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You Have Seven Messages
It's been a year since Luna's mother, the fashion-model wife of a successful film director, was hit and killed by a taxi in New York's East Village. Luna, her father, and her little brother, Tile, are still struggling with grief. When Luna goes to clean out her mother's old studio, she's stunned to find her mom's cell phone there—charged and holding seven unheard messages. As Luna begins to listen to them, she learns more about her mother's life than she ever wanted to know . . . and she comes to realize that the tidy tale she's been told about her mother's death may not be the whole truth. “. . . a lovely contemporary fairy tale, with a sad Upper West Side princess at the heart of it, and that’s a kind of folklore that many readers will enjoy.”—The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, Recommended “The book contains various delights. . . . the love story element shines, and the book offers a nice window into the life of privileged New York youngsters, refreshingly filled with protective and involved adults.”—Kirkus Reviews “Following Luna through a hazy grief state after the death of her mother is like a beautiful dream. This book takes your hand and leads you on a wonder-filled adventure.”—Melissa Walker, author of Small Town Sinners “Luna is someone to weep with and to cheer for, to wish was your best friend. Readers will fall in love with Luna and her dazzling world.”—Emily Wing Smith, author of Back When You Were Easier to Love
306 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 397 reviews
October 26, 2012
Originally reviewed on reutreads, a young adult book blog.
While I originally wanted to read You Have Seven Messages so much I requested it from my local library for purchase, this book did not live up to the hype I gave it in my mind. Overly simplistic prose and a slightly obnoxious narrator just ruined it for me.
While I was reading this book, I was thinking about how little Luna sounded like a teenage girl. I mean, she's only just turned 15. I'm 14. There should be some similarities in the way we think and talk. Yet Luna wavered between sounding like a middle-aged lawyer and a kindergardener, something unaided by weirdly placed exclamation marks like this! I'm all for male authors writing from female PoV, but this was just not pulled off well at all. The scenes with even a mention of bras were absolutely cringe-worthy. The detachment I felt due to this "language barrier" was only made bigger when Luna talked about how awful people are... for example, at one point, she calls herself "her own species." I mean, really?
Luna's a very privileged kid. Her father is a movie director, her late mother was a high-profile model and author (á la Tyra Banks, but better, of course). I understand that being part of this New York City elite social circle would open doors, but some of the plot was absolutely ridiculous. Unchaperoned trips to Italy, gallery shows? Rendezvouses with supermodels in Central Park?
Yet another aspect of the book that bothered me was how the titular messages only made up a small part of the plot. From the synopsis, I guessed that this book would be a mystery, or a thriller. It's mainly very slow-paced, with a "mystery" that's revealed in the first 75 pages, and the rest of the book is just trying to figure out the tiny details.
Overall, I was disappointed with this book. I didn't like the narration or plot, so it's not really recommended by me.
While I originally wanted to read You Have Seven Messages so much I requested it from my local library for purchase, this book did not live up to the hype I gave it in my mind. Overly simplistic prose and a slightly obnoxious narrator just ruined it for me.
While I was reading this book, I was thinking about how little Luna sounded like a teenage girl. I mean, she's only just turned 15. I'm 14. There should be some similarities in the way we think and talk. Yet Luna wavered between sounding like a middle-aged lawyer and a kindergardener, something unaided by weirdly placed exclamation marks like this! I'm all for male authors writing from female PoV, but this was just not pulled off well at all. The scenes with even a mention of bras were absolutely cringe-worthy. The detachment I felt due to this "language barrier" was only made bigger when Luna talked about how awful people are... for example, at one point, she calls herself "her own species." I mean, really?
Luna's a very privileged kid. Her father is a movie director, her late mother was a high-profile model and author (á la Tyra Banks, but better, of course). I understand that being part of this New York City elite social circle would open doors, but some of the plot was absolutely ridiculous. Unchaperoned trips to Italy, gallery shows? Rendezvouses with supermodels in Central Park?
Yet another aspect of the book that bothered me was how the titular messages only made up a small part of the plot. From the synopsis, I guessed that this book would be a mystery, or a thriller. It's mainly very slow-paced, with a "mystery" that's revealed in the first 75 pages, and the rest of the book is just trying to figure out the tiny details.
Overall, I was disappointed with this book. I didn't like the narration or plot, so it's not really recommended by me.
December 2, 2020
Book, you have one message from me:
NOPE.
I want to start off by saying that this book could've been really good, but I think I'd be lying. The whole premise has been done already, and with better results. I'm glad I got this at a library book sale where it cost be about 25 cents.
To recap the story: Luna, who is supposed to be a 14 year old girl who sounds anywhere from 10 to 35 (but never actually 14), is enlisting the help of "dreamy" Oliver (another elitist kid with daddy issues and a cheater's conscience) to solve the "mystery" of her mother's death.
Luna is a rich Mary Sue, immature when she wants to be and able to get away with anything because she's our MC. Tile, named after freaking flooring, is more mature at 9 years old. Her father is conveniently nonexistent for about 80% of the book, and the rest of the characters are stereotypes or fillers for space. The one good thing I have to say about this book is that the chapters are so short you can put it down extremely easily. However, you probably will not want to pick it back up.
As far as plot, Luna gets the "mystery" aspect of the book over with in about 100 pages. She fills in the details later, but it's mostly just her whining about Oliver and missing her mom (I can understand missing her, but literally everything in the book that happens Luna relates to her mother in some way). Surely her father can afford counseling for her traumatic loss if he can afford to have a driver escort her nearly everywhere. Oh, did I mention that Luna is extremely talented at photography, knows supermodels and famous celebrities (we can't stop hearing about how ORLANDO BLOOM stayed at her house) and yet she has approximately one friend? Something is fishy, methinks.
The author tries to tackle way too many current issues in society through Luna's constant stream-of-consciousness monologue, which doesn't work because no time is spent truly discussing any of them. Environmentalism, gay rights, some kind of sexual revolution, eating disorders....the list continues. But the way Luna talks about them is never particularly insightful or even helpful. In fact, if someone who actually has an eating disorder were to read this, her random diatribes would likely be legitimately hurtful. It feels like these issues exist so that Luna can seem like a good person for having the "right take", rather than a natural conversation (or in the case of sexual revolution/gay rights, the ability to just exist as a person without having your sexuality be your only character trait).
Also, Oliver is like a nonentity. He barely exists during the entire book (at least no more than other boy characters), yet Luna obsessively pines for her because she apparently loves him. If I was her father, I would have a talk with her about loving someone as a teenager and how it is almost never a "forever" love. Hell, Luna just gets done figuring out that love sometimes NEVER lasts "forever" even as fully grown adults. But obviously her & Oliver will last. Because he said he's sorry.
Oh wait, no, he didn't. Actually what he said was this (emphasis is mine, put on parts that are exceptionally stupid):
Yeah....no. If your boyfriend screws up and can't even manage a straight apology, and instead shifts the blame off on another girl, you should not just accept that. If your "serious" partner can't even admit they were in the wrong and also can't actually tell you that they care about you but just that they "want to hang" with you??? Yikes. If some ass-wipe said that to me, I'd be wiping the floor with him. I certainly would not thinking it was the "sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me". Luna, you got some messed up priorities girl.
So. This book is heading back to the library, where hopefully it finds a more willing home than mine. 1.25.
NOPE.
I want to start off by saying that this book could've been really good, but I think I'd be lying. The whole premise has been done already, and with better results. I'm glad I got this at a library book sale where it cost be about 25 cents.
To recap the story: Luna, who is supposed to be a 14 year old girl who sounds anywhere from 10 to 35 (but never actually 14), is enlisting the help of "dreamy" Oliver (another elitist kid with daddy issues and a cheater's conscience) to solve the "mystery" of her mother's death.
Luna is a rich Mary Sue, immature when she wants to be and able to get away with anything because she's our MC. Tile, named after freaking flooring, is more mature at 9 years old. Her father is conveniently nonexistent for about 80% of the book, and the rest of the characters are stereotypes or fillers for space. The one good thing I have to say about this book is that the chapters are so short you can put it down extremely easily. However, you probably will not want to pick it back up.
As far as plot, Luna gets the "mystery" aspect of the book over with in about 100 pages. She fills in the details later, but it's mostly just her whining about Oliver and missing her mom (I can understand missing her, but literally everything in the book that happens Luna relates to her mother in some way). Surely her father can afford counseling for her traumatic loss if he can afford to have a driver escort her nearly everywhere. Oh, did I mention that Luna is extremely talented at photography, knows supermodels and famous celebrities (we can't stop hearing about how ORLANDO BLOOM stayed at her house) and yet she has approximately one friend? Something is fishy, methinks.
The author tries to tackle way too many current issues in society through Luna's constant stream-of-consciousness monologue, which doesn't work because no time is spent truly discussing any of them. Environmentalism, gay rights, some kind of sexual revolution, eating disorders....the list continues. But the way Luna talks about them is never particularly insightful or even helpful. In fact, if someone who actually has an eating disorder were to read this, her random diatribes would likely be legitimately hurtful. It feels like these issues exist so that Luna can seem like a good person for having the "right take", rather than a natural conversation (or in the case of sexual revolution/gay rights, the ability to just exist as a person without having your sexuality be your only character trait).
