foxxie52's review
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
burialshroud's review against another edition
4.0
I'm super-sad I'm nearing the end of my Making Out re-read. This is book 22 in the series and a Zoey book. From here on out every other book is a Zoey book. This is a very Zoey-centric instalment. She spends the book wending her way back to Chatham Island by train and the book ends with a welcome-back-Zoey party in her honour. I didn't want her to come home. Partly because I hate her and partly because her presence will ruin Lucas and Nina's burgeoning romance. They kiss and one night they both get out of bed, go outside and are drawn to each other from across the island. It's very beautiful. I'll back basically anything my girl Nina decides to do but stealing Zoey's boyfriend is too perfect.
ZOEY THROUGHOUT THIS BOOK: "I'm Zoey, the hero of this book series. I must get back to Chatham Island where all the residents are waiting with baited breath to take orbit around my big, oblivious head. My thoughts are so deep they cannot be contained by a mere aeroplane so it's to the train station for me, Zoey, hero, future Californian and the world's greatest teenager."
Aisha manages to get the truth about Christopher's marriage out of Kendra, in a scene I think of every time I have to go into an attic, where Aisha gets bitten by a spider and throws a vase at poor Kendra. I hate to think what life must have been like for Kendra previously if this life of being pinched and dragged around by Christopher and screamed at by Aisha is preferable. Aisha and Kendra go to a bar so Aisha can use the payphone to track down Christopher's wife, Carina;
"The bartender barely glanced at Aisha's driver's license. "What'll you have?"
"Red wine,"Aisha said recklessly. "Make it a double."
"Make it a what?"
"A double," she said, less certainly.
"What does that mean?""
Claire's stalker is upping his game and slashes all of Claire's clothes. Aaron proves himself to be a useless, unreliable douche whose eyes are now definitely blue. Benjamin thinks he might be going blind again. Kate and Jake may as well not be in the series anymore. Lara is off the booze and her new thing is hating Zoey, which I can definitely get on board with.
Fave bits:
-See above for Aisha ordering wine.
-"Nina had finally fallen asleep at seven in the morning, after re-reading almost the whole Little House on the Prairie series and drinking multiple cups of hot cocoa." I love this and I also love that both Claire and Nina are absolute fiends for cocoa.
ZOEY THROUGHOUT THIS BOOK: "I'm Zoey, the hero of this book series. I must get back to Chatham Island where all the residents are waiting with baited breath to take orbit around my big, oblivious head. My thoughts are so deep they cannot be contained by a mere aeroplane so it's to the train station for me, Zoey, hero, future Californian and the world's greatest teenager."
Aisha manages to get the truth about Christopher's marriage out of Kendra, in a scene I think of every time I have to go into an attic, where Aisha gets bitten by a spider and throws a vase at poor Kendra. I hate to think what life must have been like for Kendra previously if this life of being pinched and dragged around by Christopher and screamed at by Aisha is preferable. Aisha and Kendra go to a bar so Aisha can use the payphone to track down Christopher's wife, Carina;
"The bartender barely glanced at Aisha's driver's license. "What'll you have?"
"Red wine,"Aisha said recklessly. "Make it a double."
"Make it a what?"
"A double," she said, less certainly.
"What does that mean?""
Claire's stalker is upping his game and slashes all of Claire's clothes. Aaron proves himself to be a useless, unreliable douche whose eyes are now definitely blue. Benjamin thinks he might be going blind again. Kate and Jake may as well not be in the series anymore. Lara is off the booze and her new thing is hating Zoey, which I can definitely get on board with.
Fave bits:
-See above for Aisha ordering wine.
-"Nina had finally fallen asleep at seven in the morning, after re-reading almost the whole Little House on the Prairie series and drinking multiple cups of hot cocoa." I love this and I also love that both Claire and Nina are absolute fiends for cocoa.
elainemullane's review
3.0
Feeling nostalgic for the books of my youth, I revisited [author:Katherine Applegate|1036736] and her Islanders omnibus editions (first released as the Making Out series way back in 1993. Yes, I am that old...).
While I found them to be overly-dramatic and a little bit cheesy on second reading, I think they would be loved by teenagers today. YA has taken a much-welcome step in the sphere of fantasy, science fiction and Dystopia, largely, in recent years so for teenagers looking for the traditional romance novels filled with teen-angst and buried secrets, these are a good series to turn to. A little bit Dawson's Creek in it's setting and it's drama, The Islanders is the perfect teen soap opera.
While I found them to be overly-dramatic and a little bit cheesy on second reading, I think they would be loved by teenagers today. YA has taken a much-welcome step in the sphere of fantasy, science fiction and Dystopia, largely, in recent years so for teenagers looking for the traditional romance novels filled with teen-angst and buried secrets, these are a good series to turn to. A little bit Dawson's Creek in it's setting and it's drama, The Islanders is the perfect teen soap opera.
More...