I Love You, Beth Cooper - Larry Doyle

I chortled a number of times right off the top and was pleasantly surprised by a book I was hesitant about. No wonder this guy used to write for the Simpsons. Realising it was a one night romp I settled in for the ride and enjoyed all the bumps the protagonist took along the way. There were some truly great chaotic scenes that were easily imagined (I hear there's a movie) but the best parts for me were the geeky internal deliberations, especially when they took scientific detours. Pure enjoyment for what it was.

October 2013

7.5

The Juvie Three - Gordan Korman

Off the top it seemed to blister through all sorts of aspects which I thought were going to be the story and I remained curious as to why these ample opportunities were being passed up and what was coming up. Even once the premise was finally settled on it got turned on its head with yet another big turn. Mind you since this is a young adult novel all of this whizzed by in a handful of easy read, moderately sized font pages. It relied on a fairly shallow glimpse of the past to bring things in to play now but that's what you get for rushing the set up. The conclusion was explosive and fun, exactly what a teenager would enjoy and I'm not going to pretend I didn't get a kick from this throwback to my childhood.

Sept 2013
5.5