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lorilaws's review
4.0
When I first heard of Supergirl Mixtapes I knew that I had to read it as soon as possible. It takes place in the 90’s and there’s a lot of focus on music. Those are two elements that I adore in any book. So I was very excited. Then I started to hear some very mixed opinions about the book. I’ll admit that I kept moving it down on my TBR after that. Finally, I decided to give it a chance…and I kind of loved it.
I can see where some readers had issues with it, but I was pretty much hooked from page 1. Maria had an interesting voice. She was very unhappy and going through a rough time, but she wasn’t whiny at all. The book starts out with Maria arriving in NYC to live with her absentee mom. Her mom is crap but Maria thinks the sun rises and sets with her. Needless to say, she is very naive, but to me it was totally believable. What child doesn’t want to have absolute faith in a parent. I wish Maria would have had a more concrete resolution with her mother, but once again the way it played out felt realistic to me.
The 90’s element really isn’t as big as I thought it was going to. There’s are a few mentions of Nirvana and Jnco’s but that’s about it. The music mentioned was mostly from the 70’s and 80’s. I went into the book expecting to love those elements and I did like them, but what I really ended up loving was all the Southern elements. The book takes place in NYC, but Maria is from a small town in South Carolina. She meets up with a boy that’s also from a small SC town and he throws SSK –Smart Southern Kids– parties. They have fried chicken, greens, biscuits, and sweet tea. It’s awesome. Really, I adored all the southern elements of it. I really also adored Gram. He was funny, sweet and smart. He also wasn’t the muscle obsessed jock type that seems to be prevalent in YA contemp. It was refreshing.
This book is not at all the light-hearted fun contemporary that the cover might suggest. It really deals with some tough issues like drug addiction, unhealthy relationships, lying, and neglect. My biggest problem with the book is a lot of these issues are brought up but not resolved. I can definitely see why this would drive some people crazy, but I was able to look past it just because I thought the story was so interesting.
I recommend giving the book a chance. I loved it but not everyone is going to. I suggest going into it with an open mind. It’s also a very, very fast read!
I can see where some readers had issues with it, but I was pretty much hooked from page 1. Maria had an interesting voice. She was very unhappy and going through a rough time, but she wasn’t whiny at all. The book starts out with Maria arriving in NYC to live with her absentee mom. Her mom is crap but Maria thinks the sun rises and sets with her. Needless to say, she is very naive, but to me it was totally believable. What child doesn’t want to have absolute faith in a parent. I wish Maria would have had a more concrete resolution with her mother, but once again the way it played out felt realistic to me.
The 90’s element really isn’t as big as I thought it was going to. There’s are a few mentions of Nirvana and Jnco’s but that’s about it. The music mentioned was mostly from the 70’s and 80’s. I went into the book expecting to love those elements and I did like them, but what I really ended up loving was all the Southern elements. The book takes place in NYC, but Maria is from a small town in South Carolina. She meets up with a boy that’s also from a small SC town and he throws SSK –Smart Southern Kids– parties. They have fried chicken, greens, biscuits, and sweet tea. It’s awesome. Really, I adored all the southern elements of it. I really also adored Gram. He was funny, sweet and smart. He also wasn’t the muscle obsessed jock type that seems to be prevalent in YA contemp. It was refreshing.
This book is not at all the light-hearted fun contemporary that the cover might suggest. It really deals with some tough issues like drug addiction, unhealthy relationships, lying, and neglect. My biggest problem with the book is a lot of these issues are brought up but not resolved. I can definitely see why this would drive some people crazy, but I was able to look past it just because I thought the story was so interesting.
I recommend giving the book a chance. I loved it but not everyone is going to. I suggest going into it with an open mind. It’s also a very, very fast read!
nklosty's review
3.0
The idea of moving to NY City to live with your mom, who's hip with the art and music scene, sounds like a great idea. I'm not sure Maria would say so after her stay. The book moved along and was well written, but nothing I'm jumping up and down about.
novelheartbeat's review
2.0
From my blog Auntie Spinelli Reads
I gave this book 2 stars (it was ok) even though it wasn't ok for me because I didn't really like it at all. But there wasn't anything fundamentally wrong with it except for the simple fact that it just wasn't for me. There was pretty much nothing happening for the first 3/4 of the book except a bunch of music jargon - all stuff about bands/singers I either a) don't like, b) don't give an ass rat's about, or c) have never even heard of. So all the talk about music that I'm not into really dragged the story down for me. Until the last quarter or so, that's basically all the book was about. I was bored for the majority of it, but kept reading in hopes of something happening. It never did.
In addition to not being able to connect to the story line, I also couldn't connect with the characters. The main character...Maria (had to look it up, already forgot) has to go through some pretty terrible stuff, but I never felt the empathy I should have for her and her situation. I couldn't relate to her and I felt very detached emotionally.
