About the Book
-
Author:
- Kristina McBride
- Genres:
- Boy-Girl Romance
- Contemporary
- Voices:
- Cis Girl
- White (Non-Specified)
Cover Story: Direct-to-DVD
BFF Charm: Meh
Talky Talk: Straight Up
Bonus Factors: Photography
Relationship Status: Let Me Introduce You To My Cousin
Cover Story: Direct-to-DVD
Is it just me, or foes the cover of this book look like the poster of a movie that you know is going to end up going direct-to-DVD? You know, kind of a poorly produced movie starring a person who is probably famous now but made this movie four years ago when trying to catch a break, and so the movie found a distributor for DVD because this now-star’s rabid fans will probably buy this, just like when I was 14 I bought every soft-core porn that David Duchovny had ever been in? (Well, I did that for a few reasons.)
Anyway, it’s just too busy for a book cover, and it sort of smacks you over the head with its themes – Film! Opposites! Light at the end of the tunnel!
The Deal:
Two years ago, Tessa’s best friend Noelle was kidnapped off the streets. At 14 years old, Tessa shuts down, putting her life on hold until Noelle comes back. She doesn’t date, she doesn’t make friends, and the only fun she allows herself is photography. And then Noelle comes back.
Sullen, changed, the new Noelle – or Elle, as she now prefers to be called (get it?) – is secretive and self-destructive and unwilling to let anyone in, especially her old best friend. Can the two girls find their way back to the friendship they once had?
BFF Charm: Meh
Don’t get me wrong, I understood both Tessa and Noelle. I understood why Tessa was closed off and scared all the time, why she clung to the memory of her friendship with Noelle as a life raft. I understood why Noelle was bitter and unsure and seeking attention in ways that didn’t surround the fact that she was a kidnap- and rape victim. And I did really like them, but I wouldn’t want to be best friends with either of them.
I will, however, sit with them in the caf a few times a week, and I’d be sure to give them a smile if I passed them in the halls.
Swoonworthy Scale: 4
Just before the school year starts, Tessa meets Max, a curly-haired stranger who shares her passion for photography. Tessa is shy and wary, not trusting that Max is the real deal, and Max charms her gently and kindly . . . and then they get together and everything’s fine.
I don’t know. They were cute, but there was no real tension there. I found myself wanting to learn much more about Elle’s destructive relationship with the awful Chip.
Talky Talk: Straight Up
McBride doesn’t flinch away from discussing Elle’s time in captivity (inasmuch as it is discussed at all – Elle does not want to discuss it with anyone), making it clear that Elle was raped, sodomized, and otherwise physically and emotionally abused. The dialogue and prose are both pretty straight-forward and while sometimes I felt like the teen characters were a little too at ease with expressing their thoughts, they mostly felt like true teens.
Bonus Factor: Photography
Most candid pictures of me are pictures in which I am taking a picture of something or someone else. I’m not good at photography but I love taking pictures, the opportunity to observe a situation without having to actively participate in the situation. For those of us who are Secretly Curmudgeonly and largely anti-social, a camera (and a few drinks) helps us blend into the scene and look like we’re being social!
Relationship Status: Let Me Introduce You To My Cousin
I’ll admit, this book and I didn’t really hit it off, but I don’t think it’s the book’s fault. It gave me all it had, but the problem was, I’d kind of heard it all before. So even though I really appreciated its honesty and its drive, it didn’t really touch me.
That said, I think this book would totally hit it off with my cousin, who is actually a YA, because I think she’s at just the right point in her life to start picking up what this book is laying down. In other words? This book is just a little more Y than A.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received my free review copy from Egmont Publishing. I received neither money nor cocktails for this review (damnit!). The Tension of Opposites is available in stores now.
