Review: Great debut for Chanel Cleeton!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 15, 2014
favorite quotes“It scared me that it was always like this with him, always a spectacular loss of control. It scared me that he pushed me out of my comfort zone and made me crave more than I should.”why I picked it upIt’s set in London with guys with accents…plotI See London was definitely a good novel. It followed the main character, Maggie, as she starts on a new journey at an international school in London after being rejected from her dream school. In this novel, Maggie finds herself and finds love, and finds out that maybe some of the best things in life aren’t planned. The beginning was a bit slow and hard to get into, but it got better. The beginning was more information dropping than anything, which probably could have been accomplished in another way, but it’s the author’s debut so I wasn’t expecting perfection. Once it did get rolling, though, it rolled. The majority of the novel was captivating and interesting, and kept my attention in the book.Leading ladyMaggie was the main character of the novel. The thing I loved about Maggie was that she was easy for me to personally relate to. She was a smart girl who loved books, and that created a sort of camaraderie between her and me. Although she was a bit iffy with the guys, she really found herself in this novel. At first all she wanted was to fit in, but eventually she found that she didn’t need to change herself to do that. She succumbed to some peer pressure over the course of the novel, but what teen doesn’t?/ I felt like I could have been reading about a real girl in college–that’s how realistic her character was.leading maleThere were two love interests in this novel: Hugh and Samir. Hugh was, for lack of a better word, a distraction. We didn’t learn too much about his character because his character had only on purpose. Therefore, I didn’t enjoy his character too much. He wasn’t bad, by any means, but we didn’t really get to know him much.Samir, on the other hand, was easy to fall in love with. He was kind of a jerk, but he had his own story. He was a real person and that’s what made me like his character. He wasn’t by any means perfect. But he had a unique personality that definitely kept things interesting.romance“You should expect more from some guy than having to fight for his attention. Don’t sell yourself short. You deserve more. You deserve everything.”Although this novel hints at a love triangle, that’s not exactly what I would call it. It’s obvious from the start who she’s going to end up with. There’s the 27 year old Brit and the her-own-age classmate. But it was interesting to see Maggie come to the realization herself, even though it’s obvious to the reader. Nevertheless, it was interesting to see the person Maggie was with with each of the guys, and I can’t wait to see the romance continue in the next novel. But what we saw of Samir and Maggie was sizzling hot with palpable tension. Two words: Kissing Lessons.world buildingI really enjoyed the concept of a international school. In this novel there were a variety of cultures shown, which I found very interesting. It brought a certain depth to the story that I had never read before. It was an interesting setting and I can’t wait to see more of it.conclusionI See London was a great debut for Cleeton. An interesting mix of culture, romance, and the typical high school drama, it’s definitely a novel that you should give a try.