Book Review: dream girl by Lauren Mechling
YA |
Girls |
Mystery
First Line: I was breezing down the airport corridor, minding my own business and thinking about the new look I'd have with the liquid eyeliner I'd picked up at the duty-free shop in Paris, when I saw it in the distance: the pink combination lock.
Rating: 3 (and 1/2 because it's not quite 4, but it has a little spectacular something that I like)Coincidentally I had finished
dream girl right before I pounced on
WAKE yesterday (I can be a speed-reading demon sometimes), but I reviewed
WAKE first because it was just
phenomenol (
see review here) and I couldn't wait an extra day (okay, even the merest second) to share my giddiness!
But I digress...
dream girl has an adorable cover! I recall
Melissa Walker asking if we prefer the hardcover (with pink roses) over the paperback (with red roses), and I initially had said the paperback with red roses was more appealing then. However, after reading the book, I will say that the pink roses make more sense. Plus, it definitely does not look too candy-girlishly cute in real life - at least, to me, it does not.
Claire Voyant (yes, her parents deliberately blessed her with such a name) has very odd dreams with certain objects and motifs that often re-appear in her waking life. Do they have any significance? Claire wants to believe so, but when she chases after the pink combination lock, it just leads to awkwardness and nothing to write home about. That is, until her grandmother bequeaths her a cameo necklace that somehow gives her dreams better focus and a black-and-white tint, though not an easier interpretation.
From page 177
But when she came closer I didn't see my lunch; instead, I realized I was looking at the fruit salad of my dreams. And no, by that I don't mean the perfect fruit salad - I'm talking about the ridiculous fruit sculpture I'd dreamed about making once upon a time. There were even the same heart-shaped strawberries, except now they were red instead of muddy gray.
After much convincing by her parents, Claire agrees to attend the elite school Henry Hudson where exams and extracurricular activities are expected as opposed to her much more carefree school called the Farmhouse where field trips and creativity thrive. I love Claire - she was just a little dork-at-heart, and she basically reminded me of me and did not care to fit in with the "popular" girls. She makes a friend - also a newbie - named Becca who appears to be just as dorky, although Claire soon finds out that her new friend is also the heiress of a ketchup empire!
Claire soon discovers that Becca and her family have been pretty tense lately because they think a rival family has been out to ruin them and/or threaten their lives. Background checks before inviting you on a family trip seem a little much, but when recipes get stolen or buildings catch on fire, that doesn't seem like a bad idea! And now, Claire's dreams seem to be pointing at who is behind all the incidents, but will anyone believe her dreams?
I liked Claire, especially after finding out that she is a major Agatha Christie fan!
From page 21
Back in sixth grade, when my love for Agatha Christie was verging on pathological, I got it in my head that I was a detective. I spent several months sneaking around the building trying to listen through people's doors. After a few complaints, the Washington View Village board banned me from going to floors other than my own for a year. To this day a handful of neighbors still avoid making eye contact with me on the elevator.
That is something I would have
totally done, but I didn't live in an apartment complex to go sneaking about in. I wish there had been more about her family - they seem super-interesting even though Claire considers them extremely embarrassing. There was a brief moment between Claire and her younger, precocious brother where she is an awesome older sister - but unfortunately, nothing further than that.
Unfortunately,
dream girl is a far cry from Agatha Christie's mysteries. The story is somewhat predictable, but you have to love the best friend's attractively adorable older brother! However, I really wanted to kick him for being an idiot and hopelessly stringing Claire along while he is already hopelessly tied around another girl's finger! Ack! What is
wrong with these boys?
I enjoyed
dream girl, but it did not make me hold my breath like
WAKE. I think the story and characters could have been developed a lot more, dug a little bit deeper instead of touching momentarily on this and that. It was a mystery with a little noir, but I would say it was a "bubblegum" noir - definitely a lighter read than
What I Saw And How I Lied (
see here for review). But still, quite enjoyable if you have a soft spot for dorky and shy girls who love Agatha Christie :D
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Disclosure 10/7/09:
This was borrowed from the library.
