Sophia Bennett

Trigger warnings: Disappearance of a father

7.5/10, I can't believe that it took me two months to get my hands on this crime novel and I've been wanting to read this after the last book made by this author called The Look kind of underwhelmed me so I had high expectations for this; I'm so glad I read this since this is so much better than the last book, where do I even begin. The author did not disappoint me with her latest book as far as I know. It starts off with the main character Peta and interestingly it starts off on some sort of wedding since her mother is remarrying after her father apparently died somehow, she recounts that he was even knighted by the Queen at the time this book was set, and I think this cements that this is a British book, not Australian, not American, but British. Anyways Peta discovers some clues that her father is alive and being held in an island country run by a billionaire but I forgot the names of both of them. Peta finds her father soon enough but predictably there was a big battle and I think he sacrificed himself ending this on a bittersweet note. Did I mention the plot was basic and the characters didn't really experience any development?… (altro)

Trigger warnings: Mentions of cancer

6/10, this was a book which could have been a lot better than what it is but instead the author completed this book without much thought and it underwhelmed me but this is only the first book by Sophia Bennett that I read and the second one was called The Castle which was a massive step up from this one. The premise seemed interesting because it was about two sisters, one was called Ava who had cancer and the other one was called Ted whose lives were polar opposites since Ted became a supermodel. I wasn't the target audience for this book but I kept reading to see what would happen and essentially she becomes super famous within a month and then she just quitted her career over some disagreement and some shouting later and miraculously Ava's cancer was treated and Ted shaved her hair in solidarity with her which was nice if she really cared for her but if she did that just to advance her career that would have been hypocritical of her and I think it's the latter that happened. There was a plot point about the romance where Ted and some rich boy whose name I forgot fall in love which really didn't need to be part of the book but it's there for whatever reason. The entire book wasn't that original since it's one of many rise and fall books but if you like books like that this one is for you.… (altro)

Nonie es una apasionada de la moda. Sus dos mejores amigas son Edie, una defensora de los derechos humanos que sueña con trabajar en las Naciones Unidas, y Jenny, una joven promesa del cine que acaba de rodar su primer gran éxito comercial.
Pero la vida de estas tres adolescentes cambiará cuando conozcan a Crow, una niña ugandesa con unas manos prodigiosas para la costura que es capaz de crear belleza a partir de las telas más sencillas. Enseguida las tres amigas deciden ayudarla. Con la ayuda de los contactos de la madre y de la abuela de Nonie, de la web de Edie y de la propaganda que consigue Jenny al llevar uno de sus vestidos a una premier, Crow se hace enseguida famosa y todas las modelos de Londres se pelean por llevar sus vestidos.
Sin embargo, a pesar de todos estos éxitos, Crow sigue sin ser feliz. Pronto sus nuevos amigos descubren que Henry, el hermano de Crow está en paradero desconocido en Uganda, a pesar de todos los esfuerzos de sus padres, ambos maestros, por encontrarle.… (altro)

I read the book flap and understood it would be a sole-perspective story from the non-cancerous sister's point of view. I frowned, but thought the ideas of sisterhood, closeness, and worry about illness would be recurring themes. I wanted medical emergencies, hard decisions (work or family?), heartwarming sister moments, and tearjerkers.
I got none of these.
Five pages into the story, I knew how it would end and rolled my eyes. When a statistic was quoted the first time, I groaned out loud and knew exactly how the book would end. I was right. There is absolutely no tension, worry, or drama around the cancer and how everyone thinks of it. This is a book about teenage modeling, from start to finish.

This book makes me think that the author clearly just wanted to write about a teen model and that this is partially wish fulfillment. Cancer is mentioned in less than one percent of the book. The book is so jammed with wish fulfillment cliches that this review would be novel-length if I were to list them all. The cancer was to make the non-cancer sister look better. I was appalled. She was jealous of her sister until her sister got sick, tried to convince everyone they were close, and--rrgh. The narrator is a whiny, entitled, ego-driven brat who doesn't understand that consequences exist. And why should she? There -were- no consequences for anything. I will point out that her entitlement and ego don't rear their ugly heads until she stops waffling about everything and actually does something. It's like a switch was flipped, and she becomes an airhead not too long after. Boring and grating. Then again, the character was only marginally interesting before all this. "Waaah, I have a unibrow and am tall." Um, razors exist if you don't like tweezing. Waxing. Sugaring. You have options, dude, and a sister who would love to help. Tall--I am five foot two, so grrr.

The cancer microscopic-subplot could have been cut entirely and the book wouldn't have changed at all. The cancer itself was a road to nowhere plotwise. Frustrating! I would read a fiction book about teen modeling, sure--if it had actual tension in it and if the characters had any realistic motivations that are mentioned for longer than a paragraph. But this book -tried- to have a cancer sister in it, too, and that threw me off.
(grumble) At least I read it cover to cover so I could figure out exactly how correct I was.… (altro)