A review by kblincoln
Tempestuous by Kim Askew, Amy Helmes
3.0
This one was not quite to my taste. True, it had over-the-top witty, media-referencing banter, massive Shakespeare allusion, and a heroine who learns the hard lesson of not judging people by outward appearance.
Miranda and her merry band of foodcourt workers are trapped with the popular gang in the mall one night when a snowstorm closes down everything. With only an ineffectual mall cop to chaperone, the kids go a big crazy.
The popular gang take over various stores, they borrow willy nilly from different stores, and Miranda ends up handcuffed to Caleb, a dower boy she'd hardly noticed before.
But this is going to be a night of hijinks. Despite the threat of a mysterious robber, Miranda focuses her attention on getting back at the popular kids; including her former friends and boyfriend who dumped her in a most flagrant way due to an SAT prep scandal.
I think why this didn't work so much for me was that I couldn't get past the necessary suspension of disbelief required by the scenario: dozens of teenagers trapped in a mall overnight pilfering items and food without fear of reprisal? Causing glitter chaos? I just kept cringing whenever the story required them to "borrow" something else. While Miranda was fun, she was definitely a character and not someone I ended up identifying with or feeling like was a real person.
So thumbs up for wacky hijinks and Shakespeare (and truly LOL one-liners) but it wasn't quite what I'm looking for in YA fiction.
This Book's Snack Rating: Doritos for food court humor and that distinctive, spiced flavor of whackiness you either enjoy or don't
Miranda and her merry band of foodcourt workers are trapped with the popular gang in the mall one night when a snowstorm closes down everything. With only an ineffectual mall cop to chaperone, the kids go a big crazy.
The popular gang take over various stores, they borrow willy nilly from different stores, and Miranda ends up handcuffed to Caleb, a dower boy she'd hardly noticed before.
But this is going to be a night of hijinks. Despite the threat of a mysterious robber, Miranda focuses her attention on getting back at the popular kids; including her former friends and boyfriend who dumped her in a most flagrant way due to an SAT prep scandal.
I think why this didn't work so much for me was that I couldn't get past the necessary suspension of disbelief required by the scenario: dozens of teenagers trapped in a mall overnight pilfering items and food without fear of reprisal? Causing glitter chaos? I just kept cringing whenever the story required them to "borrow" something else. While Miranda was fun, she was definitely a character and not someone I ended up identifying with or feeling like was a real person.
So thumbs up for wacky hijinks and Shakespeare (and truly LOL one-liners) but it wasn't quite what I'm looking for in YA fiction.
This Book's Snack Rating: Doritos for food court humor and that distinctive, spiced flavor of whackiness you either enjoy or don't