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3.16 AVERAGE
3.16 AVERAGE
This is a trimmed down version of my review, to view the full review visit The Book Ramble.
Maddy and Gabe have always been partners in figure skating, but not in life. The problem is, maybe Maddy wants to take things off the ice too. Gabe isn't ready for that, but he's worried what's going to happen to him and Maddy on the ice whether things heat up off the ice or not. When they start skating to Romeo and Juliet though things are going to change, whether they want them to or not.
I really didn't like this, even though I wanted to so badly. I loved the idea of the skating partners falling in love, especially because there is something so romantic about pairs skating. The trouble is that the characters were so wholly unlikeable I didn't buy into the story at all. It was cute, but it was not good.
The idea of this plot is adorable. Two skaters who have known each other forever fall in love. This is such a cute plot! It's not executed well at all. They start arguing with each other about whether or not to pursue this relationship right away, like page 1. This leads to a sense of drag in the plot because you already know the central issue and you also know how its going to end, the middle stuff needs to be cute to really keep things going. It's cute, but it's not that cute. There's skating and romance which is adorable. Gabe spends the entire book flipping and flopping around trying to make up his mind. Maddy spends the whole book being annoying, weak, and lets herself get kicked around by not just Gabe, but her friends and parents too. I just didn't buy into any aspect of the plot, and even the stuff I liked was washed away in a flood of ick and annoyance.
Gabe is wishy washy. He's also a former "player" who's still playing around. Maddy is weak and whiny. She doesn't do anything for herself and lets Gabe play her. Together they are annoying. Their relationship is so weird and terrible that I didn't buy into at all. The parents are equally annoying, they hide everything from their kids and really just generally putter around being annoying. All other characters are just rude, annoying, and wastes of space in the book. The whole cast is just bleh.
Overall this book was just...frustrating. There was some cute to it, but mostly no. I don't recommend this book at all, it's not even cute enough to warrant telling you it's a refresher. It wasn't, it was just infuriating.
Maddy and Gabe have always been partners in figure skating, but not in life. The problem is, maybe Maddy wants to take things off the ice too. Gabe isn't ready for that, but he's worried what's going to happen to him and Maddy on the ice whether things heat up off the ice or not. When they start skating to Romeo and Juliet though things are going to change, whether they want them to or not.
I really didn't like this, even though I wanted to so badly. I loved the idea of the skating partners falling in love, especially because there is something so romantic about pairs skating. The trouble is that the characters were so wholly unlikeable I didn't buy into the story at all. It was cute, but it was not good.
The idea of this plot is adorable. Two skaters who have known each other forever fall in love. This is such a cute plot! It's not executed well at all. They start arguing with each other about whether or not to pursue this relationship right away, like page 1. This leads to a sense of drag in the plot because you already know the central issue and you also know how its going to end, the middle stuff needs to be cute to really keep things going. It's cute, but it's not that cute. There's skating and romance which is adorable. Gabe spends the entire book flipping and flopping around trying to make up his mind. Maddy spends the whole book being annoying, weak, and lets herself get kicked around by not just Gabe, but her friends and parents too. I just didn't buy into any aspect of the plot, and even the stuff I liked was washed away in a flood of ick and annoyance.
Gabe is wishy washy. He's also a former "player" who's still playing around. Maddy is weak and whiny. She doesn't do anything for herself and lets Gabe play her. Together they are annoying. Their relationship is so weird and terrible that I didn't buy into at all. The parents are equally annoying, they hide everything from their kids and really just generally putter around being annoying. All other characters are just rude, annoying, and wastes of space in the book. The whole cast is just bleh.
Overall this book was just...frustrating. There was some cute to it, but mostly no. I don't recommend this book at all, it's not even cute enough to warrant telling you it's a refresher. It wasn't, it was just infuriating.
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Oh my goodness, I think I need someone to resuscitate me from this heart stopping book! I could not put this book down either, and I was under a spell with how Katie writes! She wrote this book in two character perspectives, Maddy and Gabe, and the words that she writes flows so well together that the words just floated off the page! I could really see the description of the characters and I really felt like a was one of the characters.
Read the rest of my review at https://caylasbooktopia.wordpress.com/2016/07/03/book-review-the-boy-next-door/
Read the rest of my review at https://caylasbooktopia.wordpress.com/2016/07/03/book-review-the-boy-next-door/
This is Katie Van Ark's debut novel. It was really well done, but there were a few things I'd advise her about. Her drama comes in bursts, and she keeps secrets from her characters as well as readers. Some of the book was cliche, like when Madelyn doesn't wait to see who Igor is talking to and just assumes its Gabe. I really liked Igor's character, and she got his accent just right, but Gabe's character took a long time to arch and he spent a lot of time thinking about sex, which got boring after awhile.