Also, Oliver is like a nonentity. He barely exists during the entire book (at least no more than other boy characters), yet Luna obsessively pines for her because she apparently loves him. If I was her father, I would have a talk with her about loving someone as a teenager and how it is almost never a "forever" love. Hell, Luna just gets done figuring out that love sometimes NEVER lasts "forever" even as fully grown adults. But obviously her & Oliver will last. Because he said he's sorry.
Oh wait, no, he didn't. Actually what he said was this (emphasis is mine, put on parts that are exceptionally stupid):
...I hear about her whole bet with her friends, and I felt so played. It was even worse than her dissing me when I was thirteen. I just got caught up in her game, but only for a couple days. She is so fake. It's over now. You are the one I always wanted to hang with.
Yeah....no. If your boyfriend screws up and can't even manage a straight apology, and instead shifts the blame off on another girl, you should not just accept that. If your "serious" partner can't even admit they were in the wrong and also can't actually tell you that they care about you but just that they "want to hang" with you??? Yikes. If some ass-wipe said that to me, I'd be wiping the floor with him. I certainly would not thinking it was the "sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me". Luna, you got some messed up priorities girl.
So. This book is heading back to the library, where hopefully it finds a more willing home than mine. 1.25.
June 24, 2017
Read my full review (with GIFs!) on Lauren Reads YA.
If I had to describe this book in one word, it would be NOPE. If you like rage reviews, this post is for you.
I expected a fun, quick read and got something that was all over the place and total shit. The ‘mystery’ was solved in less than a hundred pages and for the rest of the book she just kind of sat there being whiny about not knowing every aspect of her parents’ life.
I’m all for male authors writing female characters and female authors writing male characters, but you can definitely tell that Luna was written by a male author. She was an incredibly annoying character to read from: she was immature, whiny, a bit arrogant at times. It felt like the author took all the things he knew of as stereotypically teenage girl things and put them into this one character.
I also find it hard to believe all the opportunities Luna gets, even with how privileged she is (daughter of a model and a director, lives in NYC). Her own gallery show? Basically BFFs with a twenty-something (thirty maybe?) supermodel? Casually goes on a trip to Italy and Paris? Had one conversation with Drew Barrymore and then she came to her photography show? Orlando Bloom stayed at her house for weeks because he is besties with her dad? Yeah, no.
The love interest idea was cute, but could’ve been done so much better. Boy-next-door Oliver lacked personality and depth. The conflict between our main character and the love interest was stupid and made no sense. Oh, and did I mention that she loooooves him? Even when she barely knows two things about him? I am 200% DONE with this book.
Because it was so terrible, I wasted THREE AND A HALF DAYS on it. (That’s a lot of time wasted when you’re doing a read-a-thon.)
Fuck this book.
If I had to describe this book in one word, it would be NOPE. If you like rage reviews, this post is for you.
I expected a fun, quick read and got something that was all over the place and total shit. The ‘mystery’ was solved in less than a hundred pages and for the rest of the book she just kind of sat there being whiny about not knowing every aspect of her parents’ life.
I’m all for male authors writing female characters and female authors writing male characters, but you can definitely tell that Luna was written by a male author. She was an incredibly annoying character to read from: she was immature, whiny, a bit arrogant at times. It felt like the author took all the things he knew of as stereotypically teenage girl things and put them into this one character.
I also find it hard to believe all the opportunities Luna gets, even with how privileged she is (daughter of a model and a director, lives in NYC). Her own gallery show? Basically BFFs with a twenty-something (thirty maybe?) supermodel? Casually goes on a trip to Italy and Paris? Had one conversation with Drew Barrymore and then she came to her photography show? Orlando Bloom stayed at her house for weeks because he is besties with her dad? Yeah, no.
The love interest idea was cute, but could’ve been done so much better. Boy-next-door Oliver lacked personality and depth. The conflict between our main character and the love interest was stupid and made no sense. Oh, and did I mention that she loooooves him? Even when she barely knows two things about him? I am 200% DONE with this book.
Because it was so terrible, I wasted THREE AND A HALF DAYS on it. (That’s a lot of time wasted when you’re doing a read-a-thon.)
Fuck this book.
June 22, 2012
About twenty pages into this book, I realized it wasn't what I thought it was. I rarely purchase books, especially hardcover, except for releases from authors that I follow (John Gren's TFioS, for example). My impulse decision to buy this book was completely wrong. As a fourteen year-old girl who loves mystery stories, I thought that a book focused around another fourteen year-old girl trying to solve the mystery of her mother's death was intriguing, and bought the book at Barnes and Noble without a second thought. The inside cover advertised secrets and mystery, all with the help of her "dreamy neighbor Oliver."
If you're looking at this book thinking that it's going to be just that - a book of secrets and mystery and a dreamy neighbor named Oliver, you're wrong.
First off, I had a lot of problems with the narrator's voice. If you took out the numbers for her age, I would have guessed she was twelve in the beginning, then turned thirteen after her birthday (which was pretty early on in the book). She was really fourteen, then turned fifteen. Her voice in general seemed a bit immature to me. She even says not to call her a "tween" although I think that the whole "tween" thing ends around age thirteen. The fact that she doesn't really have a lot of friends doesn't add to the realism at all. She has one friend, Janine, who has maybe four scenes in the entire book. Then there's Oliver, the boy across the street. Quickly, though, Luna becomes friends with a model named Daria, who's probably in her late twenties or so. How exactly does a fourteen year old girl become BFFs with a twenty year old? I know, I know, "suspension of disbelief" and all that. But there was no suspension. Just a lot of disbelief. Luna seemed incredibly whiny through her voice and the whole book seemed to be her own personal pity party. However, when she spoke (only to authority figures like her dad, though) she was rather sarcastic, which completely blew me away. It didn't fit with the voice she used to narrate at all. When she first said "damn" I was even shocked, because of the incompatibility with the immaturity of her voice.
I think some of these problems are linked to the fact that it's an adult male author writing from a teenage girl's POV, but some authors have pulled it off before. Mark Peter Hughes did it well in "I Am The Wallpaper." Even John Green could do it in "The Fault In Our Stars." I think that when an author tries to do this, it's either hit or miss, and this one was more on the miss side.
When she talks to Oliver, she says that her "skin feels like it's on fire." As I said, I'm fourteen, and I'm pretty socially awkward, but when I talk to boys I really don't feel like "my skin is on fire." I get being nervous and all, but I really just wanted to roll my eyes at that part. Within the same paragraph, she talks about Oliver's "violet lips" which threw me off a lot. Maybe she meant they had a violet hue, but I kept imagining him having these neon purple lips when she said that (which was unfortunately more than once.)
While on the topic of Oliver, I felt like he was an unbelievable character, and when I say "unbelievable" I mean I really couldn't believe him. He seemed kinda cheesy, and their relationship really lacked chemistry and he lacked personality in general. The few lines they exchanged weren't really that, you know "deep" or "personal" and Luna always feels nervous talking to him. I don't know, but that just seems like it's not a great relationship. For the whole "first love" story I guess the awkwardness works, but most first loves end pretty quickly, but instead,
One more character that I had a problem with was Tile. In the beginning he seemed to have the maturity of a five year old rather than a ten year old, and towards the end he seemed to be about thirty. When he used the word "iridescent" I found it a bit hard to believe, especially since my twelve year old brother probably doesn't even know what that means.
In terms of PLOT, however, I felt like this book was all over the place. The "mystery" wasn't much of a mystery at all. Luna solved the big "what" thing about 95 pages into the book, and the rest is spent gathering small details. She hung out with Oliver, ate crepes, and kept relating everything, and seriously everything back to her mother. It got kind of old after a while, and I found it hard to be sympathetic for Luna for some reason that I can't quite place.
There's also the strange sub-plot about Luna's photography, which also was quite unbelievable (it could have been believable, but the suspension just wasn't there) especially when she gets an agent just by sending him three pictures. He replies five minutes later, ready to sign. As a published writer I assumed that Stewart Lewis would understand how hard it is to be published and think about that before giving Luna all this attention for her photography so easily. There was nothing in the plot that was keeping me turning pages. Luna suggested the solution to her big "mystery" on about page forty or so, and she ended up being right. Nothing came as a shock whatsoever.
While Luna sometimes came across as extremely immature, she sometimes seemed way TOO mature. Weird. She was allowed to go to Paris alone, was friends with that model, and at the end wrote an e-mail to her father explaining everything she had learned, which seemed like a way to amplify the very subtle theme there was throughout the book, that everything's not just black and white, there's also gray areas. I only know this because that's almost exactly what Luna wrote in the e-mail.
If you're looking at buying this book thinking that it's going to be a mystery, please don't. But if you're looking for a book for maybe a twelve or thirteen year old who hasn't read a lot of good books prior, then they may enjoy it. I happened to read an amazing book before this one and maybe it just seemed bad by comparison. But I think this book had a lot of flaws, and there wasn't much that I can say I really enjoyed.
If you're looking at this book thinking that it's going to be just that - a book of secrets and mystery and a dreamy neighbor named Oliver, you're wrong.
