kellyjcm's review
4.0
Touching story, fast-paced read, Maybe is a character I alternately sympathized with and wanted to lecture; very realistic teen! Fans of books that feature journeys as a coming-of-age technique, like So B. It, will enjoy immensely.
I do wish more had been done with Maybe's relationship with Jess. Additionally, I the incorporation of cooking/serving food. That reminded me of Hope Was Here and The Fortunes of Indigo Skye.
I do wish more had been done with Maybe's relationship with Jess. Additionally, I the incorporation of cooking/serving food. That reminded me of Hope Was Here and The Fortunes of Indigo Skye.
annieotter's review
3.0
UGH.
AKFJKSDJFKLSDJFLJDKLAJSFKLDS
Before I read this book I wanted to hate it. I really did, something about made me think I would hate.
Then, I started reading it and I desperately wanted to like it. It had potiental for me to LOVE the main character.
With her dyed hair and I-don't-care attiude.
But alas, it was not meant to be.
The MC just struck me as a bit dim. I mean, she goes to LA without a job and without really any plan, and then just sits there and does nothing. She only gets by because she finds a old friend and a taco truck. Eh.
It just didn't hold my attention. I wary on the plot and all the characters were a bit faded, like they were just their for fillers. It was weird.
Soooo it was okay. Three stars.
AKFJKSDJFKLSDJFLJDKLAJSFKLDS
Before I read this book I wanted to hate it. I really did, something about made me think I would hate.
Then, I started reading it and I desperately wanted to like it. It had potiental for me to LOVE the main character.
With her dyed hair and I-don't-care attiude.
But alas, it was not meant to be.
The MC just struck me as a bit dim. I mean, she goes to LA without a job and without really any plan, and then just sits there and does nothing. She only gets by because she finds a old friend and a taco truck. Eh.
It just didn't hold my attention. I wary on the plot and all the characters were a bit faded, like they were just their for fillers. It was weird.
Soooo it was okay. Three stars.
lazygal's review
3.0
This is filled with the usual suspects: mother who is over-beautiful and over-married, guys for best friends, girl who doesn't fit in... and yet somehow it all works. Maybe (short for Maybelline) has a life in Kissimmee that isn't enviable, and when she and her friends Ted and Hollywood leave for LA (Hollywood to attend USC, Ted to spend the summer and Maybe to get away from Mom), her life doesn't seem to get much better. Of course, the usual coincidences happen and her life does get better, including that all-important Finding Herself piece. I think MS girls will like it, particularly if they haven't read too many of this type of book before.
jbojkov's review
3.0
Cute book about a young woman trying to find her way in a world that seems set on her failure. She's got a couple of good friends who help her. Funny in parts and touching in others. I would give this to teens who like quirky, realistic fiction that's not too heavy-handed.
showlola's review
2.0
This felt very much like a middle grade author tackling YA with meh results. I still think the premise had promise but no one really rises above cutout characterization and Maybe didn't feel like a high school age kid to me - just a 6th grader with grownup problems.
I haven't read Yee's middle grade books, but I'd be willing to try them. I just don't think she's quite acclimated to YA yet.
I haven't read Yee's middle grade books, but I'd be willing to try them. I just don't think she's quite acclimated to YA yet.
quietjenn's review
2.0
Pretty disappointing, because I like Yee's middle grade novels so much. In a lot of ways this book reads very similar to them, except that the protagonist is older and has more serious problems. And yet, it doesn't feel like, as a character, she is that much more evolved or mature - she certainly didn't feel like a sixteen or seventeen year old to me. I also felt like she - Maybe - is a character to whom things happen and reacts, but does very little proactively. She's really passive when left to her own devices, not taking an active role in the way her live evolves, which doesn't really match what the other characters in the book tell us about Maybe - how she's such an dynamic, individual girl. Finally, there's entirely too much coincidence and things that seem to happen merely as plot devices. At best, said occurrences merely made me role my eyes in a sort of "yeah, right, like that would happen" manner, while at worse, they actually made me angry. So, at least there was some strong response happening. Points for that. Finally (and this is just for Laura), while it did make me want to eat some good Mexican food, I have a hard time with a book - on the foodie level and maybe on any other level - that seriously uses the line "it was like a party in my mouth" to describe the taste of something.
cluelessandrea's review
1.0
This book looked good, but as i read more it became boring,
"maybe" whines througout the whole book, the characters are unrealistic and very annoying. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME
"maybe" whines througout the whole book, the characters are unrealistic and very annoying. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME
nerfherder86's review
5.0
Seventeen year old Maybe, short for Maybelline ( her mother is a former beauty pageant queen and runs a charm school, so naturally she would name her daughter after her favorite makeup!), wants to find her biological father, whom she has never met. Her alcoholic mother has been married 6 times,but none of them were to maybe's dad, and chunky, frumpy Maybe is tired of the constant bullying from the charm school girls and even her own mother. But when she leaves florida for los angeles, things don't go as well as she had planned. Instead she finally finds her true self, with help from her friends, new and old. I loved the character of Maybe and her two best friends, Daniel "Hollywood" the wannabe film director and Ted the pint- sized big-hearted Asian. The 3 of them are hilarious together. The book is also a bit of a love letter to los angeles, and when I finished it I was hungry for real tacos!
eupomene's review
2.0
Completely charming -- a bit of a train wreck at first but then it completely sucks you in. I still recommend her middle grade fiction more -- starting with Millicent Min, Girl Genius -- but this was a fun diversion.