FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Maybe it's just my personality, or maybe I just want to read the darn journal now... But I seriously think this girl has Issues. Granted, I understand her reasons for dithering but OMG will you get on with it already, girl?

Maybe I'm in the wrong mood? Alas no, I find it interesting and absorbing. So it's possible that the root of my problems is myself.

Because if it were me with those journals I'd agonise whether or not to take the journal while checking over the rest of them. It would be a long and painful process. Decision is a spontaneous 'WHAT THE HECK? - YES!' And that would be pretty much the end of it.

Please note that moral obligations, notions etc. would be considered during the agony of Choice. Besides, she is dead. No offence.

POST-READ

Oh. My. God. I want to strangle Hope half to death and beat her bloody until she sees straight. She's such a ...!!!!

OMFG. Did the author use Parker to bring out this tragic epic love-story? Because that's what it feels like to me.
Frost feels more like a filler than a real character of the story actually.
F-k me, I don't see substance here.

I'm totally royally PISSED.
Right. And Frost has officially joined my list of people to strangle if given half a chance.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Although I did like the poetry references, and the part of the book from the moment when the mental agony is blessedly done & over, to the moment of the trip itself. And Parker finally blowing up - IMHO it was a well overdue tantrum.

Otherwise - sad, very sad. A failure to deliver two stories simultaneously in a believable manner.

FINAL VERDICT: Religious avoidance is advisable.

ELABORATION:
There's always a first for everything. This happens to be the first book EVER that I really really wanted to burn. After subjecting it to some creative book-torture (including -but not limited to!- book-throwing).

It left me pissed off and slightly homicidal. I'm afraid I am not quite capable of articulating myself verbally with much sense and without liberal use of profanity. (Although achievement of such a state in a reader can, arguably, be considered an accomplishment in its own right I suppose) ( )

We can thank Harry Potter, Twilight and The Hunger Games for the current trend of adults devouring YA and New Adult novels. But, not all YA/NA crosses over well. Golden is firmly targeted to teens, with hardly a parent or adult being represented. The one parent that is given a few pages is overbearing and controlling. Of course. I can’t imagine any adult, let alone a parent, even less a parent of a teenager who is constantly trying to teach their teen about responsibility and taking charge of their future would like Golden very much. But, teens will eat the message up with a spoon. The message being, as far as I can tell, that 1) a parent that wants the best for you is wrong and 2) making spur of the moment decisions that will negatively impact your future is okay as long as you have a hot snowboarder boyfriend you can fall back on.

Hey, I get it. I’m definitely not the target audience for this book. And, I don’t think all YA, New Adult or whatever you want to call it, should have a message that is “parent approved.” But, to have a “message” book that so clearly disregards both perspectives – the adult responsible one and the YA impulsive one – does a disservice to the target audience. In Golden, the author didn’t do a good enough job of showing why the MC’s decision was the right one. As a result, Golden will be one of those books that teens love but, when they revisit it as adults, they will wonder what the hell they were thinking. ( )

Parker Frost, notorious for being a staunch rule-follower, decides to rebel (just a little) by stealing and reading the journal of a local girl who had disappeared ten years previously and is now presumed to be dead by the town. When Parker discovers that the girl may not be dead after all, she sets out on an unchaperoned road trip with her best friend and longtime crush to solve the town mystery. "Golden" was fairly well-written (I enjoyed the Robert Frost poem excerpts at the beginning of each chapter), but overall felt pretty predictable. This is a good summertime read--fluffy, with just enough mysterious intrigue to keep your attention. ( )

How to review this book...
The writing was okay. Average. Adequate. The synopsis sounded pretty good, but the ending was predictable and frustrating. The characters drove me crazy. The main character was well-developed but I disagreed with just about every decision she made and it drove me batty. The best friend was well-intentioned but annoying. The boy was not well drawn out and I kind of hate him for being like a stray puppy who just keeps coming back no matter how many times she pushed him away. My final complaint is that so much of this book is absolutely not probable. I prefer my realistic fiction to be a little more realistic. ( )

How silly is this? I stayed up until eleven o’clock last night reading this book. I knew what was going to happen and it did happen just as I had thought, and I was surprised only because it was so terribly unlikely that what happened did happen.

Not a profound book with wise ideas. Not a book with brilliantly drawn characters. And I’ve already told you that the plot is completely expected.

But I did stay up until eleven o’clock last night reading it and that is something, isn’t it? ( )