Berls
Written on Sep 24, 2014
When I picked up Losing Logan, I expected to cry. It’s a book about loss and death after all. But I didn’t cry much. I did laugh, though. A lot. Somehow Sherry D. Ficklin managed to write a book about loss, love, and finding yourself with a lot of humor – including a fair amount of my favorite snarky kind – without ever making light about death. No wonder I liked Losing Logan so much!
First off, I loved that Zoey – the main character – was irritated with Logan most the time. She wasn’t crying over his death, because a part of her was still pissed that her childhood friend had left her behind for the popular kids. It wasn’t intentional on Logan’s part – Zoey’s dad died and her mom pulled her out of school for a couple years. When she came back, things had changed. And Zoey doesn’t fully understand that she’s holding a grudge – but man is she! So she wants Logan GONE! Of course she’s the only one who can see him, so if she wants him gone, she’ll have to help him figure out why he’s stuck here.
And helping him leads to a couple great story lines. She has to figure out what happened to Logan, because he doesn’t remember a lot of the events leading to his death. This ends up turning into quite the (unexpected for me) mystery. I really had a blast trying to figure out how Logan died!
The other side of that is Zoey needing to cozy up to Logan’s friends – the popular kids. Enter one of my favorite plot devices – THE MAKEOVER. I know, its been done every which way, but its so fun to see the seemingly boring, not so popular, not so pretty girl become interesting, popular, and beautiful – especially when its really just a change in attitude and some better fitting clothes.
Zoey’s make over is made oh so much better because of her best friend Carlos. Did I mention he’s gay? I liked that Sherry didn’t make him ridiculous or over the top flamboyant as sometimes happens – he has his giddiness over shopping and FINALLY getting to dress Zoey up right, but that doesn’t mean he has to be “flaming”. Carlos is a balanced, complex character going through his own things – like falling for a guy and introducing him to his family. He’s a great friend to Zoey and a fantastic addition to the story.
I think I would have loved Losing Logan in any format, but the audio was really good. Tara Millette did a good job giving the characters unique and appropriate voices – including the guys.
I was trying to figure out why – after clearly liking everything so much – this was four and not five stars for me. I think the ending was the reason. Obviously I can’t explain without giving away A LOT but I wasn’t a fan of the last chapter. It wasn’t BAD but it also wasn’t quite right for me. *shrugs* It certainly didn’t spoil Losing Logan for me!
I received this book for free from Audiobook Jukebox in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
