Book Review: Being Friends With Boys
Being Friends With Boys
By: Terra Elan McVoy
Published by Simon Pulse
Release Date: May 1, 2012
Genre: YA contemporary
368 pages
Buy it on Amazon, IndieBound
or Barnes and Noble
Source: kindly provided by publisher
My thoughts:
This is my first read by Terra Elan McVoy, though she has several books out. I read this in one day, between loads of dishes and laundry. It's a fun, light book, easy to cruise right through quickly.
The characterization is superb; this is the element of the novel that held my interest enough for me to finish it so quickly. Charlotte is a well-rounded main character, but the characters with whom she interacts are perfectly distinct, with their own unique voices. I half expected the several teen boy characters to run together; they were, however, quite individual and easy to differentiate, which was nice.
Charlotte is a teen girl who, by admission of the title, is friends with a bunch of boys. She and several of the boys are involved in a band, so much of the plot revolves around writing, rehearsing, and performing. Charlotte's role in the band evolves throughout the book, as well as her relationship with several of the boys. This is not, however, one of those books where the girl bounces from boy to boy, thankfully.
This is a great example of a book that well-represents the teen experience, and I think that teen girls will eat it up. For me as an adult, however, the story was simply momentarily entertaining.
Readers should be warned that there is a bit of objectionable language- not many occurrences, but one of the words used by a character purely for shock value is widely regarded as highly offensive. If this sort of thing bothers you, you might want to steer clear.
Source: kindly provided by publisher
My thoughts:
This is my first read by Terra Elan McVoy, though she has several books out. I read this in one day, between loads of dishes and laundry. It's a fun, light book, easy to cruise right through quickly.
The characterization is superb; this is the element of the novel that held my interest enough for me to finish it so quickly. Charlotte is a well-rounded main character, but the characters with whom she interacts are perfectly distinct, with their own unique voices. I half expected the several teen boy characters to run together; they were, however, quite individual and easy to differentiate, which was nice.
Charlotte is a teen girl who, by admission of the title, is friends with a bunch of boys. She and several of the boys are involved in a band, so much of the plot revolves around writing, rehearsing, and performing. Charlotte's role in the band evolves throughout the book, as well as her relationship with several of the boys. This is not, however, one of those books where the girl bounces from boy to boy, thankfully.
This is a great example of a book that well-represents the teen experience, and I think that teen girls will eat it up. For me as an adult, however, the story was simply momentarily entertaining.
Readers should be warned that there is a bit of objectionable language- not many occurrences, but one of the words used by a character purely for shock value is widely regarded as highly offensive. If this sort of thing bothers you, you might want to steer clear.
Summary from GoodReads:
Charlotte and Oliver have been friends forever. She knows that he, Abe, and Trip consider her to be one of the guys, and she likes it that way. She likes being the friend who keeps them all together. Likes offering a girl's perspective on their love lives. Likes being the behind-the-scenes wordsmith who writes all the lyrics for the boys' band. Char has a house full of stepsisters and a past full of backstabbing (female) ex-best friends, so for her, being friends with boys is refreshingly drama-free...until it isn't any more.
When a new boy enters the scene and makes Char feel like, well, a total girl...and two of her other friends have a falling out that may or may not be related to one of them deciding he possibly wants to be more than friends with Char...being friends with all these boys suddenly becomes a lot more complicated.
Charlotte and Oliver have been friends forever. She knows that he, Abe, and Trip consider her to be one of the guys, and she likes it that way. She likes being the friend who keeps them all together. Likes offering a girl's perspective on their love lives. Likes being the behind-the-scenes wordsmith who writes all the lyrics for the boys' band. Char has a house full of stepsisters and a past full of backstabbing (female) ex-best friends, so for her, being friends with boys is refreshingly drama-free...until it isn't any more.
When a new boy enters the scene and makes Char feel like, well, a total girl...and two of her other friends have a falling out that may or may not be related to one of them deciding he possibly wants to be more than friends with Char...being friends with all these boys suddenly becomes a lot more complicated.
Thanks for giving BEING FRIENDS WITH BOYS a read, and for the thorough and honest, lovely review!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by, Terra! :)
ReplyDelete