A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend by Emily Horner
Release Date: June 10, 2010
Publisher: Penguin Group
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 272
Source: Publisher/ARC
Interest: Debut Author
Challenge: Challenge: 2010 Debut Author Challenge
Buy the Book: Amazon
|Barnes & Noble
For months, Cass has heard her best friend, Julia, whisper about a secret project. When Julia dies in a car accident, her drama friends decide to bring the project—a musical called Totally Sweet Ninja Death Squad—to fruition. But Cass isn't a drama person. She can't take a summer of painting sets, and she won't spend long hours with Heather, the girl who made her miserable all through middle school and has somehow landed the leading role. So Cass takes off. In alternating chapters, she spends the first part of summer on a cross-country bike trip and the rest swallowing her pride, making props, and—of all things—falling for Heather.
Summary from Barnes & Noble
I was so very excited to read this book. I actually had a sneak peek of it, back in the days when it was called Totally Sweet Ninja Death Squad... and with that sneak peek I thought I was in for something epic! Unfortunately they novel just didn’t deliver as that first chapter predicted.
The one positive thing I can say is that the love story was cute. Unfortunately, I didn’t care enough about the characters to really be engrossed in their developing relationship. I had a hard time getting into this books, something that should have taken me a few hours took me a week. I was really hoping for that moment when everything would turn around, but it never happened.
I didn’t relate to Cass’s voice at all... it just didn’t seem to be all that realistic. Even though she was the main character, I didn’t feel like I knew her or anything about her at all. By the end of the novel I was more annoyed with her than anything. I know as the reader I should have felt some empathy toward her, but it just didn’t happen. The remaining secondary characters were just as flat. They all meshed together for me, none of them had a distinct voice, I would often get lost in the dialogue because everyone sounded the same.
Cass complained about the situation with her friends constantly... even though she’s the one that put herself there. She never gave anyone a chance to be her friend until she didn’t have any other option. What kind of friendship can flourish that way? Not many.
The chapters alternate between ‘Then’ (when she is on her bike trip) and ‘Now’ (when she’s finally back home) I found the transitions from chapter to chapter to be a little confusing. I think I would have rather have had the then story first... and then work it up to the present day, now. There were aspects of the story that wouldn’t have been able to play out the way they did, but I think that perhaps I would have related more to Cass that way... I could have seen the person she was clearly at the beginning and watch her evolve into the person she was by the end of the story. It was like having a sad, bitter Cass, then an okay Cass that I started to like... oh but wait, sad, bitter, whiney Cass is back...That being said, I can see the benefits there were to set the story up in the then/now manner.
It’s wasn’t a badly written novel, it just wasn’t for me.