Release Date: May 8, 2012
Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books
Rated: YA 15+
Format: eGalley
Source: NetGalley
Buy: Amazon ❘ The Book Depository
Goodreads ◆ Website
It’s the summer before senior year and the alluring Angel is ready to have fun. She’s not like her best friend, Inggy, who has a steady boyfriend, good grades, and college plans. Angel isn’t sure what she wants to do yet, but she has confidence and experience beyond her years. Still, her summer doesn’t start out as planned. Her good friend Joey doesn’t want to fool around anymore, he wants to be her boyfriend, while Angel doesn’t want to be tied down. As Joey pulls away, and Inggy tours colleges, Angel finds herself spending more time with Inggy’s boyfriend, Cork. With its cast of vivid and memorable characters, this tale from the Jersey shore is sure to make some waves.
When I caught a glimpse of the cover, Jersey Angel perked my interest. Sure, I'm not a fan of the cover (it's one that I certainly don't want to be caught carrying!), but it screamed S-U-M-M-E-R at me, and so I thought, why not?
Well...
It wasn't too bad, I'll give you that. I read the whole thing in one sitting, because it's quite a short book. The writing was great, really good actually. Beth Ann Bauman really grabs you in with the descriptions of summer and Angel's life. The plot however, seemed to be non-existent. When I try to recall what happens in the book, my answer is: not too much. I can remember little slivers of big things happening, but nothing too major that makes me go, "OH MY GOD, that happens in the book!".
As far as YA heroines go, Angel is my least favorite. And favorite shouldn't be in that sentence. I'm sorry, but I HATED her. I liked her best friend Inggy, but she I loathed. I hate to use this word, but the only word I can think to describe her is as a SLUT. Oh god, I'm sorry I ruined the review with the word, but really, the only thing she seems to be focused on is sex, sex, and oh yeah did I mention? more sex. She literally at one point mentions that she can't count the amount of guys that she's slept with. Oh yeah, and she's what? 16? It's quite a scary fact.
Cork, that jerk. Okay, I don't know Inggy seriously bothers to hang out with Angel and DATE Cork. They are SO not worth it. Joey is sweet, yes, and MUCH better than those two. But it seriously makes me grimace with the amount of cheating and going-behind-Inggy's-back this novel has. I don't know what made Angel think that it was okay to sleep with your best friend's boyfriend periodically, and continue to do so while he's still dating her and she's still hanging out with you, but *growls* I give up...
If you haven't seen me mention it previously in this review (then I'd consider you getting your eyesight checked out), this book contains a lot of sex. Okay, I for one being a teen, can handle some level of "hot" scenes, and brief mentions of sexual activity. I found myself skimming over paragraphs, eager to finish it off, because there is a LOT of it in this book (basically Angel's whole summer) and even though it's not too graphically described, there are descriptions in there.
Overall, I found Jersey Angel to be that book that you either gotta love or hate. I'm sorry to say that I, despite the author's magnificent writing which I will surely be checking out more in the near future, didn't enjoy this book, but that doesn't mean that you won't. I'd definitely recommend this to fans of Jersey Shore the TV show though!
If you like this, try...
- Sometimes It Happens by Lauren Barnholdt ◆ Goodreads
- After the Kiss by Terra Elan McVoy ◆ Goodreads
Hm. Great review, in the sense that you give us a sense of what works and what doesn't. We're glad to hear that the writing is so good, because it means the author will probably write more -- and maybe the next topic/character she tackles will be more in line with your tastes. Truthfully this book probably wouldn't appeal to us either, but we can totally see some teens really getting into it.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry to hear you didn't like this! The main character sounds horrible! Who could do that to their supposed best friend?! I already don't like her! Or Inggy's 'boyfriend' either! o_o Great review though!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't help but notice the countdown clock to Clockwork Princess! I am so excited for it too! I'm Team Will all the way!!! :D
Oh god I read the synopsis before the review and I was already like "Ohhhkay, so I see the main character is going to be a whore .. " And then I read your review and I'm like of course. LOL. It sucks when the main character is terrible because it pretty much ruins the whole book ! D:
ReplyDeleteThanks for following on my blog btw, I'm a new follower as well! (:
Awww too bad you didn't like it--not that I blame you because Angel's actions are pretty...scandalous. But I've got an ARC sitting on my table so I'll probably get around to reading this sometime soon.
ReplyDeleteGreat review!
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