First off, I had a lot of problems with the narrator's voice. If you took out the numbers for her age, I would have guessed she was twelve in the beginning, then turned thirteen after her birthday (which was pretty early on in the book). She was really fourteen, then turned fifteen. Her voice in general seemed a bit immature to me. She even says not to call her a "tween" although I think that the whole "tween" thing ends around age thirteen. The fact that she doesn't really have a lot of friends doesn't add to the realism at all. She has one friend, Janine, who has maybe four scenes in the entire book. Then there's Oliver, the boy across the street. Quickly, though, Luna becomes friends with a model named Daria, who's probably in her late twenties or so. How exactly does a fourteen year old girl become BFFs with a twenty year old? I know, I know, "suspension of disbelief" and all that. But there was no suspension. Just a lot of disbelief. Luna seemed incredibly whiny through her voice and the whole book seemed to be her own personal pity party. However, when she spoke (only to authority figures like her dad, though) she was rather sarcastic, which completely blew me away. It didn't fit with the voice she used to narrate at all. When she first said "damn" I was even shocked, because of the incompatibility with the immaturity of her voice.
I think some of these problems are linked to the fact that it's an adult male author writing from a teenage girl's POV, but some authors have pulled it off before. Mark Peter Hughes did it well in "I Am The Wallpaper." Even John Green could do it in "The Fault In Our Stars." I think that when an author tries to do this, it's either hit or miss, and this one was more on the miss side.
When she talks to Oliver, she says that her "skin feels like it's on fire." As I said, I'm fourteen, and I'm pretty socially awkward, but when I talk to boys I really don't feel like "my skin is on fire." I get being nervous and all, but I really just wanted to roll my eyes at that part. Within the same paragraph, she talks about Oliver's "violet lips" which threw me off a lot. Maybe she meant they had a violet hue, but I kept imagining him having these neon purple lips when she said that (which was unfortunately more than once.)
While on the topic of Oliver, I felt like he was an unbelievable character, and when I say "unbelievable" I mean I really couldn't believe him. He seemed kinda cheesy, and their relationship really lacked chemistry and he lacked personality in general. The few lines they exchanged weren't really that, you know "deep" or "personal" and Luna always feels nervous talking to him. I don't know, but that just seems like it's not a great relationship. For the whole "first love" story I guess the awkwardness works, but most first loves end pretty quickly, but instead,
One more character that I had a problem with was Tile. In the beginning he seemed to have the maturity of a five year old rather than a ten year old, and towards the end he seemed to be about thirty. When he used the word "iridescent" I found it a bit hard to believe, especially since my twelve year old brother probably doesn't even know what that means.
In terms of PLOT, however, I felt like this book was all over the place. The "mystery" wasn't much of a mystery at all. Luna solved the big "what" thing about 95 pages into the book, and the rest is spent gathering small details. She hung out with Oliver, ate crepes, and kept relating everything, and seriously everything back to her mother. It got kind of old after a while, and I found it hard to be sympathetic for Luna for some reason that I can't quite place.
There's also the strange sub-plot about Luna's photography, which also was quite unbelievable (it could have been believable, but the suspension just wasn't there) especially when she gets an agent just by sending him three pictures. He replies five minutes later, ready to sign. As a published writer I assumed that Stewart Lewis would understand how hard it is to be published and think about that before giving Luna all this attention for her photography so easily. There was nothing in the plot that was keeping me turning pages. Luna suggested the solution to her big "mystery" on about page forty or so, and she ended up being right. Nothing came as a shock whatsoever.
While Luna sometimes came across as extremely immature, she sometimes seemed way TOO mature. Weird. She was allowed to go to Paris alone, was friends with that model, and at the end wrote an e-mail to her father explaining everything she had learned, which seemed like a way to amplify the very subtle theme there was throughout the book, that everything's not just black and white, there's also gray areas. I only know this because that's almost exactly what Luna wrote in the e-mail.
If you're looking at buying this book thinking that it's going to be a mystery, please don't. But if you're looking for a book for maybe a twelve or thirteen year old who hasn't read a lot of good books prior, then they may enjoy it. I happened to read an amazing book before this one and maybe it just seemed bad by comparison. But I think this book had a lot of flaws, and there wasn't much that I can say I really enjoyed.
March 9, 2013
At first, I was totally into it. Feeling Luna's pain, sympathizing with her family.
Then it just got...well...juvenile.
There were scores of misplaced exclamation marks, Luna really started to get on my nerves, and the believability took a nose dive. She's fifteen. In grade nine. And she thinks she's in love? And she goes unsupervised to Paris? What? That doesn't happen in the real world, daughter of a film maker or not.
I seriously disliked Oliver towards the end. Bleh. Then we started divulging into open relationships and variations of marriage and I was like what does this have to do with seven unheard messages?! Tile was cute at first, but then he got crazy annoying and the cheesiness was on full blast. The narration jumped from mature to whiny to seriously irritating within a few chapters.
I set such a high standard for it, and it just let me down.
References to famous celebrities like Drew Barrymore and Orlando Bloom felt entirely fake.
The whole book itself lacked that essential spark.
So yeah, I'd rate this book as "meh, go find another book."
Then it just got...well...juvenile.
There were scores of misplaced exclamation marks, Luna really started to get on my nerves, and the believability took a nose dive. She's fifteen. In grade nine. And she thinks she's in love? And she goes unsupervised to Paris? What? That doesn't happen in the real world, daughter of a film maker or not.
I seriously disliked Oliver towards the end. Bleh. Then we started divulging into open relationships and variations of marriage and I was like what does this have to do with seven unheard messages?! Tile was cute at first, but then he got crazy annoying and the cheesiness was on full blast. The narration jumped from mature to whiny to seriously irritating within a few chapters.
I set such a high standard for it, and it just let me down.
References to famous celebrities like Drew Barrymore and Orlando Bloom felt entirely fake.
The whole book itself lacked that essential spark.
So yeah, I'd rate this book as "meh, go find another book."
June 11, 2015
I enjoyed the first fifty pages or so, then I came on GoodReads. I saw all the negative reviews of this book and I thought to myself what could really be that bad? Then it was like a light bulb flickered on in my head.
YHSM definitely has a unique premise. If you take a detached look at the plot and where it goes, it's extremely promising. The shame of it is that the plot is completely drawn out (the book could have ended in half the amount of pages, and it was anticlimactic as well.) It tried to be an emotional journey, but it was just as stunted in the end as it had been in the beginning. The characters were all shells for whom I feel nothing. For the hardship that had overtaken Luna and her family, everything certainly came easy for them. The message that YHSM kept pushing was hypocritical, as I will point out later in this review.
I will begin with the characters. If it gives you an idea of what they were like, a new one would be introduced one page, mentioned briefly sixty pages later, and I'd still be confused (example: who is Levi, again?) I'll focus on Luna and Oliver because I was fairly impressed by the characterization of Luna's mother, father, and Cole.
Luna did nothing for me. I was rolling my eyes at her dialogue by the end of the book. At first, I shrugged off her judgmental attitude as "well, she's only fourteen-turned-fifteen. I'm only a few years older and I can be like that too." But here's the thing, she never developed. The fact that this book was written by an adult male also threw me for a loop multiple times. It added another level of falsities (I am NOT saying that men cannot write from the POVs of women, but when little sexist digs are thrown in from a fifteen year old girl's perspective, I am going to be skeptical.)
I bookmarked four examples of bits that really bothered me in this book, but believe me, there were more. Here are a few aspects of the 'little sexist digs,' that well maybe, just maybe, I could be overthinking, but if you had to read this book, you'd be writing the longest review of your life too.
"Time never stops. Girls aren't supposed to think about death, but it feels like a heavy backpack I have to carry with me everywhere I go." (164, paperback) I didn't know I wasn't supposed to think about death, ever, somebody should tell Emily Dickinson!!!
"My mother would not have fixed the toilet. She would stencil the wall, or fill the bath with rose petals, but you'd never catch her with a wrench. Besides, she always wore dresses." (190) Didn't know dresses incapacitated you to the point of not being able to deal with a ten year old breaking the john!
Back to the judgmental nature of Luna, she just tore her ex-best friends, The Rachels (yes, two of them,) down time after time. She called them Barbies in a derogatory manner, said that Rachel One (or Two, but from my memory I don't think Two was ever even in the novel) made Luna's mother's death about herself, and so many more things. I couldn't hate the Rachels because of how flat their manner was. They existed to ruin Luna's life in the weakest ways possible, and I sincerely blamed Lewis, not them.
If you don't want to be spoiled for this book I hope you don't have to read, skip to the next paragraph. Offhandedly, it is revealed that the Rachels made a bet to steal Oliver from Luna. He willingly obliges, kisses One, has a thing with her that appears to have lasted for more than the one kiss Luna witnesses, but is forgiven immediately while One is further victimized. Oliver's excuse was that he'd always had a crush on One, and that's why he did it. Sure hope my future spouse doesn't leave me if he sees the high school girl he had a crush on when he was in middle school. This, in a nutshell, is why I don't care about Oliver either. Luna and Oliver are facades of characters that seem like they belong in a first draft, not a finished copy. They're in love, supposedly, but I am certainly not.
About things coming too easily for Luna: Daria was such a deus ex machina character that it turned a positive female character into just another annoying aspect of this book. And there were a creepy amount of inclusions about her being naked often and extremely beautiful. Guess that's all that matters, right? Also, I'm so happy that Luna is the best photographer of her generation, friends with Drew Barrymore and Orlando Bloom, and her boyfriend may head off to Oxford. Hope she had a nice time sojourning in Italy, because her passive life got too intense and she needed a breather!
