My Reading Room: Jan 27, 2010

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Blog Tour and Review: Lone Star Legend by Gwendolyn Zepeda

Lone Star Legend by Gwendolyn Zepeda

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Publish Date: January 25, 2010

Paperback, 352 pages

Thanks to Miriam Parker at Hachette for providing me with this book for the review and blog tour.

My Review:
Rating: 9.0/10.0

I really enjoyed this book. It is a good look at how a character changes and grows due to what is going on in their lives. Sandy starts out idealistic and I think this is very realistic of someone not far out of college in any field, not just in writing/journalism. She wants to make a difference and do serious writing. But then life throws her a curveball in that her work gets taken over and essentially becomes a gossip blog. No longer is Sandy writing her idea of meaningful journalism, now she is reporting about celebrities and drinking and pretty much doing whatever her boss and the sponsors tell her to do. And not only has her professional life gone wrong, but she still lives in an apartment she rents from her mother. She is still dealing with her parents' divorce and her father's emotional distance from her and she also has boyfriend troubles. So Sandy's life is going down the tubes and fast.

However the book is really about how she deals with all of this. How her ideas change due to circumstances and how she turns her life into something she likes again at least for a brief time and then it's time to learn again. This isn't a beat you over the head with ideas book. The values and lessons are subtle to Sandy and to the reader. The writing is beautiful and although the beginning starts a little slow setting up the book, once the book gets going you really start to enjoy it all.

Strong characterization and a well-thought-out plot make Lone Star Legend a delight to read and a book whose lessons will stick with you long after the book is finished.

My Breakdown for the rating:
Characters:                1.75/2.0
Plot:                           1.5/2.0
Writing:                   2.0/2.0
Attention-holding:     0.75/1.0
Ending:                        1.0/1.0
Believable:                  1.0/1.0
Fits in it's genre(s):    1.0/1.0
Total:                         9.0/10.0

About the Book:

When Sandy Saavedra lands her dream job with the popular website ¡Latino Now!, she can't wait to write hard-hitting pieces to combat all those stupid Latino stereotypes. While visions of Pulitzers dance in her head, her editor in chief is suddenly laid off, replaced by the infamous Dolores Villanueva O'Sullivan. Dolores has one mission: make ¡Latino Now! an internet phenomenon, no matter how many pandering puff pieces she has to pack onto its pages. Sandy doesn't see how she can keep this job without losing her soul, especially when she's sent to Middle-of-Nowhere Texas to investigate the dumbest legend her people ever created, the Chupacabra. She fears she's about to fail an assignment-and lose her job-until she meets Tío Jaime, a grandfatherly hermit who might be crazy, or might be the best thing that ever happened to Sandy's career.

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