your best american girl by whereagardenwas
Title: 5/5 I think the title fits well. Personally, I found that it perfectly showed how overwhelming it can be trying to stick to your culture and adopting one that is sort of forced on you.
Cover: 4/5 I love the simplicity of the cover. For the most part, I think it reflects the story pretty well.
Blurb: 3/5 It could use some work. After really sitting down to read the story, I felt the blurb didn't give me a clear indication of what it was about at all. We just get a brief bit of the plot and not really the full scope. I'm not saying give us a bunch of spoilers, but make it match just a bit better.
Plot: 3/5 I'll have to admit that halfway through the story, things started getting just a little far-fetched. While I still enjoyed the story, there were times where I just couldn't fathom a bunch of high schoolers getting wrapped up in such things. The story starts really well. Part of me does think that the plot point of a very wealthy teenager asking his fellow classmate to help track down his missing sister when he could just hire a professional is a little out there, but I still rolled with it. I think where things get a little twisty turvy for me is when the action to explanation ratio gets thrown off. For a lot of the story, it feels like none of the character's actions get a proper explanation. I think that's my main critique of the plot.
Pacing: 3/5 Naturally, it could use a little work. I feel we did begin to move rapidly in the second half of the story. I still enjoyed it, but I can't overlook that we did start to hop around quite a bit. This also has to do with what I mentioned earlier about actions not having any explanations. While we're going from thing to thing, there's never a proper explanation for any of it. I definitely think the author could have slowed a bit and even provided some filler in there to help round everything out a bit more.
Character Development: 4/5 Not bad. At one point, the MC starts to get wrapped up with the "cool kids" and begins to change. I find that pretty realistic as people are naturally impressionable and it's easy to lose yourself in the crowd. I also think the author does well in showcasing her identity fight. I definitely don't think the MC hated who she was, but as a POC who grew up around a lot of caucasian kids, I can admit that it's very easy to get into a mindset where you begin to somewhat hate who you are because of your ethnicity and race. I think the author handled that extremely well. Past that, the development after is amazing. The moment where the MC realizes just how she's been acting is golden and I love that she had to struggle to get to that point.
Overall Comments: Overall, I did really enjoy the story, personally. Despite all the technical things I said above, I did really like it. I loved how the author chose a root theme which was racism, prejudice, and discrimination, and how they were able to make the characters real in that aspect. Especially today, a lot of things have been happening to people who are considered "different" because of their race and ethnicity. I love how the author doesn't shy away from that in their story. Not only that, the writing was done really well. Sometimes, it can be hard to find a good story that you can't put down and that's what I got with this one.
It's truly worth the read.
Sky
Team Of Dreams
ESTÁ A LER
Aspire Magazine - May 2021 - Team of Dreams
Não ficçãoThe official magazine of the Team Of Dreams This month's theme: "to enjoy" We want new and experienced authors to become more comfortable in their own skins as writers and poets. To this end, it is our mission to offer activities, education, and con...
