Book Review: Drawing Amanda by Stephanie Feuer

Drawing Amanda by Stephanie Feuer
Genre: Young Adult
Pages: 309

Published: June 15th 2014 by Hipso Media

Rating: 2 Hearts

Blurb:

DRAWING AMANDA is set in the under-parented, high-expectation world of a Manhattan international prep school. Fourteen-year-old budding artist Inky Kahn is still smarting from the death of his father. He thinks he’s found his big break when he bonds with the developer of a new computer game and snags a coveted drawing assignment, for which he uses his secret crush–Amanda–as a model.

But unbeknownst to Inky, the developer has a dangerous past, and is using his computer game to lure and stalk teenage girls. And Inky has inadvertently led Amanda right into his path. Blinded by his own ambition and sulking from his father’s death, Inky hides from the truth. Will Inky, with the help of Rungs, his cybergeek pal, discover the treachery in time and save Amanda before the creep ensnares her–or anyone else?

  

My Thoughts

This was a particular book. The first thing that caught me was the fact that it has gifs into the reading; it thought that was an amazing idea, like we soon could have a Harry Potter kind of thing! However, the book didn’t full me like I thought it would.

Drawing Amanda it the story of Ink and Amanda. Two outsider kids from an international high school in New York, those have had experience hard things. When Ink had lived the death of his father and the emotional abandon of his mother, he struggles to keep alive his passion for arts. In mid time, Amanda had lived in more places that she can remember but with an over the top social convention mother and a politic father, she struggles the absent of her savers and crime buddies brothers, who are both at college in other countries. So, Ink and Amanda looking for company in a new website games called Megaland.

But nothing’s like what it seems, and both teen find themselves into a creepier world where it could treat their life and dreams.

Reading this book it remind me a show from Discovery Home and Health for Latinamerica called “Red de Mentiras” (or Lie Network), where old creepy guys contact young women to perform wrong things.

What I liked? The characters developing in the end. 

They were growing and changing in a good way, that almost make them believable. I like that they found what they need to overcome their problems to be better persons. But what I didn’t like is the fact that I could complete connect with them. I felt a lack of something on it. Also, I didn’t like the relationship through each character. For example I didn’t like that all the parent have issues or how they respond to the problems through the reading, as well, the “love” that the author try to improve into the reading was unbelievable for me, the eternal insta-love-caring readers talk about all the time.

The plot is very original at some way. I haven’t read a book with an internet crime yet, only see it on television or movies. A book with this characteristics and ideas is good, because we see more of the actions and developing of the characters into this kind of situations. However, I read a time ago (from the author T. A. Uner on his blog) that, for writers to make that readers get their book, they need to catch the attention in the first six pages, because that will keep us into the story till the end.

The mayor problem with this book is the fact that the action start on the 3/4 part of the book. When I started the reading I was really lots because I didn’t even know where the book was set, and also didn’t knowing if the guy was called Michael or Ink because everyone had so weird names that I thought I was in a parallel world or something. It isn’t till the half of the book that everything started to made sense. I keep reading it just because I want to know how it ended, because I knew something good was coming and I needed to know. And because I love crime solve books.

I do like the international of the book, the fact that there're people for other countries and cultures. However, the school things wasn¿t necessary into the plot and confuse the reader with lot of unnecessary details. 

I read something that made chill, and it was the fact that Amanda’s mother was Venezuelan and so plastic. Saying that she likes the white on her house because “she just liked to be the most colorful thing in the room”, it bothers me. Maybe is based on Sofia Vergara from Modern Family, but even Sofia’s character and almost all the Latin moms (because we need to be clear that there’re mothers of shit in the world) are very caring, supporting and lovelies and would do anything for their child even if means to crash their dreams and desires. So, the fact that Amanda’s mom was the way she was did affect me. Luckily, she redeemed herself at the final when I saw the mom I know Venezuelan could be and was so concerned for her child.

Overall, this book was fine. I recommend it for those who like to keep reading until finish the book, because the final is good, and just because everything is solve. However, once that I finished I sadly felt nothing. This book is no memorable, is just for spend a time with it and put it aside.