SHOT THROUGH THE HEART - Niki Burnham
Summer Road Press
ASIN: B005YHBHE2 (Kindle Edition)
ISBN: 978-0-9847-0690-7
December 2011
Young Adult Romantic Comedy
Eastwood High, USA - Present Day
Best friends Conner and Josh have entered into the Senior Assassin tournament—the prize? A cool two grand. To play, you have to kill your two targets (hit them with water balloons/squirt guns) before the end of the round and keep at least one of the two people in your partnership alive. There's a lot of drama going down with this year's game, and Conner and Josh are going to need a little help. The perfect person? Josh's sister, Peyton. But when Conner starts spending time with her, and discovering how rockin' her body is, his focus might just slip from Senior Assassin to the lovely little lady he never noticed before…
Oh wow. It's been ages since I ventured back into the romance of my age group—Young Adult. This was a very fun trip down memory lane—it wasn't that long ago that this was the only kind of book I read. There were some good things and some stereotypical not-so-good things that jumped out at me as I read the book.
The not-so-good: The plot, while cute, is unrealistic. While I was able to enjoy the story anyway, the idea that kids go around shooting one another with water guns and not doing lots of really dirty and nasty tricks (and are honest about getting hit) for two grand? I don't think so. The romance arrives on the scene too suddenly. There was no build-up—which is something most adult romance books do excellently, so I've gotten really used to good build-up. This book it was just, “Hey, she's hot? When did that happen?” When did that happen, indeed? Finally, the ending was just so cliché, it jumped out from nowhere and smacked me in the face. I was having a grand ol' time, enjoying the story, and then this totally nonsensical I-must-prove-myself-worthy crapshoot of an ending just about slaughtered me.
The good: The dialogue was perfect. The prose was excellently strung together. The teenage dynamics were phenomenal and spot-on. Once the romance got jump-started, it stopped being awkward and was cute and endearing and sweet. The plot, even though it was unrealistic, was fun and entertaining and had several laugh-out-loud moments. The world-building (yes, I know its suburban USA but it's still world-building) was complete. The book was witty, funny, and clever. It encompassed just the kind of relationship drama one actually sees at a high school.
In the end, I think it's on par with most YA books—which is what I'm grading it against (you can't grade a YA against an adult book). I think most teenage girls will love the ending, and sigh dramatically, because most teenage girls love that sort of Romeo and Juliet sacrifice—the, “I love you so much I'm willing to, instead of simply talking and resolving the issue, let myself get shot out of the competition for no good, sensible reason at all!” sacrifice moment. I thought it was silly, but I don't think most of my peers would agree. Was it good?—yes; Phenomenal ?—no. But it's a good read for a teenage girl who likes a fun, relevant, and heart-warming romance.
Rose May