Anyone who is big into the Eagles, Nirvana, and Patti Smith would love this book. If you don't care, maybe not. But if you were planning to read this, don't scrap the idea just because of me. Who knows, maybe you'll love it like I wanted to. It just wasn't for me.
ASSESSMENT
Plot: 1/5
There was little to no plot at all.
Writing Style: 3/5
Characters: 1/5
World-building: 3/5
Pace: 1/5
I had trouble getting through because I was so bored with it.
Cover: 5/5
I absolutely adore the cover, it's probably my favorite out there. Pity.
Overall rating: 2/5 starfish
I gave this book 2 stars (it was ok) even though it wasn't ok for me because I didn't really like it at all. But there wasn't anything fundamentally wrong with it except for the simple fact that it just wasn't for me. There was pretty much nothing happening for the first 3/4 of the book except a bunch of music jargon - all stuff about bands/singers I either a) don't like, b) don't give an ass rat's about, or c) have never even heard of. So all the talk about music that I'm not into really dragged the story down for me. Until the last quarter or so, that's basically all the book was about. I was bored for the majority of it, but kept reading in hopes of something happening. It never did.
In addition to not being able to connect to the story line, I also couldn't connect with the characters. The main character...Maria (had to look it up, already forgot) has to go through some pretty terrible stuff, but I never felt the empathy I should have for her and her situation. I couldn't relate to her and I felt very detached emotionally.
Anyone who is big into the Eagles, Nirvana, and Patti Smith would love this book. If you don't care, maybe not. But if you were planning to read this, don't scrap the idea just because of me. Who knows, maybe you'll love it like I wanted to. It just wasn't for me.
ASSESSMENT
Plot: 1/5
There was little to no plot at all.
Writing Style: 3/5
Characters: 1/5
World-building: 3/5
Pace: 1/5
I had trouble getting through because I was so bored with it.
Cover: 5/5
I absolutely adore the cover, it's probably my favorite out there. Pity.
Overall rating: 2/5 starfish
jeanwk's review
4.0
Good story, kept me reading. I liked all the music woven throughout the story--the songs, the groups, the instruments, the tapes. What's with all the bad mothers lately?
quietjenn's review
3.0
This is maybe only 2 1/2, since the more I think about things, the more I'm kind of irked. But, it was easy and it dropped a lot of the right notes and references, so. Far less annoying than I feared it would be.
rebus's review
0.25
The writing is horrible and the nostalgia for this time period--when it all went to hell for music--is overbearing. The story is empty and meaningless and goes nowhere.
It's just a total bore.
It's just a total bore.
tiamatq's review
2.0
When Maria was six, her mother, Vic, abandoned her family. Now, at 16 and struggling with depression, Maria has convinced her father and grandmother to let her move in with her mother in New York City. Maria's excited to be in a big city, to get away from her stiflingly small town, to see her favorite bands, and most of all to see her mother again. However, after spending 12 hours in the train station waiting for Vic, it's immediately apparent that Maria isn't in for the fun reunion for which she'd hoped. She shares a cramped apartment with Vic and Travis, her mom's considerably younger boyfriend, is tormented at school, and is slowly realizing that there's more to her mom's past than she ever thought. Maria struggles with her mom's addictions, Travis's attraction to her, and her own depression. The story is fairly slow and uneven, without a strong resolution. While Maria is likeable, the adults surrounding her are not and it's hard to reasonably justify why her father would send her to live with her mother. Brothers evokes a strong sense of place and I appreciated her use of music as Maria's release. However, I think teens may have a difficult time with all the references to bands and places unless they really know their pop culture history. Drug and alcohol abuse are featured in this book, as is a suicide attempt, making this a title more fitting for a high school library.
angelcwrites's review
3.0
Posted on Seashell Reviews at Mermaid Vision Books!
Say the word "mixtape" and my inner 90s child is immediately lost in raptures of joy, while teens today might just answer you with "huh?" Likewise, Meagan Brothers's story isn't one that will connect with teens growing up in the age of iPods and Spotify, but it does resonate for us readers who fondly remember the days of CD releases and radio taping. The early 1990s comes to life in Brothers's writing style, and I adored both the setting and the way the story brought back memories of my early childhood. I also genuinely enjoyed Maria as a character--it was easy to root for her as she struggled to carve out her identity within her family and alonside her music. While the tone of the book itself can seem youthful at times, it does serve to bring one back to those "good old days" of listening to boomboxes and the surprise of hearing one's favourite song on the radio. Is there anything better?
