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A review by pagesplotsandpints
The Rock Star in Seat 3A by Jill Kargman
2.0
Initial Impressions 8/21/12: Didn't care for this book much at all. It definitely was not how I thought it would be.
Firstly, I knew that Hazel was meeting her rock star crush, but I did NOT know that she'd be dumping her almost-fiance to go traipse around with him. I guess that's what I get for not looking into books before I read them!
Anyway, besides that fact, it was super crass! I'm no saint or anything and I've never cared about swearing in books before, but this was almost overkill with the language for me - All of it. Swearing, sexual innuendos, pop culture references, the quotes at the beginning of each chapter. Just not for me at all. I'm glad it was a short book because otherwise I wouldn't have finished it.
Review as originally posted on The Book Addict's Guide: Okay, so... Here's where my problem lies: Poor research on my part; before reading books, I've stopped reading the entire summary because I like to be thrown into the story and not have anything at all spoiled by reading the synopsis of the book. I saw the giveaway on BookTrib and thought it looked like a cute little chick lit story. Girl meets her crush and they start to hit it off. Sounded great! What I didn't realize -- and far too late -- was that it wasn't as innocent as it seemed.
Hazel has a boyfriend. An awesome one. An awesome one who proposed to her and she pretended she didn't see it. Right off the bat, I'm not a fan of Hazel. To make things worse (for me, better for Hazel), she meets Finn and they hit it off. They started to really hit it off and then Hazel's questioning breaking it off with her boyfriend to kick it with a rock star and her all-time biggest crush. To me, I was like, "No! How disloyal!" and I threw a fit (in my head) about where this story was going. I was saddened by how much it was not like I thought it was! But like I said, kind of my fault for not looking into that!
Anyway, so the rest of the book.... Ahh ummm, still didn't care for it. Okay, so I'm no saint or anything, and I've never been hesitant about a book before because of its language, but this book was just way too crass for me. Okay, anecdote time:
I actually began reading this book because I took it on the plane with me on vacation a few weeks ago. I thought, "Cute book about being on an airplane while I'm on an airplane!" I'm cheesy, I know. So I started reading, and my boyfriend was sitting next to me and he glanced at the book and was like, "What are you reading!?!" because this book is not censored in any way, shape, or form. Cursing, followed by sexual innuendos, followed by more curses, followed by more sexual references and cursing and sex. It was just overwhelming! I've never been bothered by swears or sex in a book before, but this was just a little too much for me and lots of things taken too far. Thrown in an onslaught of pop culture references that I didn't care for and I was ready to put the book down and back away slowly.
Lesson learned: Although YA lit may not always appear age-appropriate, it will still be much more appropriate to read in public places!
I guess the moral of the story is that sometimes it's not a bad thing to look further into books before reading them! I try not to ruin things with mysteries, but this was clearly an open book and I should have checked it out better before jumping in!
Firstly, I knew that Hazel was meeting her rock star crush, but I did NOT know that she'd be dumping her almost-fiance to go traipse around with him. I guess that's what I get for not looking into books before I read them!
Anyway, besides that fact, it was super crass! I'm no saint or anything and I've never cared about swearing in books before, but this was almost overkill with the language for me - All of it. Swearing, sexual innuendos, pop culture references, the quotes at the beginning of each chapter. Just not for me at all. I'm glad it was a short book because otherwise I wouldn't have finished it.
Review as originally posted on The Book Addict's Guide: Okay, so... Here's where my problem lies: Poor research on my part; before reading books, I've stopped reading the entire summary because I like to be thrown into the story and not have anything at all spoiled by reading the synopsis of the book. I saw the giveaway on BookTrib and thought it looked like a cute little chick lit story. Girl meets her crush and they start to hit it off. Sounded great! What I didn't realize -- and far too late -- was that it wasn't as innocent as it seemed.
Hazel has a boyfriend. An awesome one. An awesome one who proposed to her and she pretended she didn't see it. Right off the bat, I'm not a fan of Hazel. To make things worse (for me, better for Hazel), she meets Finn and they hit it off. They started to really hit it off and then Hazel's questioning breaking it off with her boyfriend to kick it with a rock star and her all-time biggest crush. To me, I was like, "No! How disloyal!" and I threw a fit (in my head) about where this story was going. I was saddened by how much it was not like I thought it was! But like I said, kind of my fault for not looking into that!
Anyway, so the rest of the book.... Ahh ummm, still didn't care for it. Okay, so I'm no saint or anything, and I've never been hesitant about a book before because of its language, but this book was just way too crass for me. Okay, anecdote time:
I actually began reading this book because I took it on the plane with me on vacation a few weeks ago. I thought, "Cute book about being on an airplane while I'm on an airplane!" I'm cheesy, I know. So I started reading, and my boyfriend was sitting next to me and he glanced at the book and was like, "What are you reading!?!" because this book is not censored in any way, shape, or form. Cursing, followed by sexual innuendos, followed by more curses, followed by more sexual references and cursing and sex. It was just overwhelming! I've never been bothered by swears or sex in a book before, but this was just a little too much for me and lots of things taken too far. Thrown in an onslaught of pop culture references that I didn't care for and I was ready to put the book down and back away slowly.
Lesson learned: Although YA lit may not always appear age-appropriate, it will still be much more appropriate to read in public places!
I guess the moral of the story is that sometimes it's not a bad thing to look further into books before reading them! I try not to ruin things with mysteries, but this was clearly an open book and I should have checked it out better before jumping in!