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undertheteacup 's review for:
Star-Crossed
by Barbara Dee
Aaaaaaaaaahhhh this was so cuuuuuuuuuute. Gosh there was so much to love, where do I start?
First, this story has the most adorable meet-cute ever. You really can't go wrong with flirting while one character is disguised as Darth Vader. The subsequent crush that our POV character develops on her schoolmate Gemma feels very natural and not at all overwrought. It builds up slowly, with Mattie just taking notice of little details about Gemma and experiencing unusual excitement whenever she gets to be around her or her name is mentioned. Many of us will be able to relate to that feeling that there was just something special about a brief interaction with someone, and Barbara Dee conveys that feeling really well.
She also really pulls off the whole Shakespeare thing. The story mirrors that of Romeo and Juliet just enough to be entertaining but without stretching the metaphor too far, and catching the occasional hints at the parallels between the two was really satisfying and amusing. I really appreciated the way Mattie grew and discovered herself through literature/theatre. Not only because it was really meta, but because these are such important tools for so many of us.
The book was very smartly written in general, and avoided pitfalls of shallow characterization. Even though the tensions of Mean Girls vs Losers and Jocks vs Nerds are brought up, no one slots neatly into those categories. Personally I was thrilled to see the lesson that some people just don't like you/aren't your friends, and that's neither the end of the world nor the central conflict of the book. You never do find out why the popular girl didn't invite Mattie to her party.
First, this story has the most adorable meet-cute ever. You really can't go wrong with flirting while one character is disguised as Darth Vader. The subsequent crush that our POV character develops on her schoolmate Gemma feels very natural and not at all overwrought. It builds up slowly, with Mattie just taking notice of little details about Gemma and experiencing unusual excitement whenever she gets to be around her or her name is mentioned. Many of us will be able to relate to that feeling that there was just something special about a brief interaction with someone, and Barbara Dee conveys that feeling really well.
She also really pulls off the whole Shakespeare thing. The story mirrors that of Romeo and Juliet just enough to be entertaining but without stretching the metaphor too far, and catching the occasional hints at the parallels between the two was really satisfying and amusing. I really appreciated the way Mattie grew and discovered herself through literature/theatre. Not only because it was really meta, but because these are such important tools for so many of us.
The book was very smartly written in general, and avoided pitfalls of shallow characterization. Even though the tensions of Mean Girls vs Losers and Jocks vs Nerds are brought up, no one slots neatly into those categories. Personally I was thrilled to see the lesson that some people just don't like you/aren't your friends, and that's neither the end of the world nor the central conflict of the book. You never do find out why the popular girl didn't invite Mattie to her party.