Monday, August 8, 2011

Maureen Johnson on Bad Reviews

This morning, Maureen Johnson led a fascinating Twitter discussion on bad (negative and poor quality) reviews--the downfalls and merits of them. Fascinating read--you can follow along by checking out her tweets and the hashtag #badreview.

Kiss Me, Kill Me

Kiss Me, Kill Me
written by Lauren Henderson

Kiss Me Kill Me by Lauren Henderson

While I am not a fan of the marketing angle taken from this book (Really? A book called "Kiss Me, Kill Me" with a trashy romance novel cover?), I will concede that it wasn't the story I expected. I thought it would be mindless trashy romance, and for that reason, it took me a while to get into the story. I was thankfully proven wrong. Kiss Me, Kill Me is much more an action/mystery novel than a romance novel, sort of Ally Carter with a regrettable little bit of Gossip Girl mixed in. Some of the storytelling was a little bit shaky, not too compelling, focusing a little more on the life of a rich socialite than anything else, but overall, I was pleasantly surprised. I was, yet again, disappointed to see that the story was stretched out to fit a series, but like Ally Carter said at LitDay, if a series is going to be stretched out, romance cannot be the driving force, and I'm glad Lauren Henderson took that route in her storytelling. I won't be looking for the sequel, but I also won't say I regret reading the book. It's not something you're going to sit down to read when you're looking for deep content, but as far as fluff reads go, not too bad.

Rating: 3.5/5