Review: A Little Friendly Advice

One of my own advice to you would be to not expect too much coming for this blog for the time being.

2 stars/5 stars

A wonderful debut for any teen with friendship issues (i.e. all of them)

Ruby’s turning sixteen . . . but the day doesn’t turn out to be as sweet as it’s supposed to be. Her long lost father shows up, and Ruby doesn’t want to have anything to do with him. Instead, she wants to hang out with her friends – loyal Beth, dangerous Katherine, and gossipy Maria. They have plenty of advice for her – about boys, about her dad, about how she should look and what she should be feeling. But really, Ruby doesn’t know what to think or feel. Especially when a new boy comes into the picture . . . and Ruby discovers some of her friends aren’t as truthful as they say.

Didn’t like this book either. While it is relatively (and not very, shall I say) closer to reality by grappling with very real problems and such I felt that Siobhan Vivian isn’t good enough (I know that hurts) to eliminate the better part of drama, including betrayal and plot twists that were shockingly obvious that I saw it coming within the first ten miles or so. This book had some potential, but I never had much taste for unnecessarily long descriptions of the clothes worn by a character that I really disliked for being not just selfish but weird with handling situations.

Siobhan Vivian was trying too hard to create creativity. The insta-love didn’t work, however dimensional she had tried to make the male love interest seem, because ultimately there was very little chemistry and a lot of fabrication on the part of the writers, and therefore you’ll probably find that most of the characters except for her best friend and even or mother and her father are highly unnecessary. The story narrated was both unconvincing.

Her friend who is supposedly loved by all boys is just an anxious peacekeeper who hangs pathetically from one person to another. And Katherine. Well, she’s just weird, because you don’t call Katherine a “friend” the way Katherine treats her and the way she treats Katherine. This story is mostly just about Ruby and her best friend, called IForgotHerNameAndIsTooLazyToCheck, and the unreal situations they were put into.

I would say that Siobhan Vivian has very little sensitivity to the world at large, for her solutions to the ultimate family and relationship questions are nonexistent– there wasn’t a conclusion in the end, just that everybody is selfish and she would go off to a college. So a brief rundown.

Daddy shows up.

OmiGod, what are you doing here, like, you totally abandoned my mom and I and now you’re coming back, you’re here to get me back and who do you think you are, running around leaving scars?

Runs Out crying and very intelligently gets drunk. Not punished (duh).

Why is IForgotHerNameAndIsTooLazyToCheck hiding something from me? OMG

Instead of just facing the problem, she waits and feeds herself crap.

Everything is getting worse, but meeting a boy and immediately making out is good. TeeHee!

The ultimate “I’m Leaving you”

Why?! Why is my life this way? Stupid Katherine. Stupid IForgotHerNameAndIsTooLazyToCheck.

Cues Huge Plot Twist.

OMiGod like seriously what! IForgotHerNameAndIsTooLazyToCheck how could you?

Never Mind.

Let’s all be good friends and go off to college together!

And..that’s pretty much it. So, little substance, a truckload of emotional issues and a lackluster ending. Sounds like the ultimate YA novel.