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haia_929 's review for:
The Boy Next Door
by Katie Van Ark
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.