December 20, 2011

Review: Ditched by Robin Mellom

Hardcover, 288 pages
Expected publication: January 10, 2012 by Disney-Hyperion


High school senior Justina Griffith was never the girl who dreamed of going to prom. Designer dresses and strappy heels? Not her thing. So she never expected her best friend, Ian Clark, to ask her.
Ian, who always passed her the baseball bat handle first.
Ian, who knew exactly when she needed red licorice.
Ian, who promised her the most amazing night at prom.
And then ditched her.
Now, as the sun rises over her small town, and with only the help of some opinionated ladies at the 7-Eleven, Justina must piece together — stain by stain on her thrift-store dress — exactly how she ended up dateless. A three-legged Chihuahua was involved. Along with a demolition derby-ready Cadillac. And there was that incident at the tattoo parlor. Plus the flying leap from Brian Sontag's moving car...
But to get the whole story, Justina will have to face the boy who ditched her. And discover if losing out at prom can ultimately lead to true love.
Filled with humor, charm, and romance, Ditched: A Love Story by debut novelist Robin Mellom will have readers dreaming of love on their own prom nights.

Ditched seemed cute, but it is actually more lighthearted than I expected. It reminded me a lot of the classics—Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club etc. It has that fast paced, silly charm that those movies have, and it was a lot of fun to read.

The only thing I didn’t enjoy was the main character, and I think if she had been a bit different, I would have liked it a lot more. Justina didn’t seem consistent. She’s a girl who didn’t even want to attend prom and dresses in all black every single day, and yet she loves daisies, worried what everyone thought of her, and had locked lips with half of the boys in her school. She was difficult to imagine because all of the things didn’t seem to add up. She also made excuse after excuse for her actions, saying everything was “an accident”, and her unwillingness to own up to the things she did annoyed me to no end. Ian was adorable (although a little too perfect to seem real) and I wish we had seen a whole lot more of him. I also loved the women she was telling her story too, and the chapters in which they’re giving Justina advice were my favorites parts of the story.

I think the author did a great job with the way she told the story. Despite the fact that I didn’t care for Justina, I wanted to know what happened next. I wanted to see what other shenanigans Justina managed to get herself into in the span of one evening. It was a lot of fun to read and perfectly paced. I think it’s supposed to be fun and quirky, and it accomplishes that. I’d recommend it if you’re in the mood for a very lighthearted read.

3/5 Stars





6 comments:

  1. I was wondering if this one was any good. Sounds promising with a bit of an odd protagonist. Great review Amanda!

    Giselle
    Xpresso Reads

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  2. Awesome review! Although you gave it a three out of five, I still think I want to go out and buy it. It seems like a book that I would definitely like.
    By the way Happy Holidays!

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  3. I love Pretty In Pink, Sixteen Candles, and The Breakfast Club so that alone makes me want to read Ditched. Thanks for your honest review.

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  4. I've been curious about this book, but I'm not sure about it. It seems like it would be one of those books to read after a long streak of reading paranormal, you know? Great review :)

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  5. I enjoyed reading your review. I really loved it, and can still see where you are coming from in your review.

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  6. Having graduated from high school in the early 80's and living the Sixteen Candles, Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink debacle myself, this book sounds like a delightful and memorable trip down memory lane :D

    Thanks for taking the time to write up the review! I've got to go grab this one up!

    Gena Robertson
    robertsongena@hotmail.com

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