Today, the Exclusively Chloe tour will be stopping by my blog. First up is a review. An author interview will be coming next!
Title: Exclusively Chloe
Author: J.A. Yang
Pages: 245
Published: Speak, May 26 2009
Recommended/Not recommended
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Cover: B
Overall Grade: B
Chloe-Grace Star is used to being in the spotlight: as the fabulous adoptive daughter of a famous actress and a rock star, Chloe's used to be followed by the paparazzi to school, shopping, and out to lunch with friends. After all, at age 16, she is Hollywood's first adopted child. But when Chloe's parents announce that they're getting a divorce, Chloe's perfect world begins to fall apart, especially since the press is constantly stalking her, and spreading rumors about her family situation. Chloe's had enough of Hollywood. She's sick and tired of her invaded privacy. So she decides to go undercover as a normal teen: she'll get a makeunder, she'll attend a new high school, and she'll try to uncover the questions that she's been dying to find the answers to: who are her birth parents and where are they now? But can Chloe (under the pseudonym of Lilly) manage to stay undercover, now that she's made friends and possibly even a guy?
My thoughts: Exclusively Chloe was pretty predictable, to me. After all, the basic idea of the plot has been used many times: just think of Roman Holiday, Secrets of My Hollywood Life, all those celebrity-undercover stories. However, I really liked how J.A. Yang spiced up the common plotline. The aspects of divorce and adoption made the whole story so much more interesting and personal to the character, and I really liked the buildup that Yang provided for the reader. I loved how the author displayed Chloe's quirks through her dialogue and first-person narration. In fact, I was totally impressed at how a guy could perfectly capture the personality of a sixteen year old girl!
My one problem was that some parts of the book felt a little bit rushed. For instance, Chloe's whole experience at Hollis High seemed just too brief, and without enough detail to make it seem realistic. Same went for Chloe's relationship with Jack. It felt totally unrealistic and a bit fake to me as the reader, but I still really liked Jack's character and all of Chloe's other Hollis friends!
Overall, I would've liked a few more twists and turns in the plot, but I have to say, I'm overall impressed by Yang's clever teen debut. Exclusively Chloe is an ideal summer read--light, fun, and quick. After all, it only took me about two days to read, and I was flipping pages the whole time!
1 comment:
I think Teen Idol by Meg Cabot is the only one of that kind of book I've read. And of course it rocked, it was Meg Cabot. :)
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