Publication Date - 24th May 2012
Paperback - 400 pages
Genre - Young Adult/Contemporary Romance
Source - Received from publisher for review
Rating - 2 out of 5: It was ok.
Reviewed by - Chrissie
Book Info - Welcome to the dorkside. It's going to be a bumpy ride...
Jeane Smith's a blogger, a dreamer, a dare-to-dreamer, a jumble sale queen, CEO of her own lifestyle brand and has half a million followers on Twitter.
Michael Lee's a star of school stage and playing field. A golden boy in a Jack Wills hoodie.
They have nothing in common but a pair of cheating exes. So why can't they stop snogging?
My Thoughts - I was really looking forward to reading this book - I mean, as a blogger myself, what could be more interesting to read about than a teen blogging sensation? But, I ended up having some really mixed feelings about this one. It's not that I hated the book, but I didn't like it much either. If I had to describe my feelings about Ardorkable I would probably use the word 'neutral'.
This story is told from alternating points of view of the two main characters - Jeane and Micheal. I enjoyed the way the story was laid out and it helped to show just what polar opposites these two characters are. The reader often gets each character's thoughts on the same event and at times it was laugh-out-loud funny that they perceived the event in such different ways. These characters really are chalk and cheese. What I did find slightly strange is how when Michael and Jeane are thinking about each other, they use the other character's full name all the time. Not once does Jeane think of Michael as, well, Michael. It is always Michael Lee. I don't know why but this just bugged me a bit whilst reading this book.
Unfortunately, for a large portion of the book, I found Jeane to be pretty unlikeable. She is proud of the fact that she is a dork, this being the reason that she started her blog called Adorkable. But she is so judgemental of everybody around her and thinks that she is so much better than everybody else at her school. She is very prickly towards others and isn't afraid to speak her mind, even if she knows that it will hurt somebody's feelings. But, as Michael, and therefore the reader, get closer to Jeane, it is obvious that this prickly and judgemental demeanour is a protective barrier. At the heart of the matter, Jeane is a lonely girl who just wants to be loved and she becomes a much more mellow and likeable character as she lets Michael into her life.
Michael is an ok character. As with the book as a whole, my feelings towards Michael are pretty neutral. He trys very hard to keep everybody happy but he comes across to the reader as quite bland. The one thing that I did really like about him was the way that he is able to stand up to Jeane, despite the fact that she is a force to be reckoned with. He doesn't change a single thing about the way he dresses or acts, even though he knows that these things go against everything that Jeane stands for.
The storyline in itself wasn't particularly interesting and, for large portions of the book, nothing much really happens other than Jeane and Michael sneaking around behind their friends backs and kissing. Oh, and bickering, a lot! Although I will admit to loving the bickering between the two of them - this in particular was a lot of fun to read. But, and this is a big but, as the story nears its end, Jeane and Michael grow as characters and do a lot of soul searching and I loved the way the story ended. The author even managed to squeeze a tear or two out of me at the end!
Summary - A book that has a lot of potential but it doesn't fully deliver. There are some fun moments that had me laughing out loud but overall it was a pretty average book.
Other reviews of this book:
Fluttering Butterflies / Jess Hearts Books / Missy's Reads and Reviews
This book counts towards the following challenges:
Book #36 for 2012 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge
6 comments:
Bummer the synopsis and cover look ed good, but if the story line is boring and you dislike one of the main characters..it makes for one sad reader.
Kimba - Yeah, I was pretty disappointed with this one. I had such high hopes...
Pity. The blurb and cover had me hooked, but I'm looking for more than just "bleh" neutrality in my books. (As I know you are).
Hi Shelagh :) You never know, this might be one of the few books we disagree on ;)
I enjoy YA contemporaries but I can't help but notice that there really isn't too much constantly going on in them.
I agree with you on this one. It was quite slow-moving--interesting that the "snogging" described in the blurb doesn't occur for a good few hundred pages! Not to mention that Jeane is *very* hard to identify with initially, although I did warm to her in the end.
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