#57 of 2011: Notes from the Blender by Trish Cook and Brendan Halpin
Ever since Wendelin Van Draanen’s Flipped happened in my life, I’ve been on the search for the most engaging YA novels told in alternating points of view. That has led me to Rachel Cohn and David Levithan and Susan Colasanti, whose works I adore, and most recently, to this book. Sadly, its eye-catching cover wasn’t an assurance to a magnetic story. Not that I’m saying it wasn’t fun (your biggest crush “becomes” your sister, ain’t that fun!) and touching because it was; I just didn’t fall in love with it. I admit the two main characters were strong - Declan, a heavy-metal fanatic and vegan, and Neilly, the queen of cool - but there were a lot of times I felt the author was trying hard to make them a Cohn and Levithan character. Or maybe that’s just me, that I just expected too much.
