Mundie Moms

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Book Review- Notes from the Blender

By Trish Cook and Brendan Halpin
Published by Egmont USA
Released Date: May 24, 2011
Source: ARC from publisher via The Austin Teen Book Festival
Rating: 3.5 Stars- I enjoyed it!

Synopsis (From Egmont): Declan loves death metal--particularly from Finland. And video games--violent ones. And internet porn--any kind, really. He goes to school with Neilly Foster and spends most of his classroom time wondering what it might be like to know her, to talk to her, maybe even to graze against her sweater in the hallway. Neilly is an accomplished gymnast, naturally beautiful, and a constant presence at all the best parties (to which Declan is never invited). She's the queen of cool, the princess of poker face, and her rule is uncontested-- or it was until today, when she's dumped by her boyfriend, betrayed by her former BFF Lulu, and then informed she's getting a new brother--of the freaky fellow classmate variety. Declan's dad is marrying Neilly's mom. Soon. Which means they'll be moving in together.

Once again I found myself thinking while reading this novel how I wished I had read these type of books when I was in high school. I think that teens today can really relate to the two main characters in this one, I would've loved to have read and connect with both Declan and Neilly when I was sixteen. They are both characters filled with a turmoil of emotions and very confused which is how I felt many times when I was younger, and these two authors have done a great job in adding the humor that makes Notes from the Blender a lighthearted fun read.


I've been enjoying reading books written by a collaboration of a male and female author, it’s actually a lot of fun seeing the different voices in these characters and really being able to tell the difference between the two. Declan was very much like a teen guy, realistic, very awkward and hormonal, Neilly was the beautiful popular girl that falls in love for the wrong reasons with the wrong person and is a bit shallow, they are both complete opposites but they come together in this novel and end up helping each other grow and change throuought the story. While reading Notes from the Blender I found that I was liking Declan a lot more, he seemed more my type of character, very confused and definitely clueless about girls, it was extremely funny to read the situations he got himself into. Neilly seemed to me to be a little self-centered at the beginning and she did take a bit longer to grow on me, but by the end I understood that I would’ve probably felt like the world was against me back when I was a teenager after finding out all the unexpected surprises she gets at the begining of the novel, it would have been extremely overwhelming. I ended up loving both!

I really loved that we get to see a few good parents in this one, which we hardly ever see in YA fiction. The parents, even though not always understanding, they are supportive and involved in the lives of these teeganers, they were also pretty funny and brought a few smiles to my face while reading this novel. Notes from the Blender is a well written contemporary story with flawed, angry and confused characters that touches on heavy topics like divorce, grief, heartbreak, first love and the difficulty about dealing with bullies and teasing about homosexuality. It’s all mixed into the lives of these two characters but in a way that is not intense or uncomfortable, we see them grow and become a family together and find a great underlying message in a story that will appeal to both male and female teen readers.

6 comments:

  1. I really liked your review on this one and it sounds like a great book!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks fot the review! :) The last days, it seems as if almost every book you review interest me, I've added a lot of them to my wishlist. Happy reading!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great review Cynthia!! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. It looks like a fun read.

    Tempe- YAY!! Happy Reading :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Cynthia - Thank you for an awesome review. It's made me put Notes from a Blender on my TBR. :D

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is a great review, and it sounds like a really fun book to read!

    Brush Up On Your Reading

    ReplyDelete
  6. I've been waiting for this one for a while because it seems right up my alley. I'm glad you enjoyed it :) Thanks for the fantastic review!

    http://blackfingernailedreviews.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete

Labels