Reviews

Jesse's Girl by Miranda Kenneally

7markers's review against another edition

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lighthearted
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
Loved this so much!

casieslaybaugh's review against another edition

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3.0

Love/hate relationship lol

savetris's review against another edition

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4.0

It didn't involve sports, for a change. I could really relate to Maya's story more than any YA I've read in a while. I woulda loved it but the romance was a little icky in some places. Really, I was looking forward to mentions of Jordan's former football teammates and bestfriends more than whether Maya and Jesse end up together. Some views in this book also kinda make fans look bad, but it might just be me getting defensive. I finished this a while back and I've had a lot going on so my thoughts are all over the place and this is the best I can say right now.

noura_rizk's review against another edition

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4.0

Sam's sister *_* this book was really good, plus you ganna know what happens with our beloved characters Jordan and SAM ;)

mehsi's review against another edition

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5.0

4.5 stars. This was a really sweet, adorable book with really likeable characters!

It just has everything that anyone would want in a book. Cute romance (which start off at the wrong foot, more on that later), music, running away for a day and having a great time, friendship and much more.

I was delighted that the romance didn't start off immediately. While I don't mind it happening, it is refreshing that it isn't instant love, but instead starts with quite a bumpy start for the two of them. I must say that I laughed so hard, since Maya is one girl you don't want to screw with, she has an arsenal of words ready, though you can also see underneath the words, and underneath the awesome clothes (yes, I really loved them, finally a main character who isn't dressed in standard attire), there is a girl there who was quite a bit shattered with how Jesse acted the first time. But then again, I can also imagine why Jesse would act this way. I can imagine that if you are popular and you know that fans can get a bit (well, ok, a lot) extreme, that you won't be happy that when you think you have the room to yourself that you find yourself looking at a girl.
Of course Jesse could have used some tact and not immediately have jumped to conclusions that Maya is a stalker or a scary fan.

But after that bumpy part, and some other bumpy parts in the first day, you could just see the sparks flying and I was just squealing in happiness. Jesse and Maya do really match together so well, they are great together and I was just dancing around from happiness.
Of course at times I just wanted to shake both Maya and Jesse for being complete idiots. Due to experiences they both had they are distrustful and also in Jesse's case, he jumps to conclusions. I can imagine why, but I still just wanted them to get together and try it out. Not immediately say no.

The first day (the day that Maya was supposed to shadow Jesse) was terrific and I just laughed so hard at a lot of things, and I was also delighted to see them opening up to each other. Jesse helping out Maya with her guitar and her vocals (which she apparently needed). Those shadow days sound pretty awesome, even if you get a dud as a day, it must still be fun to do something else for a change, and who knows, maybe you get lucky and have a fantastic day.

Maya was a great character, and like I said, I loved her sense of clothing, it is a style I also love wearing at times, so I was just cheering happily. Often characters just wear jeans/skirt + t-shirt/top, so this was refreshing, also considering that if characters wear clothes like Maya, they are often stereotyped as goth or emo or something else in that category. Maya on the other hand is just a normal girl who loves rock and singing and guitars.
Though not only that, I loved that she adored cars and bikes. It is something I also adore so I could relate to the girl and every time she squealed for a great bike or a car I was squealing as well.
I loved how hard she worked on getting somewhere, a lot of people might have given up, but she had so many people motivating her, and her own motivation was huge, it was amazing to see her fight to get somewhere.
I loved her with Jesse, she was able to throw back words to his stuff, she was able to listen to him, to care for him, she wasn't that much fazed by the fact that he was a superstar. A lot of people might feel unworthy, or try to grab this chance to get somewhere themselves, but not Maya. Oh no. She was terrific with this kind of thing.

Jesse, ah Jesse, such a wonderful and sweet guy and I felt so sad for him a lot of times through the book. Super star, it sounds so fantastic, it sounds like the life everyone would want, but instead it is causing Jesse quite a bit of trouble, not only with the fact he can't go outside without guards/escort, but also with his family. At times I just wanted to hug him and tell him things would be all right, that he would find a place he belongs, that he would find more happiness.
Of course, at times he was just mean or rude, but as we slowly find out more and more about his past, I just couldn't be angry with him.