Another problematic quote for you:
"As I bite into a moist chunk of potato, I'm so thankful that my mother never imposed any phobias on me. Rachel One will probably always have issues with food, and it won't be pretty. So many girls and women suffer from eating disorders, and to me it seems so useless. Why spend so much energy on making yourself look like an airbrushed waif in a magazine? . . . There's nothing sadder than hearing the tenth graders at my school throwing up on the girls' room. Try losing your mother, I often think. That will give you something to throw up about." (138)
What I'm getting from this:
1) Eating disorders are the fault of a girl's mother
2) Eating disorders are "useless" and inconsequential, not actual diseases that should be treated seriously
3) We should also look down on the "airbrushed waifs" not the actual person doing the airbrushing, I guess (this one I especially don't understand as her mother was a model and nobody escapes Photoshop not even her holiness)
4) Eating disorders are totally comparable to a death of a close loved one and aren't horrible in different ways
(Also, no mention of how eating disorders affect all genders, just women.)
And this gem proves the hypocritical nature of YHSM:
"I cannot believe what a bad rap she got, when she has a bigger heart than half the people at school. It's stereotyping. My uncle's first boyfriend was a mechanic who only worked on big trucks. Not every gay guy wears frilly scarves and prances around . . . There is so much we can't know by merely grazing the surface. We have to reach farther in." (183) A very nice sentiment Luna, I'd like to see you try.
I will not be reading anything else from this author. I started off YHSM thinking that I'd give it a solid three stars, it dropped to two by the second half, and the end sealed it with a kiss of one star. Go read Sharon Creech's Walk Two Moons instead.
YHSM definitely has a unique premise. If you take a detached look at the plot and where it goes, it's extremely promising. The shame of it is that the plot is completely drawn out (the book could have ended in half the amount of pages, and it was anticlimactic as well.) It tried to be an emotional journey, but it was just as stunted in the end as it had been in the beginning. The characters were all shells for whom I feel nothing. For the hardship that had overtaken Luna and her family, everything certainly came easy for them. The message that YHSM kept pushing was hypocritical, as I will point out later in this review.
I will begin with the characters. If it gives you an idea of what they were like, a new one would be introduced one page, mentioned briefly sixty pages later, and I'd still be confused (example: who is Levi, again?) I'll focus on Luna and Oliver because I was fairly impressed by the characterization of Luna's mother, father, and Cole.
Luna did nothing for me. I was rolling my eyes at her dialogue by the end of the book. At first, I shrugged off her judgmental attitude as "well, she's only fourteen-turned-fifteen. I'm only a few years older and I can be like that too." But here's the thing, she never developed. The fact that this book was written by an adult male also threw me for a loop multiple times. It added another level of falsities (I am NOT saying that men cannot write from the POVs of women, but when little sexist digs are thrown in from a fifteen year old girl's perspective, I am going to be skeptical.)
I bookmarked four examples of bits that really bothered me in this book, but believe me, there were more. Here are a few aspects of the 'little sexist digs,' that well maybe, just maybe, I could be overthinking, but if you had to read this book, you'd be writing the longest review of your life too.
"Time never stops. Girls aren't supposed to think about death, but it feels like a heavy backpack I have to carry with me everywhere I go." (164, paperback) I didn't know I wasn't supposed to think about death, ever, somebody should tell Emily Dickinson!!!
"My mother would not have fixed the toilet. She would stencil the wall, or fill the bath with rose petals, but you'd never catch her with a wrench. Besides, she always wore dresses." (190) Didn't know dresses incapacitated you to the point of not being able to deal with a ten year old breaking the john!
Back to the judgmental nature of Luna, she just tore her ex-best friends, The Rachels (yes, two of them,) down time after time. She called them Barbies in a derogatory manner, said that Rachel One (or Two, but from my memory I don't think Two was ever even in the novel) made Luna's mother's death about herself, and so many more things. I couldn't hate the Rachels because of how flat their manner was. They existed to ruin Luna's life in the weakest ways possible, and I sincerely blamed Lewis, not them.
If you don't want to be spoiled for this book I hope you don't have to read, skip to the next paragraph. Offhandedly, it is revealed that the Rachels made a bet to steal Oliver from Luna. He willingly obliges, kisses One, has a thing with her that appears to have lasted for more than the one kiss Luna witnesses, but is forgiven immediately while One is further victimized. Oliver's excuse was that he'd always had a crush on One, and that's why he did it. Sure hope my future spouse doesn't leave me if he sees the high school girl he had a crush on when he was in middle school. This, in a nutshell, is why I don't care about Oliver either. Luna and Oliver are facades of characters that seem like they belong in a first draft, not a finished copy. They're in love, supposedly, but I am certainly not.
About things coming too easily for Luna: Daria was such a deus ex machina character that it turned a positive female character into just another annoying aspect of this book. And there were a creepy amount of inclusions about her being naked often and extremely beautiful. Guess that's all that matters, right? Also, I'm so happy that Luna is the best photographer of her generation, friends with Drew Barrymore and Orlando Bloom, and her boyfriend may head off to Oxford. Hope she had a nice time sojourning in Italy, because her passive life got too intense and she needed a breather!
Another problematic quote for you:
"As I bite into a moist chunk of potato, I'm so thankful that my mother never imposed any phobias on me. Rachel One will probably always have issues with food, and it won't be pretty. So many girls and women suffer from eating disorders, and to me it seems so useless. Why spend so much energy on making yourself look like an airbrushed waif in a magazine? . . . There's nothing sadder than hearing the tenth graders at my school throwing up on the girls' room. Try losing your mother, I often think. That will give you something to throw up about." (138)
What I'm getting from this:
1) Eating disorders are the fault of a girl's mother
2) Eating disorders are "useless" and inconsequential, not actual diseases that should be treated seriously
3) We should also look down on the "airbrushed waifs" not the actual person doing the airbrushing, I guess (this one I especially don't understand as her mother was a model and nobody escapes Photoshop not even her holiness)
4) Eating disorders are totally comparable to a death of a close loved one and aren't horrible in different ways
(Also, no mention of how eating disorders affect all genders, just women.)
And this gem proves the hypocritical nature of YHSM:
"I cannot believe what a bad rap she got, when she has a bigger heart than half the people at school. It's stereotyping. My uncle's first boyfriend was a mechanic who only worked on big trucks. Not every gay guy wears frilly scarves and prances around . . . There is so much we can't know by merely grazing the surface. We have to reach farther in." (183) A very nice sentiment Luna, I'd like to see you try.
I will not be reading anything else from this author. I started off YHSM thinking that I'd give it a solid three stars, it dropped to two by the second half, and the end sealed it with a kiss of one star. Go read Sharon Creech's Walk Two Moons instead.
December 6, 2011
Where do I start? I loved this book! I read it too fast, I never wanted it to end. From the beginning to the end, there was something I wanted to know the answer to. When I first started reading this book I didn’t know what to expect. I decided to read this book because I thought the title was cool, and judged the book by its cover, but there is so much more. Mystery and romance and everything in between. My favorite part of the book was when the mystery began, I had so many questions and wanted to know the answers. I liked the way the author kept my full attention throughout every page and how engaging it was. I completely agree with the authors message on how even the closest people in your life have secrets, and you can never have someone’s complete trust. My favorite character was Luna, I was so attached to her and wanted everything between her and Oliver to work out, for her to become a photographer, and for her to be happy. I am so pleased with how the book ended. I would recommend this book to anyone! It was outstanding!
March 5, 2012
Well, let me start of by saying, this was in the tough stuff part of the Young Adult section of Barnes and Noble. My expectations were set that I was gonna cry and love this book.
The reality is, this book, was horrible. Malia (Luna) is 14/15 years old, and has the world at her fingertips. She has met Drew Barrymore, Orlando Bloom, and many more famous celebrities. Her father is a director, her mother is a supermodel. But one summer her mother is fatally hit by a cab. You would expect someone to show a bit more emotion, right? Well, wrong. She cried a few times, yeah, but she seemed so bland.
There was no emotion whatsoever in this book. It was flat. The characters are stereotypical. Luna, who claims to be oh so mature for her age, can go from sounding 5 to 30 in just a few words. Her theory of "if my dad lied to me, I can lie to him", is bratty and hypocritical. She also claims that Tile, her younger brother (yes, named after what you see on your kitchen floor), is too young to understand that his mom is gone for good. This makes her seem ignorant, because it is so obvious he is "mature" for his age and can fully understand that his mother is gone.
The little love story between Oliver and Luna made absolutely no sense to me. Especially the phone call he gets when he tells her that he's not able to be with her anymore. I'm going to guess it was his overly strict father, but I don't even know. And the fact he dated the first of two of Luna's ex-friends named Rachel was just squeezed in for fun, it seemed.
I am being generous and giving this book two stars, because hey, I finished it. It was a bit enjoyable at some parts, but I slammed my book against my face too many times at how idiotic this protagonist was. Now, I'm going to go check out the reviews for Stewart Lewis's other books and see how awful they are.
The reality is, this book, was horrible. Malia (Luna) is 14/15 years old, and has the world at her fingertips. She has met Drew Barrymore, Orlando Bloom, and many more famous celebrities. Her father is a director, her mother is a supermodel. But one summer her mother is fatally hit by a cab. You would expect someone to show a bit more emotion, right? Well, wrong. She cried a few times, yeah, but she seemed so bland.
