Monday 14 May 2012

Review: Being Friends with Boys by Terra Elan McVoy




  Title: Being Friends with Boys
  Author: Terra Elan McVoy
  Publisher: Simon Pulse
  Publication date: May 1st 2012
  Source: Simon & Schuster Galley Grab
  My rating: 3 stars


  “Don’t forget who your real friends are”



Charlotte has always hung out with the boys; she practically grew up with Oliver and when Trip moved to their new school, they’ve been inseparable since. Over the summer they grew even closer when they started messing around in Oliver’s basement, what started off as fun and a bunch of laughs soon developed in a four group band (with Abe) called Sad Jackal. You had Oliver singing and messing around on guitar, Trip being the heart and soul of the group, Abe on the drums and Charlotte bringing the lyrics. Everything seemed fine that is until Trip drops the bombshell that he’s left the group. Charlotte doesn’t understand it; they had the best group dynamics when they worked together, now that Trips left it would never be the same. They would probably have to recruit new members and there would always be that awkwardness around Trip. Charlotte and Trip were extremely close friends, closer than Oliver and Charlotte. Trip and Charlotte had a special bond which couldn’t be explained, they understood each other, were totally open with each other, (shared their feelings with one another in a notebook they passed to each other several times in the day). Charlotte didn’t want the band to come between their friendship, but she had a duty to the rest of the band members too.

Being Friends with Boys started off great, it was fun; seeing Charlotte’s interactions with boys, how they treated her like she was one of them, heartfelt; the messages and notes she shared with Trip. But then things started getting complicated; with two new band members being recruited; Eli and Fabian. Charlotte had less time she could spend with Trip, with the school dance just around the corner the band had to practice more often especially so that they could click together as a group. Charlotte could sense it was a strain on her relationship with Trip, but there’s nothing she could do about it.

Things however started to getting a little too complicated and farfetched for my liking; Charlotte was in a flutter over who she wanted to be with, who wanted to be with her and who she rumoured to be with!!! Her life kind of turned into a wrecking ball with other groups wanting her to join their groups, and ex-best friends wanting to know her all of a sudden.

However the thing that surprised me about this book was that characters I had originally liked, kind of showed their true colours and left me disappointed in the end and characters I’d completely overlooked and had thought little of had the backbone to stick with Charlotte through the tough times. I guess you could say the opening line of my review is true; your true friends will always be around you no matter what.

However I did have a few minor irks with this book; Charlotte especially for the second half of the book made me want to pull my hair out, she kept on trying different things even though knowing it would be the wrong thing to do. And lately I’ve realised I don’t have the patience with characters who keep faffing around, it was clearly obvious who she was meant to be with, but it took her until 2/3 of the book to realise it. Also I love my music themed books; and this book did bring it to the forefront; getting the right song, jamming out together, but all the lyrics Charlotte was writing I would have loved to have seen them, we were told the titles of the songs, what influenced her in writing them but we never really got the chance to hear or read them.

Despite these irritations I did relatively enjoy this book; it was cute, funny, a decent music themed book and full of charming characters.  

6 comments:

Heidi@Rainy Day Ramblings said...

There is that word again Faffing about...love it. This sounds like kind of a big mess...starts out strong and then girl makes lots of stupid decisions and turns people against her and so on...I agree, if I were reading the book, I would like to have the sing lyrics included. This sounds to teenage dramatic for me...so I will pass, thanks for the honest evaluation, Jasprit :)

Anonymous said...

Lovely review, Jasprit.:) I will admit that I wanted to read this only because of the premise alone, but after you're review, I'm not so sure. Like you, I adore music themed books, but the promise of a character who is "faffing" around, as you call it, doesn't appeal to me at all.

Mimi Valentine said...

Can I just say that I LOVE the idea of this book? x) I used to be the girl who hung out with the guys more than the girls too, and even though that's a little harder to do now (guys are so awkward or crude around girls as teenagers!), I still think it's sweet :) I'm pretty sure Charlotte and I will have the same differences too (and the drama sounds insane LOL), but the musical aspect of it and the fact that you still enjoyed it in the end are enough to make me add it to my TBR list! :)

Amazing review, J! I love my music-themed books too! ;) <3

Jasprit said...

Thanks Leanne, I just don't seem to have the patience anymore! But the music aspect definitely made the book a lot more enjoyable!

Jasprit said...

Ha! Mimi I was exactly the same I grew up with all boys so all we ever did was watch sports or wrestling and I was always the one that the wrestling moves had to be tried upon! I think you will like this one Mimi, it's cute, funny and music aspect is throughout the whole book! :)

Rachel said...

I hate it when a character makes me want to tear my hair out. I can only take so much before it ruins the story for me. Excellent review Jasprit. :)

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