Ad

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

BBReview: "The Paradise Diaries 1: Dante's Girl" By Courtney Cole

Genre: Young Adult -Contemporary
Publishing Date: June 24th, 2012
Page Count: 356
Source: Bought from Amazon
Format: E-Book

Description from Goodreads.com:
I have spent every summer since I was ten years old with my father in London. Every summer, since i was ten years old, has been uneventful and boring.
Until this year.

And this year, after a freak volcanic eruption strands me far from home, I  have learned these things:

1. I can make do with one outfit for three days before I buy new clothes.
2. If I hear the phrase, "You're not in Kansas anymore, Toto," even one more time, I might become a homicidal maniac.
3. I am horribly and embarrassingly allergic to jellyfish.
4. I am in love with Dante Giliberti, who just happens to be the beautiful, sophisticated son of the Prime Minister of a Mediterranean paradise.
5. See number four above. Because it brings with it a whole slew of problems and I've learned something from everyone one of them.

Let's start with the fact that Dante's world is five light-years away from mine. He goes to black-tie functions and knows the Prime Minister of England on a first name basis. I was born and raised on a farm in Kansas and wear cut-off jeans paired with cowboy boots. See the difference?

But hearts don't care about differences. Hearts want what they want. And mine just wants to be Dante's girl.

My heart just might be crazy.

Review:
Dante's Girl has been on my TBR list for awhile now. During all the buzz when it first came out I bought it for my kindle, but not until recently have I actually gotten to read it. I am so happy I finally did, because it is really good. Dante's Girl isn't your typical contemporary. Yes the main focus is a love story, but there are some twists and turns along the way. The twist towards the end is the biggest of them all and will leave you flipping pages like a mad man to figure out what happens.

This was a really good story. There were a lot of swoon moments and some moments when I wanted to cry along with Reece. I liked Reece's character a lot, but there were some times when she could have gotten around having awkward moments. For example when she is on the phone with her best friend when she's yelling at her and she doesn't go anywhere and lets people over hear her which causes more problems. And I was kind of hot and cold to Dante. There were some times when he was really nice and sweet and swoony and then there were other times when he was really douche and I just wanted to punch him in the face for his lame excuses.

I really liked the story though. Girl falls in love with stranger at airport who turns out to be rich and famous. Its a very sweet story. Although I didn't like the times when Dante was a huge jerk face I think it did help the story, because then you wanted him to change so bad. I also really liked the who-done-it parts of the book, because the ending was very intense!

Overall:
I really loved this story. It was very sweet and swoony and it really made you feel something. I think Reece was a great character and I think she showed the best qualities of an American in her character. The mystery and surprise element on the novel was really well done and had me flipping pages to see what was going to happen at the end. I really enjoy it when I actually feel what the characters are feeling and I really felt it with this novel. I am definitely going to check out more by Courtney Cole =)

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 5/5