August 03, 2012

Dante's Girl by Courtney Cole




Description: I have spent every summer since I was ten years old with my father in London. Every summer, since I was ten years old, has been uneventful and boring. Until this year. And this year, after a freak volcanic eruption strands me far from home, I have learned these things:

1. I can make do with one outfit for three days before I buy new clothes. 
2. If I hear the phrase, “You’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto,” even one more time, I might become a homicidal maniac.
3. I am horribly and embarrassingly allergic to jellyfish.
4. I am in love with Dante Giliberti, who just happens to be the beautiful, sophisticated son of the Prime Minister of a Mediterranean paradise. 
5. See number four above. Because it brings with it a whole slew of problems and I’ve learned something from every one of them.

Let’s start with the fact that Dante’s world is five light-years away from mine. He goes to black-tie functions and knows the Prime Minister of England on a first name basis. I was born and raised on a farm in Kansas and wear cut-off jeans paired with cowboy boots. See the difference? But hearts don’t care about differences. Hearts want what they want. And mine just wants to be Dante’s girl. My heart just might be crazy.


Epic Wins:
  • Reese (Part A)- What I loved most about Reese was her sense of humor. Her thoughts were pretty funny. No matter how pathetic her whining was she could always recognize that level of pathetic, which led to some funny commentary. Plus she had some sayings that were snort worthy. 
  • Summer- Beach, sand, and sunsets. They all make for the perfect summer setting. Not a bad place to be stranded.
  • The Slight Mystery- This strand of mystery is hard to pick up on and it could totally blow you away if you don't pick up on it. By some miracle I picked up on it about half way through and it became the thing I held onto through the story. 
  • The Climax- It totally through me off. I mean I knew something was going to happen but I hadn't put the pieces together fast enough. Seriously, where did that come from? It was intense. 
  • Message 1- Love is the most important thing. 
  • Message 2- Everything will be okay, eventually. 
  • Message 3- Trust your creeper vibe, always. 
Epic Fails:
  • Reese (Part B)- She was a whiner and seemed to contradict herself a lot. Sure she was love sick but she gives us girls a bad name when she laments every other page. Plus she seemed all too willing to forgive Dante's treatment of her. Okay rant over. 
  • Dante- He was God like and all but Reese put him on far too high of a pedestal. I have a few complaints about his character but I am probably just being nit picky so I'll leave them out. 
Overall: This book confused me. It was trying to be an epic action-packed book but it would careen into whinny romantic land far too often. Yes there were explosions but the stuff in-between was really hard to get through. 
it wasn't a bad book, in fact it was quite funny at time, but it just didn't do it for me. 

Adieu, 
-Kare

3 comments:

  1. I'm seeing reviews for this book pop up here and there and I've heard pretty good things about it and it does seem to be right up my alley, thanks for your input. I love books like this mainly because they're realistic, a lot of girls do that, put guys on pedestals, and that book is bringing that out.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I like the idea of a girl going to London every summer and having a crush on this unattainable boy, but I agree with you of how I find it kind of a turn off when a girl puts the male character on a high pedestal, especially if her treats her badly. I'm really curious to see the surprising twists and I love that there were funny parts. Maybe I'll squeeze this in for a Summer read, thanks Kare! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I loved this book. While a contemporary it did make a very nice fairy tale kind of read. Not entirely realistic, but who cares?! It was adorable, funny, sweet, scary, and pretty true to teenage antics, minus the loaded Prince. :)

    ReplyDelete

Let me know what you think was an epic win or an epic fail, or if you feel like it make robot sound like beep beep boo bop. Really I could careless just keep it clean.