There was no emotion whatsoever in this book. It was flat. The characters are stereotypical. Luna, who claims to be oh so mature for her age, can go from sounding 5 to 30 in just a few words. Her theory of "if my dad lied to me, I can lie to him", is bratty and hypocritical. She also claims that Tile, her younger brother (yes, named after what you see on your kitchen floor), is too young to understand that his mom is gone for good. This makes her seem ignorant, because it is so obvious he is "mature" for his age and can fully understand that his mother is gone.
The little love story between Oliver and Luna made absolutely no sense to me. Especially the phone call he gets when he tells her that he's not able to be with her anymore. I'm going to guess it was his overly strict father, but I don't even know. And the fact he dated the first of two of Luna's ex-friends named Rachel was just squeezed in for fun, it seemed.
I am being generous and giving this book two stars, because hey, I finished it. It was a bit enjoyable at some parts, but I slammed my book against my face too many times at how idiotic this protagonist was. Now, I'm going to go check out the reviews for Stewart Lewis's other books and see how awful they are.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 12, 2014
This was an extremely good book (which I've glad of, since I own a copy!). Firstly, it was set out well and has unusual elements that I hadn't heard of in a book before. Secondly, it is well written and has well developed characters. Lastly (definitely a sign of a great book for me), I recommended it and discussed it with my friends today so hopefully they will read it too :)
So just read it :D
So just read it :D
June 22, 2015
This book lured me in with a promise of a mystery-thriller plotline. Unfortunately, it was not as exciting or suspenseful as it first seemed. I may have just dnf'ed this book about 20% through, but as it's my policy to always finish a book unless I physically want to strangle myself after picking it up each time, I had to finish You have Seven Messages to see how it ended.
But as I went along there are three major themes that made me sigh with agony every time they came up:
#1: The Romance
I simply detest this romance:
I was wondering how a teen romance could be so utterly painful until I saw that a male author wrote his. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying all male authors are terrible at writing romance, but this one makes the heroine sound so shallow, melodramatic, and such a full-on stereotypical girl. The romance was so under-developed and unbelievable, and none of their interactions were believable.
-Example A:
After Luna came over to Oliver's house for the first time, when Luna was about to leave, Oliver brought up her mother. The conversation went like this:
"'Sometimes I wished [your mom] was mine.' He looks so vulnerable. I cannot believe I do this, but I walk up to him and say, 'If she was, then we'd be brother and sister, and that would mean I couldn't kiss you.' This time he blushes. (No shit, anyone would). Instead of kissing him (why would you, you barely know him!), I touch part of his curls, and they are softer than I imagined.'"
You fucking weirdo. Dammit, Luna! Get your hormones under control!
-Example B:
Luna's father got her an old-fashioned camera for her birthday. Luna's natural reaction was to thank her father, run up to her room with the camera, wait twenty minutes staring at Oliver's window to take a picture of him. She then proceeds to send the picture to Oliver and shockingly, he reacts to this like it was a normal thing to be receiving pictures of himself he never granted permission to be taken! (I don't think crushes go this far)
-Example C:
This is not a genuine relationship.
Oliver: I'm telling such a traumatizing story that might just make me cry, and I'm showing So. Much. Vulnerability right now. My Dad and I were at a pool party once. When I didn't go into the water like my Dad ordered me to, he ended up throwing my poor 5 year old self into the water:
Luna: "HA!" *serious face* *touches Oliver's shoulder comfortingly* "I'm sorry..."
Also, let me just say, Luna makes some very strange connections from her daily life to...other things. I semi-understand what she's saying here: "There's a feeling that I get with him that almost hurts, a small ache in the bottom of my stomach, but at the same time I crave it." But then she goes on to make this weird-ass connection between love and pain. She says "Maybe that's what the cutters are about, or Janine's dad, who she once caught getting whipped by a woman who looked like Halle Berry in Batman. I never understood the appeal of pain, but now I'm starting to." Noooooooo! No. You don't understand at all. What are you doing trying to understand people who like pain?! Cutting and getting whipped? That's not--first of all I don't remotely understand why that's in this book--anything to do with love. Sit back down, Luna! You don't know what the hell you're talking about.
Later she claims that after knowing Oliver for what? A week or two? She luuuuurvs him. After Oliver says he wouldn't be able to see her for a while, Luna sees her happy brother, and calls him "Oblivious to the fact that I may have lost the only boy I've ever loved." He's just busy, not getting shipped off to war. Once again, Luna does not understand love at all.
#2: Luna. As a Character
Exhibit A:
Luna's self-consciousness: No true heroine should care about these things so deeply!
When Luna sees Oliver up close instead of staring at him from afar, she immediately starts assessing what she looks like. She criticizes herself: her outfit doesn't match, her shoes expose her giant feet, etc. Seeing this guy who has only said 10 words to her in about 7 years, she starts fawning: "His eyelashes are overgrown and his lips are violet. The fluorescent light makes a thin halo around his curls". I fucking hate that halo cliché. Tbh, I don't appreciate how shallow she is being. Later, the plot thickens! "Some window cleaners whistle at me, and I realize for the first time that though they definitely aren't as big as Janine's, I have noticeable breasts." Yeah because a) girls just spontaneously realize that they have developed "noticeable breasts" out of nowhere and b)girls sit around comparing sizes. Just... *facepalm* why such a random comment? Who cares? It doesn't add anything to the plot. Even at the end, she realizes: "My shoes don't really go with the dress I have on, but who's perfect." *Applause and cheering* BRAVO! How insightful you are, Luna, for realizing that when the shoes don't match the outfit, the world isn't going to end! I'm so proud of how much you've grown as a character. IT ONLY TOOK YOU 262 PAGES AND HOURS UPON HOURS OF MY LIFE.
Exhibit B:
Why the hate? Luna calls a drag queen a "he/she" and Oliver tauntingly says "I've always had a soft spot for transvestites." when Luna claims the one that they talked to liked Oliver. And then they move on to making fun of gays. Apparently agents="gay-gents" in their world. Oh HARHARHAR I SEE WHAT YOU GUYS DID THERE. OMFG YOU'RE SO CLEVER, YOU TWO. And these exchanges happen with such blasé (and no censure). From here, our hopeless heroine reverts to--surprise, surprise-- saying "Oliver's eyes are pools of warmth, and his hair is so perfect I could cry." *sigh* But wait, Oliver has to tell his heroically heroic story of this one time he saved a boy that was being called a fag because he wore his scarf the French way. Yeah Oliver, you sure taught those kids a lesson by telling them to "stop", and that you were gay too. You showed them! Sure, you stood up for that other kid, but you did nothing to rectify their stupid belief that being different equals gayness. Whoo! You too, Luna, great job in telling Oliver "Good for you." as if he should be a decorated hero for little reason.
Bonus Round: Stupid Quotes Brought to You by Luna
Luna later says she's mad at herself for "not being smart enough to see it all coming". Yes, it's all your fault you didn't foresee "[your] mom leaving the world, [your] dad lying to [you], and the Rachels' thinking they were so cool". I think the only thing worse than blaming the universe for it all is blaming yourself.
Luna: "I feel like I am what love songs are made of." What does this even mean? Luna, I simply don't understand the words coming out of your mouth!
Luna: "'Wow.' There I go again. Surfer talk."
I'm pretty sure you don't speak like a surfer, Luna. Basically, what you're telling me is that whenever I say "wow" I'll be mistaken by everyone as a surfer. I'm pretty positive every human being on Earth uses some form of the word "wow". It's not exclusive terminology invented explicitly by and for surfers.
Note: Luna is soooo dark sometimes. O_o Sometimes...things just take the turn for incredibly weird:
"On the way downtown, Oliver holds my hand on the subway. I secretly wish the Rachels could see me now. The train lights go off for a minute and Oliver kisses me again, and I hear myself moan with pleasure (-_-). I remember Rachel One bringing a porno DVD she had stolen from her brother into school and we watched some of it on her laptop. There was an Asian girl on top of a chubby white guy, and she was almost singing, obviously faking it. I feel like I could do that right now, and wonder if the girl wasn't. I look at Oliver after the lights go back on. He's probably never seen porno. Suddenly I want him to be mine to corrupt, forever."
Now that... those are some dark thoughts she's having. Weird-ass-porno-watching-boy-corrupting psycho.
P.S. Just look at that quote above, and you'll see perfectly just what a crappy writing style this book has.
#3: All the Little Things
• It's such B.S how clueless Luna was until she found that phone. Later, she remembers all of these unbelievably out of place memories: her mother crying hysterically on the bathroom floor, her father crying and saying we'll love you no matter what, her mother talking in a "honeyed tone" to someone on the phone while in the bath, her parents, distraught, facing away from each other on opposite sides of the bed. She even heard two relatives talk about "what killed her". But excuse me. Luna just "forgot" all about this because "it was such a traumatic time". Traumatic time my ass! Anyone with half a brain would put two and two together and investigate all of this suspicious business before that phone was even found! Even with all of this evidence, Luna is just utterly shocked when it could be possible that her mother was cheating or that her death wasn't all that it seemed.
• I also find this a ridiculous interpretation of life in New York City. A fifteen year old girl would not just walk out of her apartment, grab a cab from Manhattan to Brooklyn, and walk into a random man's house just because he left a message on her mother's phone! If she did do this, this would be the stupidest, most thoroughly under-prepared and uneducated girl in the city! I lived in NYC, and it is not this safe, happy-go-lucky, "do whatever you want to" type of place, as is described. What Luna's doing? IT'S EXTREMELY DANGEROUS BUSINESS. To add onto this, she travels from Italy to Paris all by herself for the sake of a boy, and her father laughs it off when she tells him days later.
