Review: Sweet YA with a non cliché storyline
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 19, 2014
Just Like A Musical is a pretty short read, somewhere under the 200 pages and in this case it is a good thing. Often I wish for books to be longer, because it is lacking in detail and such. With this story it is just right. If it would've been longer, the story would've started dragging.Now we have a very varied group of characters. Ruby is a pretty regular teenager, except she has been home schooled, feels like she's been born in the wrong decade and doesn't have any real friends because her overprotective mother likes to keep her inside as much as possible. Besides being beyond overprotective, Ruby's Mom has raised her all by herself because she made a mistake and now the dad is out of the picture.Then we have Mrs. Wheeler and old lady who moved in next door. She was a costume maker for old Hollywood movies, so she quickly becomes Ruby's new best friend. And there is Joshua. Probably the first boy Ruby has ever said more than five words to. After he calls her a moron, she pretty much falls for him. To clarify, Joshua has Tourette Syndrome and Milena Veen approaches it very well, showing us how it affects his daily life.The plot was definitely a bit different. It has all the elements of a coming of age story, including a road trip, though it didn't fall into all the major clichés. There is of course some romance, but that flows very naturally. Just Like A Musical is not a page turner, the focus very much lies on the journey and Ruby's self-discovery rather than on the end point.There was one thing I didn't like that much. Sometimes the narrative wasn't what it should be. A couple of times the author rather sums up what has happened, than showing us what is happening. This creates distance and made it harder to connect with some characters. I would have liked to see more dialogue to keep the flow better.I would recommend Just Like A Musical to all who love sweet YA with a non cliché storyline.*I received a copy from the author in exchange for an honest review*