Review: Potential is There
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 09 30, 2013
I think I would've liked this book if it were written differently. For the first time in a long time (so long I can't even remember the last time) I read a Young Adult book that's actually different... both in a bad and in a good way.So let's start off with the bad: Chessie. I honestly did not like any part of her. At first I thought I would totally love her because she kept talking about her ginormous breasts in a funny way. Funny/witty female protagonists are always a plus for me. However, Chessie's drive to get Lloyd to notice her went a little overboard in my opinion. Okay it wasn't just a little. It went REALLY overboard. Every chapter involved one of Chessie's plans backfiring. I'm serious, every chapter was the same as the last one. It was tiring seeing the same thing over and over again. I felt sorry for and annoyed at Chessie for being so obsessed on getting his crush to notice him. Chessie getting embarrassed constantly made the book so predictable even before I reached the halfway mark. Chessie's definitely a go-getter and I liked that about her. Unfortunately, she wasn't thinking straight for most of the book - she was so impulsive and downright crush-crazy! Trust me, I know how it feels to be young and crushing hard on someone who seems so unattainable. This was, oh yeah, something else! And I don't really mean that in a good way. I knew that there was a point to it all but I think there could've been some other way to get the message across.Which now brings me to what I did like: the message. At the end of the book we see just what this book is trying to tell its readers - just be yourself. It's such a meaningful message that plenty of teenage girls should really keep in mind. And it wasn't delivered through a sappy romance. If it weren't for Chessie's moves, I would've appreciated the message more. I just feel that it came in too late. It took one horrific experience with Lloyd for Chessie to see him for what he really is. I mean come on! There were earlier signs!This book had a lot of potential. It would've been better if the approach was a little different. Less bad decisions maybe? I don't know. But I sure didn't like seeing the protagonist getting humiliated repeatedly. This is not for me but I do think it's okay. Check it out yourself, you might like it more than I did.