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paperbackstash 's review for:
Wicked Luck
by Shannon Maynard
I was hoping there would be an actual story, but instead anything potentially interesting is buried beneath angsty and badly written YA romance. The dialogue and characters come across as cheesy and lacking any subtle build-up or tension in both relationship and plot.
It starts off right away with romance, making it clear that's the focus point. Unfortunately the two main characters are more obnoxious than anything else, especially Ava with limited common sense who focuses more on a 'lost love' when she crashes on a cannibal filled island without a chance for escape. Yeah, because that's the realistic thing to focus on... She needs everything spelled out for her, can't catch on to simple concepts, isn't an appreciative sort, and ruled by weak hormones. Oh, and of course she has a sketchbook and is a talented artist - how cliche is that becoming?
A major obstacle with the book that sunk it another star is that the lead-up story for Ava is told in her journal, which Dax sneak reads. That's not a bad thing in itself, but it's completely ruined considering the journal is written in italics, and I can't stand reading pages of italics. Italics are meant to be an occasional short-term paragraph, not half the book!
Throw in unrealistic dialogue like "Noooooo" spread around too much, more akin to children's Goosebump thrillers than a YA novel.
You'd think cannibals would be scary but the book makes them... silly. I figured the point would be the life on the island after getting stranded, but the book focuses on this highly unrealistic scenario that led her to the island in the first place. Think of weird soap opera instead of something that makes sense for a teen's life, it almost starts entering YA James Bond territory.
Stranded island themes are usually interesting because a person has to learn to survive and beat the odds - in this case the heroine doesn't need to learn anything since Dax is already an expert hunter and bowsman who is kept alive for his superior skills with the local tribe. The places are already built up so she comes into housing he nicknames 'his castle' with little hardship other than figuring out what happened to her before the island. The island is such a background setting that the story could almost stay the same if you placed the characters in a different location entirely.
The best thing the novel has going for it is the cover, but we've all learned the lesson that you can't always judge a book by its cover.
It starts off right away with romance, making it clear that's the focus point. Unfortunately the two main characters are more obnoxious than anything else, especially Ava with limited common sense who focuses more on a 'lost love' when she crashes on a cannibal filled island without a chance for escape. Yeah, because that's the realistic thing to focus on... She needs everything spelled out for her, can't catch on to simple concepts, isn't an appreciative sort, and ruled by weak hormones. Oh, and of course she has a sketchbook and is a talented artist - how cliche is that becoming?
A major obstacle with the book that sunk it another star is that the lead-up story for Ava is told in her journal, which Dax sneak reads. That's not a bad thing in itself, but it's completely ruined considering the journal is written in italics, and I can't stand reading pages of italics. Italics are meant to be an occasional short-term paragraph, not half the book!
Throw in unrealistic dialogue like "Noooooo" spread around too much, more akin to children's Goosebump thrillers than a YA novel.
You'd think cannibals would be scary but the book makes them... silly. I figured the point would be the life on the island after getting stranded, but the book focuses on this highly unrealistic scenario that led her to the island in the first place. Think of weird soap opera instead of something that makes sense for a teen's life, it almost starts entering YA James Bond territory.
Stranded island themes are usually interesting because a person has to learn to survive and beat the odds - in this case the heroine doesn't need to learn anything since Dax is already an expert hunter and bowsman who is kept alive for his superior skills with the local tribe. The places are already built up so she comes into housing he nicknames 'his castle' with little hardship other than figuring out what happened to her before the island. The island is such a background setting that the story could almost stay the same if you placed the characters in a different location entirely.
The best thing the novel has going for it is the cover, but we've all learned the lesson that you can't always judge a book by its cover.