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Thursday, November 28, 2013

Epic Fail by Claire LaZebnik: A Review


BOOK TITLE: Epic Fail

ISBN: 9780062093257, 9780061921261

AUTHOR: Claire LaZebnik

GENRE: Fiction/Romance

NUMBER OF PAGES: 180

FORMAT: ePub

SERIES / STANDALONE: Standalone

SUMMARY:

At Coral Tree Prep in Los Angeles, who your parents are can make or break you.

Case in point:

- As the son of Hollywood royalty, Derek Edwards is pretty much prince of the school--not that he deigns to acknowledge many of his loyal subjects.

- As the daughter of the new principal, Elise Benton isn't exactly on everyone's must-sit-next-to-at-lunch list.

          When Elise's beautiful sister catches the eye of the prince's best friend, Elise gets to spend a lot of time with Derek, making her the envy of every girl on campus. Except she refuses to fall for any of his rare smiles and instead warms up to his enemy, the surprisingly charming social outcast Webster Grant. But in this hilarious tale of fitting in and flirting, not all snubs are undeserved, not all celebrity brats are bratty, and pride and prejudice can get in the way of true love for only so long.

REVIEW BY: Dhivya Balaji

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/20539669-dhivya-balaji

HOW I GOT THIS BOOK: A friend (chic-lit fan) lent me her e-reader to read this book.

REVIEW:

          There is something inexplicably relaxing about reading a chic lit. In hectic schedules, for fans of strictly story bound and content-heavy books titles, chic lit novels come as a breather. So I took up this novel as a friend suggested. And to be honest, it was nothing more and nothing less than expected.

          The story is a first person narrative of Elise, who has moved into a new town. Amidst three sisters and parents who are teachers of her school, Elise finds it hard to adapt, even though she and her elder sister are immediately absorbed into a hip group of friends. But Elise and Juliana are not star struck even though their classmates are off springs of famous movie stars and TV personalities.

          Elise finds herself attracted towards the outcast Webster, who is, for some reason avoided by his classmates and the school in general. She also thinks the star kid of the school, Derek is an obnoxious jerk. But as is expected in such novels, her notions are soon challenged and prince charming wins her hand in a happy ending.

          Basically, the book does not have any defined, serious plot. It is actually about a set of kids who face situations related to high school. There is an underlying message of adapting to new environments. But it is more about a romance strain between the lead and the star kid.

          Characterization is totally relatable and believable. There are no over the top heroics or fantastic elements. Even misunderstandings are acceptable. The lead is down to earth and her equation with her siblings is thoroughly life like.

          The author’s writing style is fluid, with no jargon or words that demand a dictionary to be made sense of. The sentences are small, breakable and not convoluted. The style is pleasant on the mind and easily visualized in the reader’s mind without too many descriptive words.

          The book is like looking through the diary of a teenage girl who has managed to record the events of a few days in her life in excruciating detail. And as is, we aren’t able to help the feeling of an abrupt end with not all problems solved. It seems (unintentionally so) that the author rushed up the ending a bit.

WHAT I LIKED: The characterisation, writing style, simple plot

WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER: The abrupt end, and the explanation of events that have no obvious relevance to the plot.

VERDICT: Go for it, if you want to read a smooth, light novel.

RATING: 3.5/5 (that is because there was no real purpose/plot. The book is otherwise good in its story and writing.)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

          Claire lives in Los Angeles with her TV writer husband and four children. She is the author if the novels: If You Lived Here, You’d Be Home Now, The Smart One And The Pretty One, Knitting Under The Influence and Same As It Never Was. She is also co author of Overcoming Autism and Growing up on the spectrum. You can visit her online at www.clairelazebanik.com

EDITIONS AVAILABLE: Digital, Paperback

PRICE: Rs. 250.60 for kindle edition

BOOK LINKS: http://www.amazon.com/Epic-Fail-Claire-LaZebnik-ebook/dp/B004NNUWWQ

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