandfather is missing some stolen paintings. Does this sound like a case for someone? That's right-- Betsy!
There is a lot to like about Betsy and her adventures. Once again, Rubloff is amazing in her descriptions of the food in Paris-- I seriously was salivating when she described Betsy's meals with her friend's family and the scrumptious desserts. She also excels at painting her surroundings-- I felt like I was shopping with the two girls in the most luxurious stores in the world. I still love the dear Inspector who has been watching Betsy from afar-- and Madame Gastaud is still both stern, frightening, and likeable in equal parts. I still wonder if she is the enemy. The novel really picks up pace in the last 20% and the ending is satisfying.
So, you may ask, why only a paltry three stars, since you did get enjoyment out of this book? Good question. I have several big issues with these books that unfortunately stopped me from liking it as much as I could. First, this book (and the first) needs a good editor. There are many spelling mistakes, grammar mistakes, punctuation mistakes, and so on, which really makes it harder to read. Second, the dialogue is probably the other weakest point in this book. We get long paragraphs of people talking, just trying to get through extensive background and description. The phrases are stilted and formal-- so much that I don't get the sense of real people talking. It's a shame because Rubloff is actually very good with description. She doesn't need people to say all of these things. The other big weak point is the pacing. As with the first novel, my issue is that if this is a mystery, we need to have set up equally throughout the book. Instead, we have almost 50% of the book devoted to Betsy having fun in Paris, which while lovely, the whole time I was asking myself, so what's the point of this book? We get introduced to the mystery sometime when she is in France, but then we have to wait many, many pages until we get back to it. The villain of the piece isn't even introduced until almost the end, which makes no sense.
I think a good editor could see all of these issues and rectify them. Rubloff has all the ingredients to make a good book-- she just needs a guiding hand to take it to the next level.… (mais)
By the Seat of Her Pants by Jenifer Rubloff is the second in a series about Betsy Butters, an irresistible teenage girl that seems to sniff out mystery and intrigue no matter where she goes. In the first section of this novel, she is whisked away to France during the Christmas holidays by a very rich friend whose parents are more generous with their money than I've ever seen. Betsy meets a handsome boy, Alex, who reveals that his grandfather is missing some stolen paintings. Does this sound like a case for someone? That's right-- Betsy!
There is a lot to like about Betsy and her adventures. Once again, Rubloff is amazing in her descriptions of the food in Paris-- I seriously was salivating when she described Betsy's meals with her friend's family and the scrumptious desserts. She also excels at painting her surroundings-- I felt like I was shopping with the two girls in the most luxurious stores in the world. I still love the dear Inspector who has been watching Betsy from afar-- and Madame Gastaud is still both stern, frightening, and likeable in equal parts. I still wonder if she is the enemy. The novel really picks up pace in the last 20% and the ending is satisfying.
So, you may ask, why only a paltry three stars, since you did get enjoyment out of this book? Good question. I have several big issues with these books that unfortunately stopped me from liking it as much as I could. First, this book (and the first) needs a good editor. There are many spelling mistakes, grammar mistakes, punctuation mistakes, and so on, which really makes it harder to read. Second, the dialogue is probably the other weakest point in this book. We get long paragraphs of people talking, just trying to get through extensive background and description. The phrases are stilted and formal-- so much that I don't get the sense of real people talking. It's a shame because Rubloff is actually very good with description. She doesn't need people to say all of these things. The other big weak point is the pacing. As with the first novel, my issue is that if this is a mystery, we need to have set up equally throughout the book. Instead, we have almost 50% of the book devoted to Betsy having fun in Paris, which while lovely, the whole time I was asking myself, so what's the point of this book? We get introduced to the mystery sometime when she is in France, but then we have to wait many, many pages until we get back to it. The villain of the piece isn't even introduced until almost the end, which makes no sense.
I think a good editor could see all of these issues and rectify them. Rubloff has all the ingredients to make a good book-- she just needs a guiding hand to take it to the next level.… (mais)
This review was written for LibraryThing Member Giveaways.
I won this book from library member giveaways in return for an honest review.
The School with Chocolate air is about a girl named Betsy Butters, who suffers a tragedy at the beginning of the book, which leads to her being shipped off to a boarding school in Switzerland. This school is ruled by a terrifying Madame and Betsy is only allowed to speak French. She meets a host of interesting girls who come from different backgrounds and unveils some secrets that until now have remained hidden.
I'll admit I was not enchanted by this book initially. The prose and dialogue in places is clumsy and choppy. Some of this may have been deliberate, as some of what Betsy is saying has to be simple and clumsy as it is the English version of very rudimentary French. However, it makes the text harder to read. The beginning half of the book is rather slow. The plot drags when Betsy goes about her daily life at school. The parts that held my interest were the amazing descriptions of food. I drooled when Betsy would eat buttery croissants and delicious desserts. Around the 70% mark, I was up to three stars. I always give a book a chance to go up in my rating if the ending is great. And I believe the ending made up for a lot of fumblings earlier. Some surprises are revealed that I was not expecting. I applaud Rubloff for pulling everything together in the end.
Overall, while slow initially with some clumsy prose, the end made this book worth reading. I may stick around and see what Betsy is up to in the next book.… (mais)
The School with Chocolate air is about a girl named Betsy Butters, who suffers a tragedy at the beginning of the book, which leads to her being shipped off to a boarding school in Switzerland. This school is ruled by a terrifying Madame and Betsy is only allowed to speak French. She meets a host of interesting girls who come from different backgrounds and unveils some secrets that until now have remained hidden.
I'll admit I was not enchanted by this book initially. The prose and dialogue in places is clumsy and choppy. Some of this may have been deliberate, as some of what Betsy is saying has to be simple and clumsy as it is the English version of very rudimentary French. However, it makes the text harder to read. The beginning half of the book is rather slow. The plot drags when Betsy goes about her daily life at school. The parts that held my interest were the amazing descriptions of food. I drooled when Betsy would eat buttery croissants and delicious desserts. Around the 70% mark, I was up to three stars. I always give a book a chance to go up in my rating if the ending is great. And I believe the ending made up for a lot of fumblings earlier. Some surprises are revealed that I was not expecting. I applaud Rubloff for pulling everything together in the end.
Overall, while slow initially with some clumsy prose, the end made this book worth reading. I may stick around and see what Betsy is up to in the next book.… (mais)
Estatísticas
- Obras
- 2
- Membros
- 12
- Popularidade
- #813,248
- Avaliação
- 2.7
- Resenhas
- 6
There were several things I liked about this book. It is very refreshing to see a young adult book that isn't either about mean girls or a boy-crazy love story about some kind of fantasy creature. I tend to enjoy books about art heists and forgeries, so I liked that strand of the plot.
There were other things that were difficult to fathom. The sex trade plot and its quick resolution was completely ridiculous. So too was Betsy's quick recovery from the sudden death of her parents. She grieves for a few days, and then seems to not really care. She also seems to have little culture shock at moving to a completely new country.
To enjoy this book I think it's necessary to suspend disbelief. I have to do a similar thing when reading Nancy Drew books. There's no chance that Nancy could possibly know and do all of the things she does at eighteen. The same is true of Betsy Butters.… (mais)