Magic Hands - Jennifer Laurens

Summary:

Cort, the high school senior jock seems to have it all -- except a summer job. When he lands one doing women's nails, his eyes are opened to the catty, back-stabbing world of females. Girls he thought he knew and trusted turn out to shock and use him. He gets to know Rachel, an elusive girl the others gossip about, a girl with secrets. From her he learns there is more to life than weekend partying and social status, and one of the secrets she shares with him will change his life forever.

Grade:
Originality: 15/20
Characters: 8/15
Writing: 8/10
Voice: 8/10
Ending: 9/10
Entertainment: 8/10
Cover: 8/10
Recommendation: 5/10

Total: 69/100 = C+

Review:

When I read this summary I was thinking: Wow, this book sounds like a great book. Something that's fresh and different that we haven't seen in the YA genre before... however, when I started reading it, I noticed that the summary makes it sound better than it really was.

For one, it was very cliche in the guy-going-after-popular-girl route. This wasn't a main theme of the story, but it was still there... and I was hoping that it really wasn't there. The characters in some areas were also quite cliched. Also, in some parts, what the characters did just did NOT make sense. I mean, a teenage, jock-type working at a nail salon?! Even if they really do want work... really? A nail salon? I can't picture any of the guys at my school working at a nail salon.

I sometimes lost the voice of the characters, too. I don't know if it was me, but I just didn't get a strong voice from them. The beginning is also a little bit slow, though by page fifty, it does pick up and you keep reading to find out what's going to happen.

I don't have a category for this, but I don't know if it was the author or the publisher, but there were a lot of grammar/formatting mistakes that I caught. I know this is a minor detail, but for me, it really took away from the book.

This book is still funny - if not all realistic - and if you still want to give it a shot, I recommend you taking it out from your local library.

Reviewed for Around the World Tours.