Review: A cute story with lots of great music!
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 12 17, 2012
I read this book this past summer and really enjoyed it! It is a really cute coming of age story which happens to include one of my favorite things, music!Our main character is Casey and she is all sorts of fun, quirkiness, and spunk! Right from the beginning I was able to relate to her love and passion for music. She likes to make up three-song playlists for random people as a way of enhancing their day and musical knowledge. If I wasn't such a shy recluse in high school, I most certainly would have been doing something like that, it's just so fun! Her flat-out love for music was what really made me connect to Casey. However, Casey's love for music, and the fact that she is a fellow band t-shirt, jean skirt, converse wearing girl, are not the only things I liked about her. I also really enjoyed the fact that she was not your normal, gawky, and mostly awkward sophomore. She was brave, confident, a bit of a rebel, and marched to the beat of her own drum. Basically the type of person I try to be now and wish I would have been in high school! She had her own sense of style and she really didn't let what others thought of her hair, clothes, or musical preferences dictate her life. She was also quite snarky for lack of better word. Her spunk was fun but some of the time it was a little over-bearing and made it hard to like her. I get that most teenagers are all angst-y and "OMG adults are so freaking annoying" but I feel like she pushed the attitude just a bit too much, talked back to adults just a bit too much, and cared about her education/responsibilities just a bit too little. Even though this facet of her personality made her a little hard to take sometimes, I still enjoyed her as a main character.Other characters were introduced throughout the book which added a lot of variety and fun to this book! Casey's best friend, Leigh was all sorts of funny! She definitely had her own quirks that made the story so entertaining. We also meet Casey's brother Yull. Their relationship was definitely believable with all their banter back and forth but at the end of it all, they still had each other's backs.The guy that Casey is trying to impress is Alex Deal and he is....eww, just eww. I did not like him a single bit (but that's okay, you're not really supposed to like him)! Through my experiences as a teen and heck, even as a near-adult, I TOTALLY get the whole fall-for-the-bad-boy thing. Most every girl goes through that stage where she wants the hot, tough guy to fall for her. Alex Deal is the one bad relationship we all go through, and even though I didn't like how crappy he treated Casey and how desperate Casey was for his attention, he was very important to the story. His presence, and lack thereof, really helped Casey to grow as a person and eventually learn to move on.This story is full of things that are relevant to what most high schoolers are dealing with today. There's getting over bad relationships and learning to notice the good guys for a change. It's about being unique and brave and learning to fight through your fears. It's also about finding confidence and learning to stay true to yourself. I just think there were many wonderful, little messages that readers can take from this story!Overall this was a cute book! There were certainly a few things I could have done without, like the overly snarky attitude of our main character, but for the most part it was a great coming of age story. Most of the characters, the premise, and the things you can take from this book are all fantastic. But if I'm being 100% honest, the music is easily my favorite part! If you're looking for a quick, fun, and musically-infused book to read, I definitely suggest Casey Barnes Eponymous!