Say the word "mixtape" and my inner 90s child is immediately lost in raptures of joy, while teens today might just answer you with "huh?" Likewise, Meagan Brothers's story isn't one that will connect with teens growing up in the age of iPods and Spotify, but it does resonate for us readers who fondly remember the days of CD releases and radio taping. The early 1990s comes to life in Brothers's writing style, and I adored both the setting and the way the story brought back memories of my early childhood. I also genuinely enjoyed Maria as a character--it was easy to root for her as she struggled to carve out her identity within her family and alonside her music. While the tone of the book itself can seem youthful at times, it does serve to bring one back to those "good old days" of listening to boomboxes and the surprise of hearing one's favourite song on the radio. Is there anything better?
kit_e's review
4.0
I have mixed feelings about this book. I flew through it. The story is interesting and I cared about the main character, Maria, almost right from the word go. I wanted to know what had sent her fleeing from South Carolina, I wanted to know more about her childhood and how the time around her parents divorce went down, and I really wanted to see how she was going to pull it all together. Then I finished the book and I was surprised at how much I found myself NOT liking the book, and I couldn't figure out why. The writing was good, the characters made sense, there was a good story arc, so why was I so turned off? It actually hit me a few days after finishing the book. Here's what I discovered.
It's not that I didn't like the book, it's that I didn't like some of the people in the book. Not that they were written poorly, in fact the opposite is probably true- they were written too well. I actually hate them. So you know, really well done Ms. Brothers. By the end of this book I cared so much about Maria, and so deeply disliked the choices other people (specifically her parents) made, that I was legitimately angry when I finished the book. As if these characters were real people I could go give a talking to.
SPOILER ALERT (do not keep reading if you don't want to ruin the book)
Here's my issue. For a start I like when there are good parents in YA, at least one. Or a good parental figure, but that is not always realistic. I felt like Maria's story was very realistic, and it's unfortunately one about a girl who really doesn't have any great adult role model to turn to. There were so many bad choices that the parents (and grandparents) made in this story that I wanted to reach into the book and smack them. For instance... who in their right mind sends their daughter, who is a known cutter and who just had a meltdown, to live with her absentee mother in NYC who just happens to be a known drug addict. Not only is Maria allowed to go, but at no point does anyone even try to prepare her for what she might find! They give her vague warnings- like her mother "might" not be able to take care of her. I get that Maria (and any teen really) needs to figure out some things for themselves, but i felt like I needed to throw the poor girl a life line. Here's what I wanted to happen... her Dad would say something like "Honey. I know you want to go live with your Mom, and I'm going to give you that chance, but there are some things you need to know. She has struggled with addiction for years and she may not be winning that battle now. You need to be prepared for what you might see when you get there." and then Maria would probably say something to effect of "I'm 17, not 7! I can take care of myself. Just because you don't love her anymore doesn't mean she not my mother" or something equally teenagery. Point being the girl needed a heads up, so that she was at least marginally prepared for what she was going to find.
Of course I know that if Maria had better parental units this story wouldn't work. Which is why I struggled with the my feelings on this book. So well written. Such a good story, even if it is a bit tragic. Maria has pretty great friends (I might love Dory) and she has her head on her shoulders about as well as can be expected. I just wanted to physically leap in the book and start banging heads together! Which is all to say that this is a very good book. You will grow to care about, and hate, the characters. And that's not something that you can say about every book.
It's not that I didn't like the book, it's that I didn't like some of the people in the book. Not that they were written poorly, in fact the opposite is probably true- they were written too well. I actually hate them. So you know, really well done Ms. Brothers. By the end of this book I cared so much about Maria, and so deeply disliked the choices other people (specifically her parents) made, that I was legitimately angry when I finished the book. As if these characters were real people I could go give a talking to.
SPOILER ALERT (do not keep reading if you don't want to ruin the book)
Here's my issue. For a start I like when there are good parents in YA, at least one. Or a good parental figure, but that is not always realistic. I felt like Maria's story was very realistic, and it's unfortunately one about a girl who really doesn't have any great adult role model to turn to. There were so many bad choices that the parents (and grandparents) made in this story that I wanted to reach into the book and smack them. For instance... who in their right mind sends their daughter, who is a known cutter and who just had a meltdown, to live with her absentee mother in NYC who just happens to be a known drug addict. Not only is Maria allowed to go, but at no point does anyone even try to prepare her for what she might find! They give her vague warnings- like her mother "might" not be able to take care of her. I get that Maria (and any teen really) needs to figure out some things for themselves, but i felt like I needed to throw the poor girl a life line. Here's what I wanted to happen... her Dad would say something like "Honey. I know you want to go live with your Mom, and I'm going to give you that chance, but there are some things you need to know. She has struggled with addiction for years and she may not be winning that battle now. You need to be prepared for what you might see when you get there." and then Maria would probably say something to effect of "I'm 17, not 7! I can take care of myself. Just because you don't love her anymore doesn't mean she not my mother" or something equally teenagery. Point being the girl needed a heads up, so that she was at least marginally prepared for what she was going to find.
Of course I know that if Maria had better parental units this story wouldn't work. Which is why I struggled with the my feelings on this book. So well written. Such a good story, even if it is a bit tragic. Maria has pretty great friends (I might love Dory) and she has her head on her shoulders about as well as can be expected. I just wanted to physically leap in the book and start banging heads together! Which is all to say that this is a very good book. You will grow to care about, and hate, the characters. And that's not something that you can say about every book.