• How shallow and back-stabbing girls are portrayed in this story! Apparently after her mother died, Luna wasn't reacting appropriately in the eyes of her "best friends", Rachel and Rachel. So, in this shallow-high-school-girl world, this merits the dumping of that friend with the oh-so-daunting "unfriended" notice on Facebook. These girls are so cliché with their makeup and constant dating and backstabbing *EYE ROLL*. What the actual fuck!? But what makes her "untouchable" by these girls' opinions? Being kissed by dreeeeamy Oliver. And, Luna, what did you say at the beginning of the book? That you weren't like the Rachels. That you didn't care for constantly worrying about boys. Bullshit. You spend every two minutes thinking about Oliver. What does he think about me? Oh my god, he's so much like me! I wonder when we're going to kiss. Oliver looks so vulnerable right now. Look at how the sun dances in his eyes and his perfect hair flows in the gentle breeze, illuminated like a halo by the light of dawn *cue chorus of angels*. Omigosh! Oliver is a god according to this girl.
• These rich bastards. Long taxi rides, limos on call, housekeepers, studios, photography exhibitions, trips to Itlay and Paris planned within the hour, recliners on rooftops and building-side movie projections (that one is particularly extravagent for a 16-year old to pull off, I might add)! When Oliver set up that rooftop movie screening Luna "feels like the luckiest girl on the Upper East Side." At this point, Luna, I think you are.... I really think you are. Once they're done with the movie, "There it is again: his violet lips, soft as a cloud..." How would I react according to this description? Ummmmm Oliver, your lips are purple and oh my gosh they're so squishy.... I think we should go to the hospital and get that checked out.
Funny how I think about this instead of actually feeling a connection when they kiss. At this point, I would get more entertainment out of Oliver bitch-slapping Luna for being such a creep. Actually-- maybe that will knock some sense into her so that she can act like a properly functioning human being!
All in all, You have Seven Messages was just barely entertaining. Heck, now that I think about it, the plot could have earned 4 stars had the romance been more realistic and Luna been more of an inspirational character. But at this point, the only thing that made it 2 stars instead of 1 was that the romance was cut out for a good amount of time (when Oliver had to stay away for a while). In conclusion, I won't be re-reading this anytime soon.
But as I went along there are three major themes that made me sigh with agony every time they came up:
#1: The Romance
I simply detest this romance:
I was wondering how a teen romance could be so utterly painful until I saw that a male author wrote his. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying all male authors are terrible at writing romance, but this one makes the heroine sound so shallow, melodramatic, and such a full-on stereotypical girl. The romance was so under-developed and unbelievable, and none of their interactions were believable.
-Example A:
After Luna came over to Oliver's house for the first time, when Luna was about to leave, Oliver brought up her mother. The conversation went like this:
"'Sometimes I wished [your mom] was mine.' He looks so vulnerable. I cannot believe I do this, but I walk up to him and say, 'If she was, then we'd be brother and sister, and that would mean I couldn't kiss you.' This time he blushes. (No shit, anyone would). Instead of kissing him (why would you, you barely know him!), I touch part of his curls, and they are softer than I imagined.'"
You fucking weirdo. Dammit, Luna! Get your hormones under control!
-Example B:
Luna's father got her an old-fashioned camera for her birthday. Luna's natural reaction was to thank her father, run up to her room with the camera, wait twenty minutes staring at Oliver's window to take a picture of him. She then proceeds to send the picture to Oliver and shockingly, he reacts to this like it was a normal thing to be receiving pictures of himself he never granted permission to be taken! (I don't think crushes go this far)
-Example C:
This is not a genuine relationship.
Oliver: I'm telling such a traumatizing story that might just make me cry, and I'm showing So. Much. Vulnerability right now. My Dad and I were at a pool party once. When I didn't go into the water like my Dad ordered me to, he ended up throwing my poor 5 year old self into the water:
Luna: "HA!" *serious face* *touches Oliver's shoulder comfortingly* "I'm sorry..."
Also, let me just say, Luna makes some very strange connections from her daily life to...other things. I semi-understand what she's saying here: "There's a feeling that I get with him that almost hurts, a small ache in the bottom of my stomach, but at the same time I crave it." But then she goes on to make this weird-ass connection between love and pain. She says "Maybe that's what the cutters are about, or Janine's dad, who she once caught getting whipped by a woman who looked like Halle Berry in Batman. I never understood the appeal of pain, but now I'm starting to." Noooooooo! No. You don't understand at all. What are you doing trying to understand people who like pain?! Cutting and getting whipped? That's not--first of all I don't remotely understand why that's in this book--anything to do with love. Sit back down, Luna! You don't know what the hell you're talking about.
Later she claims that after knowing Oliver for what? A week or two? She luuuuurvs him. After Oliver says he wouldn't be able to see her for a while, Luna sees her happy brother, and calls him "Oblivious to the fact that I may have lost the only boy I've ever loved." He's just busy, not getting shipped off to war. Once again, Luna does not understand love at all.
#2: Luna. As a Character
Exhibit A:
Luna's self-consciousness: No true heroine should care about these things so deeply!
When Luna sees Oliver up close instead of staring at him from afar, she immediately starts assessing what she looks like. She criticizes herself: her outfit doesn't match, her shoes expose her giant feet, etc. Seeing this guy who has only said 10 words to her in about 7 years, she starts fawning: "His eyelashes are overgrown and his lips are violet. The fluorescent light makes a thin halo around his curls". I fucking hate that halo cliché. Tbh, I don't appreciate how shallow she is being. Later, the plot thickens! "Some window cleaners whistle at me, and I realize for the first time that though they definitely aren't as big as Janine's, I have noticeable breasts." Yeah because a) girls just spontaneously realize that they have developed "noticeable breasts" out of nowhere and b)girls sit around comparing sizes. Just... *facepalm* why such a random comment? Who cares? It doesn't add anything to the plot. Even at the end, she realizes: "My shoes don't really go with the dress I have on, but who's perfect." *Applause and cheering* BRAVO! How insightful you are, Luna, for realizing that when the shoes don't match the outfit, the world isn't going to end! I'm so proud of how much you've grown as a character. IT ONLY TOOK YOU 262 PAGES AND HOURS UPON HOURS OF MY LIFE.
Exhibit B:
Why the hate? Luna calls a drag queen a "he/she" and Oliver tauntingly says "I've always had a soft spot for transvestites." when Luna claims the one that they talked to liked Oliver. And then they move on to making fun of gays. Apparently agents="gay-gents" in their world. Oh HARHARHAR I SEE WHAT YOU GUYS DID THERE. OMFG YOU'RE SO CLEVER, YOU TWO. And these exchanges happen with such blasé (and no censure). From here, our hopeless heroine reverts to--surprise, surprise-- saying "Oliver's eyes are pools of warmth, and his hair is so perfect I could cry." *sigh* But wait, Oliver has to tell his heroically heroic story of this one time he saved a boy that was being called a fag because he wore his scarf the French way. Yeah Oliver, you sure taught those kids a lesson by telling them to "stop", and that you were gay too. You showed them! Sure, you stood up for that other kid, but you did nothing to rectify their stupid belief that being different equals gayness. Whoo! You too, Luna, great job in telling Oliver "Good for you." as if he should be a decorated hero for little reason.
Bonus Round: Stupid Quotes Brought to You by Luna
Luna later says she's mad at herself for "not being smart enough to see it all coming". Yes, it's all your fault you didn't foresee "[your] mom leaving the world, [your] dad lying to [you], and the Rachels' thinking they were so cool". I think the only thing worse than blaming the universe for it all is blaming yourself.
Luna: "I feel like I am what love songs are made of." What does this even mean? Luna, I simply don't understand the words coming out of your mouth!
Luna: "'Wow.' There I go again. Surfer talk."
I'm pretty sure you don't speak like a surfer, Luna. Basically, what you're telling me is that whenever I say "wow" I'll be mistaken by everyone as a surfer. I'm pretty positive every human being on Earth uses some form of the word "wow". It's not exclusive terminology invented explicitly by and for surfers.
Note: Luna is soooo dark sometimes. O_o Sometimes...things just take the turn for incredibly weird:
"On the way downtown, Oliver holds my hand on the subway. I secretly wish the Rachels could see me now. The train lights go off for a minute and Oliver kisses me again, and I hear myself moan with pleasure (-_-). I remember Rachel One bringing a porno DVD she had stolen from her brother into school and we watched some of it on her laptop. There was an Asian girl on top of a chubby white guy, and she was almost singing, obviously faking it. I feel like I could do that right now, and wonder if the girl wasn't. I look at Oliver after the lights go back on. He's probably never seen porno. Suddenly I want him to be mine to corrupt, forever."
Now that... those are some dark thoughts she's having. Weird-ass-porno-watching-boy-corrupting psycho.
P.S. Just look at that quote above, and you'll see perfectly just what a crappy writing style this book has.