Umm.. so yeah, I wasn't a fan of this book. What I wanted was a swoony romance surrounded by ice skating. What I got was two people who were kind of horrible to each other and a bunch of whining.
Let me just say, I love ice skating. I grew up watching it in the Winter Olympics and just love the sport - watching it, not doing because I'm a horrible skater. So I was super excited to pick this one up. And that cover is just adorable. But as I kept reading, I found that I was just getting more and more annoyed with the characters and just wanted the book to end.
Maddy and Gabe have been skating partners and best friends since pretty much birth. But as they so often do, feelings get involved. First with Maddy. Over the years she's watched as Gabe treated women like shit. He'd go on a date, get what he wanted, then use Maddy to break up with them. And she just did it. But when she suddenly decides she's in love with him, she just throws herself at him and is all shocked when he's scared of relationships. It was painful to read. Like I am all for a woman going after what she wants, and if a girl is brave enough to ask out a guy, then go for it! But Maddy was...how do I put it, just sad. And she also kept flipping back and forth between the throwing herself at him to the I want nothing to do with him.
Gabe wasn't any better. He was just a sleez. No girl wants to be kept a secret. But that's all Gabe could give Maddy, a secret relationship. Where even in his mind, he accepted that he would be done with her in two weeks. I'm sorry but no. Nothing about him was swoony and I thought Maddy could do much better.
The author tried to add in other elements such as family drama and friend drama. But it all seemed superficial. Their two friends and skating partners were not very nice people either and they had a very toxic relationship. Then the family drama was almost added as an after thought because while it seemed serious, nothing really came of it. So I was just left going ... huh.
This was my final book of 2020 and I'm sad I didn't go out on a higher note.
Let me just say, I love ice skating. I grew up watching it in the Winter Olympics and just love the sport - watching it, not doing because I'm a horrible skater. So I was super excited to pick this one up. And that cover is just adorable. But as I kept reading, I found that I was just getting more and more annoyed with the characters and just wanted the book to end.
Maddy and Gabe have been skating partners and best friends since pretty much birth. But as they so often do, feelings get involved. First with Maddy. Over the years she's watched as Gabe treated women like shit. He'd go on a date, get what he wanted, then use Maddy to break up with them. And she just did it. But when she suddenly decides she's in love with him, she just throws herself at him and is all shocked when he's scared of relationships. It was painful to read. Like I am all for a woman going after what she wants, and if a girl is brave enough to ask out a guy, then go for it! But Maddy was...how do I put it, just sad. And she also kept flipping back and forth between the throwing herself at him to the I want nothing to do with him.
Gabe wasn't any better. He was just a sleez. No girl wants to be kept a secret. But that's all Gabe could give Maddy, a secret relationship. Where even in his mind, he accepted that he would be done with her in two weeks. I'm sorry but no. Nothing about him was swoony and I thought Maddy could do much better.
The author tried to add in other elements such as family drama and friend drama. But it all seemed superficial. Their two friends and skating partners were not very nice people either and they had a very toxic relationship. Then the family drama was almost added as an after thought because while it seemed serious, nothing really came of it. So I was just left going ... huh.
This was my final book of 2020 and I'm sad I didn't go out on a higher note.
This book was so cute!! I am such a sucker for figure skating stories. Gabe and Maddy are so sweet together. It was nice to see them learn to cross that bridge from friendship into something more.
That being said, some parts were a little TOO much. Wedding bells?!?! Someone getting pregnant? Illness? Finances? Why throw that all at us at the END? Each answered question led to a few new ones. There were also a few loose ends that I wish were tied up (e.g. what's up with the hockey bros?). I really enjoyed the journey they went through though. There were fun times between them, which is often missing in YA novels (they normally have too much insta-love/lust/desperation/angst to be enjoyable). It was nice to read about them going over favourites and sharing jokes. I enjoy reading about people who are PASSIONATE about things, and that's definitely the case here.
Katie Van Ark's voice was easy, breezy, and fun. I'm excited to read more of her stories (and more "Swoon Reads," too)!
