Review: Two GREAT Short Stories!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 6, 2014
They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  Well, for Troy Alexander, the right picture is worth one thousand dollars AND his ticket home.  All Troy has to do is take ONE good photo of music sensation Ashlyn Sunshine and he can finally go home after making a go of his music opportunity in New York that didn’t turn out.  However, his boss, Giovanni, is much harder to please with this photo than Troy expected.  Troy has tried several different angles and even standing in a dumpster to get the right shot, so far nothing has worked.Ashlyn is minding her own business going into Toys “R” Us to find a toy for her kid brother when she runs into Troy and realizes he has been following her!  However, when she realizes he’s harmless and not stalker material, she agrees to give him his photo if he’ll help her out.  They end up spending the day together getting to know each other and Troy is in awe of how real this pop singer is in person.I really loved reading Troy and his constant conflict of trying to earn this money yet also feeling like slime for hiding out in attempts to get the right picture of this sweet girl.  Her natural persona and her easy nature make her good at keeping up an image, but she’s also a nice kid trying to enjoy herself.It was interesting to see from a teen’s perspective what it’s really like being paparazzi.  I’m sure there are good professional photographers in the business who are respectful of the celebrity’s privacy, but it’s rare to come across these individuals.  All Troy really wants to do is pursue his singing career even after LOTS of rejections.  His personality is nothing like the shady company he works for and despite his desperation in getting a great photo, he really wants to do the right thing.There definitely could’ve been a longer story out of this, but Goldfinch does an outstanding job putting it together in a short story that catches the reader’s interest right away!  I was surprised at how everything worked out, but I truly loved reading about Troy and Ashlyn.  I felt motivated and I went looking for my camera to see if there was anything picture worthy going on around me.  Loved the cover to this one too!My Comments on Chain ReactionSince Take a Picture was a short story, it was a real treat to read this bonus short story also.  I remember these chain notes from high school, but I never participated in them.  I was never superstitious either, but words have power and if the note ever fell into the wrong hands….well the need to have the ground swallow you up was just overwhelming at the time.  Goldfinch captures this experience PERFECTLY here and even though she had me craving for a longer plot in this one, I just love her writing in this!Joy is minding her business trying to have a non eventful kind of day when her friend, Sarah, decides to shove a chain letter her way.  Joy reacts EXACTLY as I would’ve.  She has no interest in participating, but her curiosity gets the best of her and she does respond.  The note does end up in the wrong hands, YIKES, but what happens afterwards is not predictable.  I definitely consider this prequel a standalone even though there are hints to Haunting Joy and I really loved how this short story concludes.  Not something I could relate to with my high school memory, but an enjoyable tale all the same!I felt everything Joy experienced: drama, nervousness, hiding a delicate secret, frustration with the school rumor bully, shyness, desperation, great best friend support, and pleasant surprise at the conclusion.  This bonus short story will have the reader quickly turning pages and it will NOT disappoint!  Cheers for teen boys like Nick who help out without being nosy and for cupcakes with M&Ms;!!I want to thank the author and Amber at [...] for the review ecopy received.  I was not required to write a positive review, but I had fun doing so!  The opinions expressed are my own.