Tell Me a Story

A tedious slog thanks to pages and pages of exposition. The characters don't speak, they pontificate. Paragraph after paragraph is devoted to describing every single detail, from buckles on shoes to color of eyeshadow. Punctuation errors are common, homophone errors too. The grammar made my head hurt. If you care about the state of written English, stay away.

The story is boy meets girl on summer vacation, boy leaves girl behind to move home, girl ends up moving to boy's hometown, cliffhanger. The only thing original about the book are the character names: Kinzleigh, Ryland, Breyson, Londyn, Presley (girl), Briar (boy), Madleigh, Callea, Konnor. If a character has a popular name spelled normally, there's a very good chance he/she is less than virtuous. There's very little tension; everyone adores everyone else aside from the evil ex-girlfriend and the men who instalust after our heroine (which make the hero angry, natch).

Lots and lots of slut shaming in this one, although nearly every character engages in casual sex as a matter of course so why the name calling? Either you own your sexuality or you don't, and if you do then stop using your sexual freedom to call everyone else a whore. The girls are all cheerleaders, the boys are all football stars, so if you are looking for a more nuanced depiction of gender roles, go elsewhere. In fact, the hero's and heroine's life goals are to be an NFL player and NFL cheerleader respectively.

I finished this because the other reviews referenced the ah-mazing cliffy - well, it's amazing all right. Amazingly far-fetched and disregards the known laws of physics.

This book needed a date with a very good developmental editor and a terrific copy editor before being uploaded to the 'Zon. There are a few moments of genuine emotion that make the reader care, but they are few and far between. And the expository, clunky prose renders them all but invisible.