#3: All the Little Things
• It's such B.S how clueless Luna was until she found that phone. Later, she remembers all of these unbelievably out of place memories: her mother crying hysterically on the bathroom floor, her father crying and saying we'll love you no matter what, her mother talking in a "honeyed tone" to someone on the phone while in the bath, her parents, distraught, facing away from each other on opposite sides of the bed. She even heard two relatives talk about "what killed her". But excuse me. Luna just "forgot" all about this because "it was such a traumatic time". Traumatic time my ass! Anyone with half a brain would put two and two together and investigate all of this suspicious business before that phone was even found! Even with all of this evidence, Luna is just utterly shocked when it could be possible that her mother was cheating or that her death wasn't all that it seemed.
• I also find this a ridiculous interpretation of life in New York City. A fifteen year old girl would not just walk out of her apartment, grab a cab from Manhattan to Brooklyn, and walk into a random man's house just because he left a message on her mother's phone! If she did do this, this would be the stupidest, most thoroughly under-prepared and uneducated girl in the city! I lived in NYC, and it is not this safe, happy-go-lucky, "do whatever you want to" type of place, as is described. What Luna's doing? IT'S EXTREMELY DANGEROUS BUSINESS. To add onto this, she travels from Italy to Paris all by herself for the sake of a boy, and her father laughs it off when she tells him days later.
• How shallow and back-stabbing girls are portrayed in this story! Apparently after her mother died, Luna wasn't reacting appropriately in the eyes of her "best friends", Rachel and Rachel. So, in this shallow-high-school-girl world, this merits the dumping of that friend with the oh-so-daunting "unfriended" notice on Facebook. These girls are so cliché with their makeup and constant dating and backstabbing *EYE ROLL*. What the actual fuck!? But what makes her "untouchable" by these girls' opinions? Being kissed by dreeeeamy Oliver. And, Luna, what did you say at the beginning of the book? That you weren't like the Rachels. That you didn't care for constantly worrying about boys. Bullshit. You spend every two minutes thinking about Oliver. What does he think about me? Oh my god, he's so much like me! I wonder when we're going to kiss. Oliver looks so vulnerable right now. Look at how the sun dances in his eyes and his perfect hair flows in the gentle breeze, illuminated like a halo by the light of dawn *cue chorus of angels*. Omigosh! Oliver is a god according to this girl.
• These rich bastards. Long taxi rides, limos on call, housekeepers, studios, photography exhibitions, trips to Itlay and Paris planned within the hour, recliners on rooftops and building-side movie projections (that one is particularly extravagent for a 16-year old to pull off, I might add)! When Oliver set up that rooftop movie screening Luna "feels like the luckiest girl on the Upper East Side." At this point, Luna, I think you are.... I really think you are. Once they're done with the movie, "There it is again: his violet lips, soft as a cloud..." How would I react according to this description? Ummmmm Oliver, your lips are purple and oh my gosh they're so squishy.... I think we should go to the hospital and get that checked out.
Funny how I think about this instead of actually feeling a connection when they kiss. At this point, I would get more entertainment out of Oliver bitch-slapping Luna for being such a creep. Actually-- maybe that will knock some sense into her so that she can act like a properly functioning human being!
All in all, You have Seven Messages was just barely entertaining. Heck, now that I think about it, the plot could have earned 4 stars had the romance been more realistic and Luna been more of an inspirational character. But at this point, the only thing that made it 2 stars instead of 1 was that the romance was cut out for a good amount of time (when Oliver had to stay away for a while). In conclusion, I won't be re-reading this anytime soon.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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May 2, 2023This book can easily be the definition of the word “obnoxious”
October 31, 2011
If you pick up this book thinking it's going to be a mystery, or at the very least, have mysterious elements, you will be sadly mistaken and probably bored. Moon/Luna/Malia is the daughter of a famous film-maker and a famous model who died a year earlier. She has a little brother named Tile. Really. Named after a hardware store staple. Moon/Luna/Malia likes to take pictures and knows a lot of famous people. And now she wants to unravel the mystery around her mother's death. Except if you even have the slightest inkling that there is a mystery around her mother's death, you will be very disappointed. The book is like a combination of one of the more boring Newbery winners and a Gossip Girl novel, without the literary quality of the former or the page-turning qualities of the latter. The characters are pretty likable and the descriptions of smells are particularly good. As my rating says, it was okay. I can't blame the author for misleading flap copy. His main quirk that I object to is the adult hindsight that shines through occasionally. Several times, he reminded me of those times my best friend's mom would randomly pop in and give us jewels of wisdom while we were hanging out together. That's great (and I obviously still remember them), but not so convincing when they're supposed to come out of the mouth of a 15-year-old.
Some parts of the book will be dated really quickly because of the specific songs, bands, and actors name-dropped in the book.
--- 30 ---
Earlier: I'm only halfway through but I really don't like this book. The premise is intriguing, but so far (I'm on message 4) the messages have been disappointing. I'm going to stick it out until the end, but so far I would not recommend this book. I picked it up on an impulse at B&N yesterday.
Some parts of the book will be dated really quickly because of the specific songs, bands, and actors name-dropped in the book.
--- 30 ---
Earlier: I'm only halfway through but I really don't like this book. The premise is intriguing, but so far (I'm on message 4) the messages have been disappointing. I'm going to stick it out until the end, but so far I would not recommend this book. I picked it up on an impulse at B&N yesterday.
October 26, 2011
It was really hard to build sympathy for a character who just isn't sympathetic. Luna/Moon has everything in the world, and she's not afraid of it. She doesn't have her mom, who died tragically in a cab incident, but she seems less sad about that than she is about figuring out her mom might have been less-than-honest about her life. It was a lot of Luna getting her dreams when it comes to making a name for herself in photography because she had connections via her parents (who were big deal folks). I guess I didn't understand her motivation beyond being bored and needing some way to fill some time.
The writing itself was fine. There were moments it was nice, even. Sometimes Luna had really good insights. As a 14-year-old, she was believable as she wavered from sounding 7 to sounding 20 in just a couple of sentences. Otherwise, though, this was a flat one for me. I found myself skimming the last few chapters when she's whisked to Italy to be with her uncle and when she gets to come back to an opportunity to work with one of the biggest, most well-respected photographers in the world.
I hate when the character doesn't earn it themselves. I never felt like she did. Also, she took photos in the bathroom, which was just strange. And her mom named her brother Tile because that was where she felt most comfortable when he was born? Very, very bizarre in a way that was more downright jarring and took me out of the story than quirky and character-centric.
The writing itself was fine. There were moments it was nice, even. Sometimes Luna had really good insights. As a 14-year-old, she was believable as she wavered from sounding 7 to sounding 20 in just a couple of sentences. Otherwise, though, this was a flat one for me. I found myself skimming the last few chapters when she's whisked to Italy to be with her uncle and when she gets to come back to an opportunity to work with one of the biggest, most well-respected photographers in the world.
I hate when the character doesn't earn it themselves. I never felt like she did. Also, she took photos in the bathroom, which was just strange. And her mom named her brother Tile because that was where she felt most comfortable when he was born? Very, very bizarre in a way that was more downright jarring and took me out of the story than quirky and character-centric.
September 9, 2016
There's something about finding a book randomly on the shelf, say at a library. And either the cover, title or premise of the story catches your interest, you go in blind, not sure what to expect, having heard nothing about the book.
That's how I felt with this one. You have a girl who finds her mom's phone at her studio apartment, with her and her little brother and dad dealing with mom's death.
On the phone, she finds there's seven messages and decides to listen to each, thinking there might be answers to questions concerning her mom.
While she does investigate if there was more to her mom's death, it was also Luna coming to terms with some things.
I kind of liked this at first, then by the end of it, I really liked it, my rating changing from 3 to 3.5 so you could say this is a 3.5 and slightly 4. Or both.
Also, Tile, was adorable in this, you just want to give him a hug, which made his and Luna's sibling relationship even better. Its nice to find a book now and then where the siblings care for one another instead of acting like bitter enemies or something.
The writing and descriptions of the places, Luna's observations I liked. It just flowed well, or it had to do the slow pace.
So basically, this was a good quick read, though I took my time with it. The photography part did make me think of another book, Hold Still.
That's how I felt with this one. You have a girl who finds her mom's phone at her studio apartment, with her and her little brother and dad dealing with mom's death.
On the phone, she finds there's seven messages and decides to listen to each, thinking there might be answers to questions concerning her mom.
While she does investigate if there was more to her mom's death, it was also Luna coming to terms with some things.
I kind of liked this at first, then by the end of it, I really liked it, my rating changing from 3 to 3.5 so you could say this is a 3.5 and slightly 4. Or both.
Also, Tile, was adorable in this, you just want to give him a hug, which made his and Luna's sibling relationship even better. Its nice to find a book now and then where the siblings care for one another instead of acting like bitter enemies or something.
The writing and descriptions of the places, Luna's observations I liked. It just flowed well, or it had to do the slow pace.
So basically, this was a good quick read, though I took my time with it. The photography part did make me think of another book, Hold Still.
May 31, 2015
This was a cute little story, but it did not have enough depth for me. Everything was waaaay too easy for Luna. I don't care who you are, no relationship is easy at 15. All of the answers came to her too easily. Her dad was too cool. The girlfriend was too nice. Her 10 year old brother was to grown up. The uncle too understanding. Etc...I know that there are amazing people out there who are extraordinary, but this book was full of them and completely unrelatable.
Subject matter too adult for MG, but writing too shallow for YA.
Subject matter too adult for MG, but writing too shallow for YA.
