A review by natcommon
Roman and Jewel by Dana L. Davis
2.0
Thank you to NetGalley for give me an ARC of this book for my honest review.
First of all, I am not the target audience for this book. I understand this but I overall feel like I didn't get the book I was promised. As a theatre kid, I enjoyed the musical references and seeing the few rehersals shown. But we mostly got an underdeveloped romance and drama. I also feel like the author put too many Harry Potter references for no reason and explained too much most of the time, but didn't explain when it was needed. Example: she explained that Jerize's aunt's brother is her dad, but did not explain what a CD (as in Certificate of Deposit) where I feel like teens will know the dad thing much more than what a CD is.
Overall, I would recemmond this to teens in my libary who like these sorts of books (like The Sun is Also a Star or even the Selection) but not to everyone.
(Mild spoilers ahead)
This book was very frustrating to read starting around the 40% mark. The instalove was very real, the romance problematic and everything was just a catty mess. I would have just given it a 3 and say it was just not for me, but it got further away from the musical aspect and more into a sorta love triangle, intellectual property theft and arrest.
First of all, I am not the target audience for this book. I understand this but I overall feel like I didn't get the book I was promised. As a theatre kid, I enjoyed the musical references and seeing the few rehersals shown. But we mostly got an underdeveloped romance and drama. I also feel like the author put too many Harry Potter references for no reason and explained too much most of the time, but didn't explain when it was needed. Example: she explained that Jerize's aunt's brother is her dad, but did not explain what a CD (as in Certificate of Deposit) where I feel like teens will know the dad thing much more than what a CD is.
Overall, I would recemmond this to teens in my libary who like these sorts of books (like The Sun is Also a Star or even the Selection) but not to everyone.
(Mild spoilers ahead)
This book was very frustrating to read starting around the 40% mark. The instalove was very real, the romance problematic and everything was just a catty mess. I would have just given it a 3 and say it was just not for me, but it got further away from the musical aspect and more into a sorta love triangle, intellectual property theft and arrest.