Review: Tame, but cute.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 10 1, 2011
Daniel Revelstoke is leaving London with his hotelier parents, and kicking off his college life abroad. It's perfect timing for Daniel, since his latest one-month girlfriend was getting a little too clingy (and even used the `L' word), and Daniel has a particularly delicious weak-spot for American girls. Bring on the University of Oregon!In his first week in the States, Daniel meets and begins an infatuation with Julie - a beautiful and sweet girl whose boyfriend is working at Daniel's parent's resort. Luckily though, Julie's boyfriend is attending university inter-state, and conveniently leaving Julie all on her lonesome, with Daniel's shoulder a prime place to dry her eyes.But an incriminating `Don Juan' email from Daniel's last London ex has Julie wising up to his flirtatious ways. And as if things aren't bad enough . . . Daniel's mother is acting strange and keeping secrets and the family will not be prepared for the explosive reveal that's to come.`Relatively Honest' is the new contemporary romance YA novel from Molly Ringle.This was a great, fun read. It's a contemporary YA romance novel about a British ex-pat moving to America and discovering family secrets while falling in love for the first time in his life.I initially had a small problem with the novel's tepidness. The first line of the blurb labels Daniel as a young `womanizer' - and that word instantly had me picturing a very particular kind of teenage boy. Except Ringle's Daniel Revelstoke is the furthest thing from a `womanizer', and when compared to real-life teen boy anecdotes he comes across painfully tame. Daniel is a self-confessed Casanova, admitting to putting a one-month cap on all his girlfriends and never getting too attached to them.Except as the story unfolds you realize that there's a disconnect between Daniel (and Ringle's) idea of a modern-day teen `womanizer' and the reality of teenager's sex lives today. Daniel admits to Julie, with much embarrassment and self-consciousness, that he has kissed (/snogged) fifty girls. Gasp! More than that he has had a `home run', gone all the way and sexed up . . . four girls! Scandal! Daniel is eighteen, and just come from a fast-track London life. I honestly wasn't raising eyebrows at kissing fifty and shagging four. That's exceedingly tame, and aside from a few probable bouts of glandular fever, not terribly titillating. Considering some of the sexcapade stories I have heard from my male friends (beginning when they were sixteen, if not younger) I really wasn't impressed by Daniel's revelations. Other teen authors have written modern-day YA `rakes' a lot better - Simone Elkeles, Jamie McGuire and Kody Keplinger to name a few.On the flipside of this complaint, is the fact that Daniel is really likable. I was all prepared when I saw the word `womanizer' to have to slog through chapters of his misogynistic revelries until he finds his heart (which is what happened with the books of those above authors). But Daniel isn't really a womanizer at all - so he's instantly adorable and fantastic to read. The fact that he's British is half the fun - being Aussie, there's a little less `dazzle' attached to Daniel's nationality, but I still found it great fun to read the Oregon girls reactions to Daniel's use of the word `jumper'. It was too cute!There is a BIG `twist' to the book - concerning a family secret that will drag Daniel and Julie into its orbit. I did not see this twist coming . . . and while it was a little over-the-top, I still got completely caught up in the big reveal and found myself with a death-grip on my Kindle during the dénouement.