Avalon High

by Meg Cabot

[ladygrey]

Theoretically I liked this book. Though, I sort of feel that giving it 3 stars is being gracious.

The premise was interesting, the plot unfolded well. The characters seemed like they could be good, but none of them were more than superficial.

Because the entire book is consumed by the thoughts and feelings and assumptions and reactions of a teenage girl. And maybe it's authentic, maybe I have to give it credit for that. But it was incredibly distracting. At one point there was a line of dialog and then an ENTIRE PAGE of her thinking and assuming and dismissing before it got to the next line of dialog. But by then I'd forgotten what the other person said in the first place. It went something like this:
"dialog"
I can't believe he said that. I wanted to say this. But I could never say that. I'm practical. Unlike my best friend Nancy who is the romantic. Nancy would think this and then she'd tell me that and she'd say something else. But Nancy wasn't here. And I would never say that. Because he doesn't like me like that.
"dialog"

Every single time. I don't know if there was a single conversation that wasn't chopped up her her inner monologue. And how do you become immersed in a story like that? How do you relate to any of the characters? Actually, you don't because there isn't enough time to develop anything because she won't stop interrupting every moment.

Even with that, it was short and a super quick read. The story was strong enough that even though the way it's written is ridiculous I didn't hate it. It was actually fun, when it wasn't infuriating.