That being said, some parts were a little TOO much. Wedding bells?!?! Someone getting pregnant? Illness? Finances? Why throw that all at us at the END? Each answered question led to a few new ones. There were also a few loose ends that I wish were tied up (e.g. what's up with the hockey bros?). I really enjoyed the journey they went through though. There were fun times between them, which is often missing in YA novels (they normally have too much insta-love/lust/desperation/angst to be enjoyable). It was nice to read about them going over favourites and sharing jokes. I enjoy reading about people who are PASSIONATE about things, and that's definitely the case here.
Katie Van Ark's voice was easy, breezy, and fun. I'm excited to read more of her stories (and more "Swoon Reads," too)!
Note: Untagged spoilers below the fold.
Skating's in that category of subjects that don't have anything to do with my life but that I'm always happy to read about. That being said, the more I think about this book, the more I think that romantic drama ran roughshod over the plot to the detriment of everything else. Not all that uncommon in YA fiction, unfortunately, but I'd hoped for more here.
It's like this: Maddy and Gabe are pairs skaters. Good pairs skaters—not only have they basically grown up on the ice, and with each other, but they have a shot at making it to the world championships and, perhaps, to the Olympics. There's a lot else going on in their lives, too: Maddy's father, a politician, is running for re-election...and behind his super-honest persona, he seems to be telling some lies. Their friend Kate, also a pairs skater, is acting odd. And, oh yes, Maddy's been in love with Gabe forever and is finally gunning for a relationship with him, despite the fact that his MO is to sleep with a girl and then get Maddy to dump her for him.
But the breakdown of all those plot points goes something like this:
Amount of time spent on Maddy's father's lies, which turn out to be about cancer: 5%
Amount of time spend on Kate having relationship drama with her boyfriend-slash-pairs-partner, which turns into a pregnancy plot: 3%
Amount of time spent on Maddy finding out that her family can't actually afford skating lessons or private school and other people are footing the bill: 2%
Amount of time spent on ice skating: 10%
Amount of time spent on Maddy and Gabe going we should be in a relationship / we should just keep it on the ice / should we sleep together / you don't get to re-try your first time / let's pretend to get married / let's sleep together / let's not / omg sex yay / oh hey relationship miscommunication / all zee drama / we're meant for each other / we're doomed / Romeo and Juliet died, babe, and I'm bad for you / omg sex yay: 80%
It's just, those proportions seem a little off, no?
Skating's in that category of subjects that don't have anything to do with my life but that I'm always happy to read about. That being said, the more I think about this book, the more I think that romantic drama ran roughshod over the plot to the detriment of everything else. Not all that uncommon in YA fiction, unfortunately, but I'd hoped for more here.
It's like this: Maddy and Gabe are pairs skaters. Good pairs skaters—not only have they basically grown up on the ice, and with each other, but they have a shot at making it to the world championships and, perhaps, to the Olympics. There's a lot else going on in their lives, too: Maddy's father, a politician, is running for re-election...and behind his super-honest persona, he seems to be telling some lies. Their friend Kate, also a pairs skater, is acting odd. And, oh yes, Maddy's been in love with Gabe forever and is finally gunning for a relationship with him, despite the fact that his MO is to sleep with a girl and then get Maddy to dump her for him.
But the breakdown of all those plot points goes something like this:
Amount of time spent on Maddy's father's lies, which turn out to be about cancer: 5%
Amount of time spend on Kate having relationship drama with her boyfriend-slash-pairs-partner, which turns into a pregnancy plot: 3%
Amount of time spent on Maddy finding out that her family can't actually afford skating lessons or private school and other people are footing the bill: 2%
Amount of time spent on ice skating: 10%
Amount of time spent on Maddy and Gabe going we should be in a relationship / we should just keep it on the ice / should we sleep together / you don't get to re-try your first time / let's pretend to get married / let's sleep together / let's not / omg sex yay / oh hey relationship miscommunication / all zee drama / we're meant for each other / we're doomed / Romeo and Juliet died, babe, and I'm bad for you / omg sex yay: 80%
It's just, those proportions seem a little off, no?
I really enjoyed this.
It had it's ups and downs but overall it was very enjoyable.
I felt like it even expanded on from the synopsis to a really cool place.
Just a nice quick addicting read!
It had it's ups and downs but overall it was very enjoyable.
I felt like it even expanded on from the synopsis to a really cool place.
Just a nice quick addicting read!
It was not my fav book. i did like the backdrop of iceskating but nothing real special about the characters. I did like them though
Rounding up to three stars because it wasn’t BAD, just wasn’t all that good either. Like sugar free cookies or popcorn with no butter. There were definitely some problematic elements of Mad and Gabe’s relationship that really factored in to my level of enjoyment.