When Mike Kissed Emma by Christine Marciniak
Page Count: 176
Summary: Emma Landon has a plan: she's going to be in the high school musical and sing the most romantic song possible to her boyfriend. She's not looking for the lead, just a decent part where she and Trevor can dance together on stage. The plan starts to unravel when she gets the starring role, and playing opposite her is not her perfect boyfriend, but the school loner, Biker Mike. When Mike kisses Emma at the school dance, everything changes. Emma must figure out what is more important-the way things look or something deeper.
My review: When Mike Kissed Emma was the shortest book I've read in a long time at only 176 pages. I thought it was sweet but the story seemed to be missing something and the hint was in the above summary's last sentence--I felt this story lacked some depth. I wanted to learn more about Emma and her friends. I wanted to understand why some of their comments came across as so shallow. There were places where I would have liked to see a little more character development. First with Emma and her tendency to fall in love with the guys who play opposite her in shows. She fell for Trevor the year before (and he's still her current boyfriend) and then it's Mike. Secondly, Biker Mike could have been more of a main character and his whole "bad boy" role could have been played up more. I thought the scene where he brings Emma home was sweet and showed how charming he was. Show me more of this!
The author did a good job with the dialog and I learned about the characters through their words. I also thought the dynamics between Emma, her freshman sister, Sara, and their senior brother, Jake, were unbelievable at times. Their 'togetherness' didn't always ring true to me. There were good spots where Sara stands up to Emma and I wanted more of that. I wanted the characters to be more dimensional than I interpreted them to be.
Still, this book had some nice things going for it. When Mike Kissed Emma is a sweet story about acceptance, prejudice, the backstage drama of musical theater, trust and love. I think tween girls and younger teens would enjoy this light romantic drama. I really liked the author's use of "The Sound of Music"--the chapter headings were all song titles--and it was great how themes in these songs were mirrored throughout the storyline. With a little more dimension I can see Marciniak's novels sitting on the same shelf as predominant contemporary YA authors Sarah Dessen, Susanne Colasanti, Simone Elkeles, Jennifer Echols and Elizabeth Scott.
Favorite scene: (Page 131) Mike sighed and said, "I thought you were nice."
"I am nice," I said instantly.
"A nice person would have stood up for me, not let everyone think the worst of me. You're all about image. You're just concerned with what people think about you." Mike turned away from me, as if to say the conversation was over.
"But..." With a sinking feeling I realized he might be right. "I'm sorry," I murmured and skated away.
Cover comment: The cover was cute with the emphasis on theater. It just seemed a bit tween-ish for my taste.
Rating: +++
For fans of: Contemporary younger YA and older MG.
Reviewed by: Meghan
Book source: Around the World Tours.
Wow that is short! I have a hard time getting into a book that's less than 200 pages. It just feels like too much of a short story with no room for character development, like you said. But that's okay, I'm probably not their target audience anyway. I'll probably be passing on this one. Thanks for the review!
ReplyDelete