Reviews

Girl, Hero by Carrie Jones

sherrill's review against another edition

4.0

Life is not perfect, for Lily or her friends. But together, things manage to work out.

Another good story by Carrie Jones. A hard subject to write about, yet she manages to keep a reader enthralled with what is happening.

Though there are tough issues developed in this book, such as spousal abuse, drinking problems, and being co-dependent, it did not leave me sad or angry.

I recommend this one for when you are needing a break from your usual genre.

mbrandmaier's review against another edition

5.0

Though Lily feels she is weak (unlike her favorite actor, John Wayne in all his Westerns) I find her to be a strong person who is pretty good at speaking up for herself. There are many family issues that need to be resolved. Will she be able to deal with these things so that she can enjoy the good things that are starting to happen in her life?

book_nut's review against another edition

4.0

A good story about a girl dealing with a crappy life -- divorced parents, alcoholic mom's boyfriend, backstabbing best friend -- by writing letters to John Wayne. You wouldn't think it would work, but it does.

ancientdebra's review against another edition

4.0

I picked this book up half-heartedly on my way to lunch yesterday - and found myself eagerly wanting to finish it last night and stayed up too late reading to do just that. Told as a series of letters from high school freshman Lily to her hero, John Wayne, this is a story about a girl finding herself in high school and overcoming past and present traumas. She has an unsupportive best friend, a grown sister in an abusive relationship, and a danger that becomes apparant from her mother's newest boyfriend. I particularly like the portrayal of first love for Lily and how her boyfriend and her new friends help her through a difficult time. she also experiences a rebirth of a relationship with her possibly gay father.

abigailbat's review against another edition

5.0

This novel started off slowly for me, but the more I read it the more I really, really liked it. It's a bit odd. But I loved the main character Liliana and I loved how the things that happened in the book were not all bad and not all good. I loved that there were very complex characters and that even by the end they weren't all tucked into neat little boxes. I will review this on my blog and I will have more to say then. Probably this book won't be everyone's cup of tea (like I said, it's a little odd), but I think it's one of my favorites this year.

Read more on my blog:
http://abbylibrarian.blogspot.com/2008/11/book-review-girl-hero.html

flyingsails's review against another edition

3.0

I really liked the originality of Girl, Hero, but I was also a bit disappointed because I expected something funnier. Laughing aloud when reading the author's blog (along with positive reviews of her other books) is what made me decide to read it.
Anyway, I don't remember laughing, but I did like it and it was original.

jolleeray's review against another edition

1.0

Honestly this book started out very, very boring. I contemplated not reading it, but i stuck it out til the end. The whole book is written from a 14 year old girls perspective who is having a hard time in life at the moment, to cope with this she writes letters to her hero, John Wayne. After about half way in it finally gets interesting, when she meets an amazing boy and her moms new boyfriend turns abusive. The ending was pretty good, but I would only suggest reading this if you are very bored and have nothing better to do.