The competition and what happened there. Wow. I won't say much more, as that might spoil things, and I don't want people to know what happens there.

I was also delighted to see Jordan back again in this story! Yay! And also references to other characters. It is always fun when characters come back, or are referenced back. It gives the book an extra spark and makes it extra fun to read. :)

The story was really and I enjoyed it a lot. Lots of music, references to good music, a bit of drama, quite a bit more of romance and much much more!

I saw that there will be more books about Hundred Oaks in the future, I can't wait, hopefully they will all be great and I hope that we will meet older characters again.

I would recommend this book to everyone. Of course I would recommend that people also read the other books, otherwise you might just miss the references. And those references just make the book extra fun!

Review first posted at http://twirlingbookprincess.com/

dani_bugz's review against another edition

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3.0

Jesse's Girl was a light, fun, predictable, holiday read. It's not anything special, but hey I enjoyed it and if you're looking for that sort of thing then give it a go!

cupcakegirly's review against another edition

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4.0

4.5 Stars!

Miranda Kenneally is a master at writing Book Boys and I love every single one of hers!

If Ferris Bueller's Day Off and American Idol got married and had a baby, Jesse's Girl would be it. (And it would be love at first sight for me.)

This story has all of the elements I've come to love in a Miranda Kenneally book: Smart, feisty female MC, relateable family dynamics, a cute boy and a swoon-worthy romance.

Maya has big dreams, ones she's determined to achieve no matter what while Jesse struggles to enjoy the life he's created. I enjoyed watching the two of them navigate their day together, learning about each other and even discovering new things about themselves. They bring out the best in one another which was refreshing. And of course I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED seeing a certain older brother and his girlfriend again too!

Fans of the Hundred Oaks series will not be disappointed!

amyma's review against another edition

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4.0

Sweet, quick read. YA, not deep, just a fun story.

randomly_kait's review against another edition

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5.0

You know I wish that I had Jesse's GIIIIIIRRRLLL--"

Oh, uh, *AHEM* hello there, fancy meeting you here... Anyway...

The cover of this book is FANTABULOUS, and Jesse likes Keith Urban, which gives it bonus points right away... But those aren't the only reasons why I liked this book.

I 'll tell you right now that throwing together a punk-rock, 80's music singing girl, and a country boy was a fantastic idea... Especially since this girl claims to hate country music.

This book only took me about 3 hours or so to read, which is fantastic because I've been having a reader's block of sorts, where it takes me forever to finish a book, if I even make it that far

I loved Maya. I really did. I think we could be BFFs. I mean, she loves funnel cakes as much as I do! But seriously, she reminded me of a combination of Maya from Girl Meets World, Eve Rosser from Morganville, and Abby Sciuto from NCIS. It was fantastic. She was so confident in herself {besides her Gabriella Montez/Ally Dawson stage fright, that she ended up overcoming} and she wore all these crazy cool punk rock outfits, that I don't think I would ever be brave enough to try.

I also LOVED the fact that the chapter titles were song titles {I was proud of myself because I knew almost all of them}

I'm super glad that Maya had such a great relationship with her family. They supported her 100%, and they would do anything to help her out. There was no big family drama going on anywhere, no resentment of siblings, or anything like that, which I thought was pretty cool.

Maya and Jesse had a lot of trust related issues to work through. They were both guilty of blaming and pre-judging each other over something that someone else did, and I understand why they felt the way they did. Once bitten, twice shy and all that, but it still hurt my heart to see them going through that.

I do kind of wish that we had been able to get a glimpse ahead to when Maya is finally allowed to participate in Wannabe Rocker. I mean, all the anticipation leading up to the decision of her holding off for a year, it kills me.


You can also check out this review and others over on randomlykait.blogspot.com