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A review by liralen
Skinny by Laura L. Smith
2.0
Teen-issue Christian fiction is almost uniformly terrible. I say 'almost' because I'm sure there's something out there that isn't. Somewhere. Maybe. (I will note that I am not even remotely the target audience for this. But still.)
Imaginary shelf: why-do-i-read-this-crap
The predictability is kind of off-the-charts here. Melissa gets stressed, loses a lot of weight very unhealthily, is dumped, is diagnosed with an eating disorder, and realises that Jesus loves her and the Lord doesn't want her to starve. Oh, and her boyfriend wants her back.
Imaginary shelf: jesus-saaaaves
On the subject of the boyfriend: Making a sloppy cardboard cutout, painting it with a football uniform, and pasting a southern accent over its lips does not an interesting boyfriend make.
Imaginary shelf: cardboard-boytoy
One of the plotlines involves Melissa trying out for dance-team captaincy. None of the other characters are fleshed out enough to give any idea of who might be likely candidates, and we don't find out in the book who is named captain or lieutenant. (Imaginary shelf: farrier-my-plot-needs-shodding) Perhaps there was originally a sequel planned? At a guess, it would go something like this: Melissa is named lieutenant, despite being a lowly freshman. But being lieutenant is hard, and some of the girls don't respect her because she's only a sophomore, andwill she ever be as good as Jesus? (Oops, sorry, that was Elsie Dinsmore.) Anyway, the captain breaks her ankle or something, and Melissa has to take over, and her boyfriend's talking about dumping her again until football season is over, oh noes -- and then Melissa has a chat with God again and writes out some Bible verses and realises that God made her lieutenant for a reason and suddenly everyone respects her. And her cardboard boyfriend comes back. The end.
Imaginary shelf: what-the-hell-am-i-doing-i-have-work-to-do
Imaginary shelf: why-do-i-read-this-crap
The predictability is kind of off-the-charts here. Melissa gets stressed, loses a lot of weight very unhealthily, is dumped, is diagnosed with an eating disorder, and realises that Jesus loves her and the Lord doesn't want her to starve. Oh, and her boyfriend wants her back.
Imaginary shelf: jesus-saaaaves
On the subject of the boyfriend: Making a sloppy cardboard cutout, painting it with a football uniform, and pasting a southern accent over its lips does not an interesting boyfriend make.
Imaginary shelf: cardboard-boytoy
One of the plotlines involves Melissa trying out for dance-team captaincy. None of the other characters are fleshed out enough to give any idea of who might be likely candidates, and we don't find out in the book who is named captain or lieutenant. (Imaginary shelf: farrier-my-plot-needs-shodding) Perhaps there was originally a sequel planned? At a guess, it would go something like this: Melissa is named lieutenant, despite being a lowly freshman. But being lieutenant is hard, and some of the girls don't respect her because she's only a sophomore, and
Imaginary shelf: what-the-hell-am-i-doing-i-have-work-to-do