Dragonfly (Dragonfly, #1)

by Leigh Talbert Moore

• ISBN10: 1484904788
• ISBN13: 9781484904787
• Publish Date: 30 May 2013
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 264
• Language: English

Reviews

[Angie]

I really had no expectations for Dragonfly, but I was hoping it would surprise me. Well, it didn't. I was bored from the beginning, figured out the twist way before the amateur sleuth (aka wannabe journalist) main character, and then had to wonder why any of this was her business and what it had to do with anything at all! It all starts when a super rich family moves back to town. Lucy and Jack are twins, and Anna is immediately intrigued by them. Of course, she becomes fast friends with Lucy, and catches the eye of Jack. But then things happen to rip them apart, but not really, but kind of. Then Anna gets caught up in family secrets while interning at the local newspaper.

Dragonfly started off choppy. It just felt like random scenes of Anna hanging out with all of the important characters. Sometimes she's with Lucy, talking about her brother. Other times she's with Julian, and they playfully flirt. Then she's making out with Jack. Then she's talking to her mom, or some other minor character. It's just really boring. Then it turns annoying when Jack randomly breaks up with Anna, but then keeps showing up and inviting her on dates, but making it clear that they're not together, but they're making out. Then she's making out with Julian, and doesn't know who she wants to be with, even though only one of them wants to be with her. And by the end, I have no idea who she's into, or who she's with or not with.

The mystery plot of Dragonfly was really dull and out of place. It's obvious that there's something weird about Lucy and Jack's father (and probably their older brother, too). And their disappearance and return to the area was under suspicious circumstances, which come out fairly early thanks to small town gossip. But the main mystery winds up being about their father, and it's super duper obvious, although the reasons behind it haven't been revealed yet. And frankly, I don't actually care why he's doing or not doing what he should be, because no excuse would make sense.

In fact, there are a few things throughout Dragonfly that simply don't make sense. The one that bugged me the most was when a bunch of the local teens were hanging out watching their football star show off his new Camaro. It kind of reminded me of that scene in Grease. But anyway, he crashes along with Julian, so the cops are on their way. What does Jack do? He gives Anna the keys to his car so she can drive herself and their friend home so they won't get in trouble for underage drinking. Um what?! Wouldn't it be worse for her to get pulled over for drunk driving?! Or what if she got into an accident?! This coming from someone who, as far as he knows, mother was killed in a car crash possibly caused by drugs or alcohol.Uh huh, right.

Dragonfly failed to impress me at all. And by the end, nothing at all is resolved. Yes, it's a series, but instead of feeling like a first book, it felt like the first part of the first book, since it just ends in what feels like the middle. I have no intention of reading the next one to see what happens, since I have no kind of investment or interest in these characters, or their problems which Anna somehow thinks is her business just because she's making out with the sons of the people she's "investigating."

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[Rowena]

A lot of things go down in this book and I thought it’d be hard to keep up but it wasn’t. Talbert does a great job of sucking you right into the thick of everything that’s going on and keep you there until the end. Too much happens to make you bored and before I knew what was what, I was wrapped up in Anna and the boys in her life and I was wearing my Team Julian t-shirt proudly. At the beginning, I thought that I’d be Team Jack but there was too much mystery surrounding Jack and I found that I couldn’t forgive him for all of the low-key crap he had going on.

I really came to love Julian over the course of this book. I thought that whatever was happening with Julian and Anna was great and it was sweet and it’s not done. So much has yet to happen and even though I wasn’t a big fan of the ending in this book, I’m looking forward to reading the next book. I’m itching to find out what’s in those journals that Mr. Kyer gave Anna to read and I’m curious to find out how Anna deals with all of the information that she’s going to get from those journals…and I’m mighty curious to see what happens next with Julian.
Lots of stuff going on but it was a fun to be apart of and I definitely recommend this book to readers of contemporary YA. This one doesn’t disappoint.