Ben: Having just graduated from high school, Ben is set to leave Gypsum, Nevada. It's good timing since the gypsum mine that is the lifeblood of the area is closing, shutting the whole town down with it. Ben is lucky: he's headed to San Diego, where he's got a track scholarship at the University of California. But his best friends, Pete and Hog Boy, don't have college to look forward to, so to make them happy, Ben goes with them to check out the hot chick parked on the side of Highway 447.
Lala: She and her Gypsy family earn money by telling fortunes. Some customers choose Tarot cards; others have their palms read. The thousands of people attending the nearby Burning Man festival spend lots of cash--especially as Lala gives uncanny readings. But lately Lala's been questioning whether there might be more to life than her upcoming arranged marriage. And the day she reads Ben's cards is the day that everything changes for her. . . and for him.
When I first saw this book on Netgalley, I knew I wanted to read it. Look at that cover and tell me it's not beautiful.
And when I got an e-mail from Netgalley saying I had been accepted to read it, I was ecstatic, because it was my second or third book ever and after all those rejections in the beginning, I felt like I was finally getting somewhere in this weird book-reviewing business.
This book was not what I expected at all.
I was all prepared for it to become my favorite book ever, even topping Auracle on my list of favorites (I'm sorry I ever doubted you Gina Rosati! I'll never do it again!) the moment I opened this book up on my Kindle. Desert setting? Gypsy girl? Small town boy? YES!!!!
Unfortunately, that wasn't really the case. I expected a cute, innocent guy who meets a gypsy girl as she rolls through town and sets up camp near it.
I guess I should've known better in a YA novel.
For those prudes faint of heart, Ben swears a lot, in general. I don't think I ever went to the next page without a swear word jumping out at me. I got used to it quickly, but this just serves as a warning for those wanting to give this to a person under 14--this book is not for kids. (Especially since there's a sex scene. Just saying, but we all knew it was coming.)
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All right, I've been trying to force this review out for months now because I got this from Netgalley and I really should have turned this in to the publisher a long time ago, but I'm pretty sick of it in general and I can't bring myself to write a really proper review. I checked Netgalley a few days ago and it's not even listed there anymore, so I doubt I can even turn in a review anyway (that'll teach me to hurry up my butt on reading and reviewing books. Eek! So many books I was approved for and never read or reviewed and now I probably won't get approved ever again! Ah!)
But anyway, here's the gist of it:
I thought this book was pretty pointless.
Call me unsophisticated, unclassy, uneducated, whatever. Maybe it's because of my age, or because I'm supposedly narrow-minded, but I just thought the plot was pretty boring.
Basically Lala (I keep reading it as "lala," like from Teletubbies) is in an arranged marriage, she's supposedly unhappy, she meets Ben, they have an affair, her family finds out, disowns her, and she's on her own from there. She sleeps with Ben, stays with him for a day, they go to this festival and she dumps him and she's "free."
Hurray!
I guess it's about being free from bonds?
Or not having to be tied down by men? Family? Obligations? Age-old traditions?
Whatever, I didn't really care about the little I gleamed from this book.
Sorry about the spoilers, but gah, really, there isn't that much to this book that I could see.
Lala and Ben's attraction didn't really make sense to me. It was like "Hot white boy! :O" and "HOT GYPSY GIRL!!!!!" Really, she has known him for LESS than a week and she dumps her entire family and culture for him. Then gives up her virginity for him, which is supposed to be sacred to her.
Oh.
My.
Gosh.
If the point of their VERY brief relationship wasn't for the relationship itself and it was for Lala to be "set free" or whatever, then she just used him. Great job Lala.
I liked Lala at first, but then she got all "rebellious" instead of respectful to her gypsy culture, and I don't think Elana K. Arnold wrote about her shame in betraying her family, traditions, and being "dirty" (shameful--very, very shameful in gypsy culture, the worst you can do, I forgot her word for it, but basically, think of mortal sins in Catholic religion multiplied by ten) very well. I mean, geez, at first Lala was sort of remorseful about all the "bad" things she was doing, but after a while (read: two minutes) she just didn't give a s***.
Really.
She really, really didn't.
I kind of lost respect for her after that; her credibility was lost on me.
I liked her prose at first (think of wordy, flowery, purple prose), but after I started disliking her, this just got on my nerves too.
Ben was a jerk to his brother, then didn't even really make it up to him.
Ummm...
Yeah.
I wouldn't recommend this book.
That's about all I have to say.
By the way, the last line in this book was "I was Lala White."
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