Book Review: The Fine Art of Truth or Dare by Melissa Jensen

The Fine Art of Truth or Dare by Melissa Jensen

Paperback, 380 pages

Published February 16th 2012 by Speak

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Ella is nearly invisible at the Willing School, and that's just fine by her. Still, it's hard being a nobody and having a crush on the biggest somebody in the school: Alex Bainbridge. Especially when he is her French tutor, and lessons have started becoming, well, certainly more interesting than French ever has been before.


MY THOUGHTS:


THREE things first: I don’t do Art. I don’t read poetry. And most of all, half of the time, I have no idea what I’m reading, so I constantly reread what I just read. So, yeah...

     The Fine Art of Truth or Dare. What really appealed me to read the book was the expectation I had that it might be similar to Anna and the French Kiss in many ways- there’s art, French, and a cute romantic teen story. Then I started to read a few pages and I’m already lost- literally lost. Too much art history and stuff mentioned that I really have no world of. Anyway, when I started to pick up on things, I also started to like Ella. She’s nice, cute and smart & imaginative, particularly in art and how she has a weird one-dimensional friendship with Edward Willing. An artist who is not only dead, but is someone she always talks to in her room almost ever end of the day. However she’s really insecure about her burn scars that run from her right shoulder, that spreads to her neck and the upper part of her right breast (something like that). I love her Italian family though, especially how everything runs in their family restaurant. I can almost always smell the pastas, pizza and whatever Italian food they cook in their kitchen. To the extent that I craved for Ravioli after reading the book (and yes, I really ate Ravioli stuffed with pumpkin in blue cheese cream- had it for dinner- so yummy!)..Ok.. Then there’s her two best friends, Frankie and Sadie. I love their trio and they are just adorable and deep together. They have hobbies that are really fascinating (karaoke and truth/dare twisted style!), common yet they made it unique-somewhat their own. Then comes the guy, Alex (rich, A-lister, lacrosse player, handsome, well-built, the usual, oh and speaks fluently in French), whom Ella has always had a small crush on, until her admiration grew because of two circumstances.
     The main story is basically this: Alex and Ella, two opposite social status quo, and their relationship made secret, then mix it all with Art, French, Italian food, Edward Willing, lots of Edward Willing,..family dramas (small), friendship dramas...did I mention Edward Willing? lol. (Yes, that many Edward Willing. This book will probably serve as an introductory book towards knowing the Artist Edward Willing). Sadly, it’s not until after halfway in the story that they finally like each other, and close to the end when Ella realizes the fact that Alex is trying to keep their relationship a secret.
     This might be related to the fact that the pacing is slow. The climax of the story came in late and so every resolution to the problem came in fast after that. The main problem (Ella’s insecurities and relationship with Alex) was not much a main subject in the story. I mean, the way I saw it, it wasn’t really a problem until Frankie brought it up. And when things were cleared out, turns out Alex had a really valid reason for keeping it a secret. ALSO, there were too many side topics irrelevant to the story that ruins the main one. Lastly, I was so sad to read only a few swoon worthy moments between Alex and Ella. Sure, there were some cute moments, but it didn’t reach the level where I want to squeal real hard in excitement.

     Overall, I still enjoyed reading this YA contemporary novel, hence my “I liked it” rating. But! I was just disappointed with myself for raising the bar higher by expecting so much swoon butterflies toe-dip moments. I also learned a lot of Art history which wasn’t really boring to read. The book’s a darling and reality-based. That’s why I liked it..the less romantic and more practical love story Alex and Ella had showed how real it can be. Yeah, that’s it! And that can be seen with how Ella sometimes compare herself with a book’s heroine acts in what she actually did do. I just kinda wished Alex had put more effort into the swoon parts example, hugging Ella when she showed her scars, etc. lots of ruined moments, but Alex did make up for it. So, YEAH. I still recommend this! :)

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