Sunday, June 10, 2012

One Moment by Kristina McBride

Title: One Moment
Author: Kristina McBride
Pages: 272
Publisher: EgmontUSA
My rating: 3.5 stars
Goodreads rating: 3.85 stars
Published: June 26, 2012
{Received an eGalley from NetGalley for review}

Description:

This was supposed to be the best summer of Maggie’s life. Now it’s the one she’d do anything to forget.

Maggie Reynolds remembers hanging out at the gorge with her closest friends after a blowout party the night before. She remembers climbing the trail hand in hand with her perfect boyfriend, Joey. She remembers that last kiss, soft, lingering, and meant to reassure her. So why can’t she remember what happened in the moment before they were supposed to dive? Why was she left cowering at the top of the cliff, while Joey floated in the water below—dead?

As Maggie’s memories return in snatches, nothing seems to make sense. Why was Joey acting so strangely at the party? Where did he go after taking her home? And if Joey was keeping these secrets, what else was he hiding?


I wanted to love this book so much.  Sometime I feel like I need to because its something the publisher/author/whomever has given me, and I should like it.  Not saying I didn't like this book.  I did.  But, after sitting here and mulling it over, letting it sit in my mind for a bit {I haven't been able to even be on a computer that much in the last week, much less write a review}, and figure out what kind of aftertaste it left in my mouth, I'm still torn.  Kristina McBride is a wonderful author, and this book is no exception.  I think I would have given it 4.5 stars if it weren't for 1) predictability and 2) excessive teenage drinking.  Even with the predictability, it would have been a good 4 stars, because the book itself was really good.

One Moment was so interesting, and it really hooked me in.  I'm glad I got it for review, because I think I might not have read it otherwise {especially getting halfway into it and seeing so much teenage drinking that's being depicted as fun and safe}.  I'll get into my huge mammoth of a dislike later, because I first want to tell you why I like this book.  McBride did not make her characters have an adult-like attitude that you see in a lot of books written for the YA crowd from that of an adult author.  Maggie was very much a young junior in high school, struggling with something that I don't think any kid should have to go through: the loss of a friend.  {Heck, if I had my way, they wouldn't have to go through the loss of anyone, much less a close friend.}  Maggie and Joey were friends for years before they started dating, so she didn't just loose a romantic boyfriend, she lost one of her best friends.

This book takes some obvious twists and turns {they might not be too obvious right off the bat, but within 30 pages, you'll be going "oh, right"}, and while I was expecting some of them, it did take a little bit to get to them being obvious to Maggie.  That might sound bad, but that was actually really good in the case of this book.  There was enough drama {the good, bookish kind, not the OMG teenage kind} without having all these different things being thrown in on top of that at the beginning.  She's spaced out the various reveals really well, keeping me wondering almost until the very end.  And, despite the fact that the book starts out and revolves around something as sad and tragic as sudden teenage death, it isn't too depressing {trust me, I can get really depressed if I'm reading a book that is}.  I would suggest picking it up when it comes out, but I would also suggest waiting to get your hands on a copy from your local library.  And here's why...


There was a lot of teenage drinking in this.  I am not an advocate of that, especially here, in a country where it is illegal.  If the author would have written about them being high all the time, there would be a giant mess of controversy because of that.  But since its drinking, something the character would legally be able to do in a few short years, its not that big of a deal.  And since no one got "hurt" during the partying, what's the big deal, right?  A lot.  This is a YA book, which means its targeted audience are the kids who are roughly the same age as those in the story.  And every time drinking is mentioned, our main character Maggie is having a lot of fun.  She might regret something about it, but its not something that happened due to excessive drinking.  Teenage drinking is a huge problem in the United States {just check out the stats from the CDC}, and I feel like this was underplayed and slightly glamorized, which makes me sad.  And the adults didn't seem to care about the fact that their kids were drinking.  This is an incredibly touchy subject, and I just feel like it wasn't written about in a very good manner.  I don't want to sound like I'm really judging the book on this and this alone, because I'm not.  I really did enjoy the book, minus this one problem.  But enough of my tirade on this...


Overall, the book was good.  Again, I have a huge problem with how the underage drinking was written into this and how little consequences {if any} there were in the book because of it.  If it doesn't bother you to read about teenage drinking, then you would probably have no problems with this book.  And I wouldn't judge you for it.

2 comments:

Erica said...

This one looks so great! I am really curious about it.

Kari said...

It was really good, and I enjoyed it (despite my negatively about the whole teen drinking issue). Check out netGalley - they might still have it up for request!