Scan barcode
A review by jugglingpup
Be Dazzled by Ryan La Sala
3.0
To see more reviews check out MI Book Reviews.
I got an ARC of this book.
My biggest complaint about this book is that the book description gives away pretty much every twist and turn of the book. This should shock you that I read enough to ruin the whole book, yet here we are. I was never once at the edge of my seat or interested in what was happening because it had already been laid out for me.
There are three plots: MC’s mom sucks, MC is interested in/upset about a boy, and MC needs to win to get college money. None of them felt fleshed out enough or explored enough to really give me satisfaction.
MC’s mom sucks: so this is simple, his mom is a pretentious jerk. She looks down on him for what he does and constantly tells him. She goes out of her way to emotionally destroy him and abandon him. There is little to no mention of his dad or why his mother had kids in the first place. It just felt really off. I didn’t care about his mom or her antics. She would show up randomly to throw some insults and then disappear for days. She wasn’t consistent enough to really get her plot fleshed out. So the big twist at the end? Not a twist. She didn’t try and she won’t try. Someone more important than her kid spoke so she listened. None of this is shocking.
Boy drama: I never understood why the MC and Luca were together. Luca seemed to be into the MC for reasons beyond looks, but it is never explained why the MC is into Luca. It boils down to just looks, maybe there was some attraction for personality later, but looks are mentioned over and over and over again. It is joked about a few times that Luca is obsessed with how he looks, but I don’t think he is the one who is. Both boys felt shallow and disjointed. Past Luca and current Luca are drastically different and I think part of that is that the narration is from a hurt stand point, but it also doesn’t make sense why they would immediately get back together when nothing had changed. It doesn’t make sense that the break up hit the way it did. Nothing had enough emotions to me, since it was all about how Luca was hot and a distraction. I needed something more to ship them.
Money for school: this is the weakest plot by far. The motivations are constantly told to the reader, but they keep changing. Once it is because of the love of crafting, most of the time it is about money, some of the time about revenge. It is really inconsistent and there really isn’t a resolution to this idea that sounds like it would be the main plot of the book from the first 30%.
Overall, the book just underwhelmed me. I expected more from La Sala. I wanted more. I plan on continuing to read more of his work when he publishes more, I can see how amazing he could be and I have no doubts he will get there. This is just not the book that showcases that well. I have hope though!
I got an ARC of this book.
My biggest complaint about this book is that the book description gives away pretty much every twist and turn of the book. This should shock you that I read enough to ruin the whole book, yet here we are. I was never once at the edge of my seat or interested in what was happening because it had already been laid out for me.
There are three plots: MC’s mom sucks, MC is interested in/upset about a boy, and MC needs to win to get college money. None of them felt fleshed out enough or explored enough to really give me satisfaction.
MC’s mom sucks: so this is simple, his mom is a pretentious jerk. She looks down on him for what he does and constantly tells him. She goes out of her way to emotionally destroy him and abandon him. There is little to no mention of his dad or why his mother had kids in the first place. It just felt really off. I didn’t care about his mom or her antics. She would show up randomly to throw some insults and then disappear for days. She wasn’t consistent enough to really get her plot fleshed out. So the big twist at the end? Not a twist. She didn’t try and she won’t try. Someone more important than her kid spoke so she listened. None of this is shocking.
Boy drama: I never understood why the MC and Luca were together. Luca seemed to be into the MC for reasons beyond looks, but it is never explained why the MC is into Luca. It boils down to just looks, maybe there was some attraction for personality later, but looks are mentioned over and over and over again. It is joked about a few times that Luca is obsessed with how he looks, but I don’t think he is the one who is. Both boys felt shallow and disjointed. Past Luca and current Luca are drastically different and I think part of that is that the narration is from a hurt stand point, but it also doesn’t make sense why they would immediately get back together when nothing had changed. It doesn’t make sense that the break up hit the way it did. Nothing had enough emotions to me, since it was all about how Luca was hot and a distraction. I needed something more to ship them.
Money for school: this is the weakest plot by far. The motivations are constantly told to the reader, but they keep changing. Once it is because of the love of crafting, most of the time it is about money, some of the time about revenge. It is really inconsistent and there really isn’t a resolution to this idea that sounds like it would be the main plot of the book from the first 30%.
Overall, the book just underwhelmed me. I expected more from La Sala. I wanted more. I plan on continuing to read more of his work when he publishes more, I can see how amazing he could be and I have no doubts he will get there. This is just not the book that showcases that well. I have hope though!