Saturday, August 1, 2015

{REVIEW} Jesse's Girl by Miranda Kenneally

Title: Jesse's Girl
Author: Miranda Kenneally
Series: Hundred Oaks
Book: 6
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Rating: ★★★

Blurb from Goodreads:

Practice Makes Perfect.

Everyone at Hundred Oaks High knows that career mentoring day is a joke. So when Maya Henry said she wanted to be a rock star, she never imagined she’d get to shadow *the* Jesse Scott, Nashville’s teen idol.


But spending the day with Jesse is far from a dream come true. He’s as gorgeous as his music, but seeing all that he’s accomplished is just a reminder of everything Maya’s lost: her trust, her boyfriend, their band, and any chance to play the music she craves. Not to mention that Jesse’s pushy and opinionated. He made it on his own, and he thinks Maya’s playing back up to other people’s dreams. Does she have what it takes to follow her heart—and go solo?

My Reaction/Thoughts:

The only reason I decided to pick this book up was because of the title. Yes, Jesse's Girl like the song. Plus it sounded really cute. Each chapter was titled after a popular song as well so I thought that was really clever. However, I never read a book in the Hundred Oaks series before and I was a little hesitant, but being the rebel that I am...why not?

I really enjoyed the plot even though it was really simple. I liked that we saw Jesse and Maya's friendship/relationship grow. It was cute, but steady and based upon their connection to music and feeling like an outcast. It wasn't just purely on attraction or instalove— which I hate!But, it was entertaining and had its adorable moments. However, on the other hand I did feel like it was a little flat. I didn't get very much out of it. I just watched these two characters fall in love and both give the other the confidence he/she needed to go after their dreams. Unfortunately, that's all that it was. There was no big conflict or climax. I felt like the high point of this book was "Will They Or Won't They? and once they became a couple, that was it. It plateaued. I still enjoyed it, but I wanted more. I expected more.

In addition, the characters were  a little typical. There was nothing special about them. Nothing I really took away from the story that makes me satisfied with the story. I didn't connect to the characters too much like I'd like and that bums me out a bit. Maybe I just needed to read more from Kenneally or the Hundred Oaks series to really connect so I take the blame for that one.

Overall, it was still an entertaining book and it was what I needed to read after all the fantasy books I've been reading. Cute, sweet, and fun.



Side Note: At the end of the book the author provides a playlist labeled "Jesse's Playlist" with a bunch of 80s songs and whatnot. Many of these songs were from bands that Maya and Jesse enjoyed and talked about in the book, but what I find ironic is how there is not one single Queen song. Maya named her Twitter handle QueenQueen after her love for Queen! She sings Queen during multiple audtions/performances and there is not one Queen song on this so called "playlist"? That's weird.


I'll leave you with this to get stuck in your head (:

Happy reading!

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