Dear Big V by Ellen Leroe

Dear Big V by Ellen Leroe


My rating: 7.0/10.0

Overall I'm not really sure what I thought of this book, I liked it and I didn't like it

I'll start with what I liked about it. I liked Courtney, she is strong yet unsure and she has a quirky sense of humor that I appreciate. I think she can be a realistic teenager, constantly trying to understand what she believes. I also like how the situation was tackled. With so many books out there with pre-marital sex as something that no one truly thinks about (except to do it), this was refreshing that the other side was explored. I liked that everything was explored in a way I thought was realistic. I also thought the book read well and it read quickly. I sat down with it yesterday afternoon and had it finished in a few hours. It also left me thinking and I like that in a book.

Now what I didn't like - there was a lot of setup for this book and then it was like a whole lot was crammed in at the end to tie it all up. I guess my main complaint was I wish the book could have been longer. I also thought the "lewds" were a little too cliched and blase about their status, but then again I think that may have to been to contrast with Courtney's "prudes".

Just a note - parents who may be reading this - this is not fully a book about abstinence so don't think of it in that way. I am not holding this up as Christian Young Adult fiction, just something that shows that a lot of kids do think twice about becoming sexually active. I can't go into much more than that because I don't want to give away any of the plot. Just don't think this book is teaching morals (nor do I think it should be, I just don't want to mislead anyone with my review). It's strictly fiction and a good book, but not anything to teach kids (maybe make them think, but not teach).

Characterization:    1.25/2.0
Plot:                      1.25/2.0
Writing:                   1.5/2.0
Attention-holding:   0.75/1.0
Ending:                    0.5/1.0
Believable:             0.75/1.0
Genre:                     1.0/1.0  
Rating:                 7.0/10.0

** I received this book through Around the World Tours for review **

About the Book:

Courtney Condon, a funny, off-beat junior, is caught smack in the middle of the war between the Lewds and the Prudes at Delaware-Valley High School. Court's the founder of an abstinence club at Dull-Val. But when she's assigned an Op Ed piece for the school paper that forces her to work with Lance, the major player and hottest guy at school, this up-close and personal contact with Lance throws her into a Whirlwind of Confusion over her chaste ideals. Meanwhile, Courtney's staunchly devout, strict-Catholic mom is pushing her own form of prudishness to the point of alienating the entire family, especially when Mom catches Court in a lip-lock with Lance in his car, right in her very own driveway! Laugh-out-loud funny, Dear Big V illuminates the conflict between hormones and values that teens face every day.