August 13, 2019
It was not my cup of tea. It was not horrible. I lost interest about half through the book. The book had some good stuff. When I finish the book I said wow I am done.
October 31, 2011
"But how do you really know what's true? Is there some big book of truth?" "The book is here." She placed her hand where my heart is.
Imagine discovering what you thought was true about your family might be nothing more than a lie?
Fifteen year old Luna, who lives in Central Park West, is still grieving the death of her super model mother when she stumbles upon her cell phone a year later and finds it's still in working order with seven new messages on it. The rational thing to do would be to delete them but curiosity wins out and Luna decides to listen to each one in order. She still has questions surrounding her mother's death and thinks the messages will provide the answers she so desperately wants. All of the messages will have a lasting effect on Luna even the mundane ones but the rest will turn her world upside down and threaten to destroy her once happy family.
Stewart Lewis writes an endearing story about a young girl's journey to piece together the puzzle that has now become her life. What's truth and what's a lie? How can you tell the difference and is it really worth knowing?
When Luna makes the decision to listen to the messages, life as she knows it changes. She makes new friends, uncovers a talent she didn't know she had, falls in love for the first time and learns that hearts can be as fragile as glass. She also discovers no one is perfect, the truth isn't always black and white and love and forgiveness go hand in hand.
One of the first messages Luna listens to leads her to Daria, a model she meets through a mutual friend of her mother's. They quickly become friends and Daria takes on an older sister role in her life while also strongly encouraging Luna's photography. Daria arranges for Luna to meet with some pretty high power people in the photography business but this is New York and with the right connections, anything is possible. (Having a famous film director for a dad and a former super model for a mom doesn't hurt either.)
Another message leads Luna to the dry cleaners and it's there that she runs into her neighbor, Oliver, finally giving her a chance to speak to the only boy she's ever crushed on. (Well, besides Orlando Bloom but he WAS staying in her house at the time.) She's watched and listened from her window for years while Oliver practiced his cello and his music has often lulled her to sleep. They become friends and soon, he's helping her piece together some of the other clues from her mother's phone. Before too long, Luna realizes she's falling in love with Oliver and thinks he feels the same but an overbearing parent and a betrayal could destroy everything.
Her relationship with her father, becomes strained as the messages begin to reveal that her parent's marriage wasn't the fairytale Luna believed it to be and he won't answer her questions honestly. He tries to explain as best as he can without causing she and her brother Tile any more grief than they're already dealing with. His jump back into the dating pool only adds to Luna's conflict even though she's the one who encouraged him to date again.
Luna continues to listen to the messages but just as she's ready to hear the last one, her life takes another unexpected turn and she's left once again questioning the truth of those around her. She'll be forced to face the fact that there are no perfect people and that real love requires a willingness to forgive even after the person is gone.
The two primary themes in this story are love and forgiveness and it almost feels as if there are several different love stories (not all the romantic kind) all playing out at the same time. A couple of the stories are just beginning, some were coming to an end, others are going strong, and others still are merely struggling to maintain the status quo.
Parental love is a lot like that and Lewis does a beautiful job of letting the reader feel the love between Luna and her father so you understand his anguish over not wanting her to know the truth about the circumstances surrounding her mother's death. A parent's job is to protect their children and that's what both of hers were attempting to do in the weeks leading up to her mother's death.
The phrase, "You hurt me, but I love you." is repeated several times throughout the book and is worth remembering. Those we love are going to hurt us (some in small ways, some in big ways) but if we truly love them, we're willing to forgive because they will always be a part of us, even after they leave us.
Imagine discovering what you thought was true about your family might be nothing more than a lie?
Fifteen year old Luna, who lives in Central Park West, is still grieving the death of her super model mother when she stumbles upon her cell phone a year later and finds it's still in working order with seven new messages on it. The rational thing to do would be to delete them but curiosity wins out and Luna decides to listen to each one in order. She still has questions surrounding her mother's death and thinks the messages will provide the answers she so desperately wants. All of the messages will have a lasting effect on Luna even the mundane ones but the rest will turn her world upside down and threaten to destroy her once happy family.
Stewart Lewis writes an endearing story about a young girl's journey to piece together the puzzle that has now become her life. What's truth and what's a lie? How can you tell the difference and is it really worth knowing?
When Luna makes the decision to listen to the messages, life as she knows it changes. She makes new friends, uncovers a talent she didn't know she had, falls in love for the first time and learns that hearts can be as fragile as glass. She also discovers no one is perfect, the truth isn't always black and white and love and forgiveness go hand in hand.
One of the first messages Luna listens to leads her to Daria, a model she meets through a mutual friend of her mother's. They quickly become friends and Daria takes on an older sister role in her life while also strongly encouraging Luna's photography. Daria arranges for Luna to meet with some pretty high power people in the photography business but this is New York and with the right connections, anything is possible. (Having a famous film director for a dad and a former super model for a mom doesn't hurt either.)
Another message leads Luna to the dry cleaners and it's there that she runs into her neighbor, Oliver, finally giving her a chance to speak to the only boy she's ever crushed on. (Well, besides Orlando Bloom but he WAS staying in her house at the time.) She's watched and listened from her window for years while Oliver practiced his cello and his music has often lulled her to sleep. They become friends and soon, he's helping her piece together some of the other clues from her mother's phone. Before too long, Luna realizes she's falling in love with Oliver and thinks he feels the same but an overbearing parent and a betrayal could destroy everything.
Her relationship with her father, becomes strained as the messages begin to reveal that her parent's marriage wasn't the fairytale Luna believed it to be and he won't answer her questions honestly. He tries to explain as best as he can without causing she and her brother Tile any more grief than they're already dealing with. His jump back into the dating pool only adds to Luna's conflict even though she's the one who encouraged him to date again.
Luna continues to listen to the messages but just as she's ready to hear the last one, her life takes another unexpected turn and she's left once again questioning the truth of those around her. She'll be forced to face the fact that there are no perfect people and that real love requires a willingness to forgive even after the person is gone.
The two primary themes in this story are love and forgiveness and it almost feels as if there are several different love stories (not all the romantic kind) all playing out at the same time. A couple of the stories are just beginning, some were coming to an end, others are going strong, and others still are merely struggling to maintain the status quo.
Parental love is a lot like that and Lewis does a beautiful job of letting the reader feel the love between Luna and her father so you understand his anguish over not wanting her to know the truth about the circumstances surrounding her mother's death. A parent's job is to protect their children and that's what both of hers were attempting to do in the weeks leading up to her mother's death.
The phrase, "You hurt me, but I love you." is repeated several times throughout the book and is worth remembering. Those we love are going to hurt us (some in small ways, some in big ways) but if we truly love them, we're willing to forgive because they will always be a part of us, even after they leave us.
March 17, 2014
Sadly this story was about 200 pages too long. When I read the synopsis it held so much promise for an interesting story like a big mystery leading up to Luna's mother's death but it got on my nerves more than anything else.
First off Luna was not a very likable character to me but then again all the characters seemed a bit edgy or incomplete. She's a bit childish on the one hand and too big for her britches on the other. She is supposedly falling in love with a guy across the street and is bashful towards him one minute and daring him to kiss her the next?
Then there are just minor things like her mother has been dead for like a year but her father has not cleaned her loft out downtown nor cancelled her cell phone service and this is how Luna stumbles upon her mother's cell phone having messages on it because it is still plugged in and on charge just like the day she left it. And that's another thing...her mother died when she got hit by a taxi on the street corner. I would think she would have had her cell phone on her person? Who leaves home without their cell phone now a days?
I can't say much more without giving the whole thing away but I will say it was not what I was expecting. If your looking for a big mystery or love story don't look here.
First off Luna was not a very likable character to me but then again all the characters seemed a bit edgy or incomplete. She's a bit childish on the one hand and too big for her britches on the other. She is supposedly falling in love with a guy across the street and is bashful towards him one minute and daring him to kiss her the next?
Then there are just minor things like her mother has been dead for like a year but her father has not cleaned her loft out downtown nor cancelled her cell phone service and this is how Luna stumbles upon her mother's cell phone having messages on it because it is still plugged in and on charge just like the day she left it. And that's another thing...her mother died when she got hit by a taxi on the street corner. I would think she would have had her cell phone on her person? Who leaves home without their cell phone now a days?
I can't say much more without giving the whole thing away but I will say it was not what I was expecting. If your looking for a big mystery or love story don't look here.
February 19, 2012
I downloaded the sample chapter of You Have Seven Messages and I was hooked. I loved the premise of Luna finding her mother's cell phone and trying to uncover what actually happened the night she died. I loved Luna's mixture of worldliness and innocence. I loved the snappy dialog.
Why did I give it only 3 stars? I felt like some of the elements were over the top. Having Luna know both Orlando Bloom and Drew Barrymore did nothing to advance the plot and seemed to be little more than gratuitous celebrity worship to me. The stars Luna's father works with are not only irrelevant, but will quickly date the book. Oliver's father was also little more than a stereotype. While I acknowledge that most YA adults aren't central to the story, I really have no sense for why Oliver's father is so driven, other than to give Oliver something against which to struggle.
All in all, I'll probably read another Stewart Lewis novel. Despite the elements I didn't like, he's a good storyteller. If his next work builds on the strengths of this one, it will be a snappy, engaging read.
Why did I give it only 3 stars? I felt like some of the elements were over the top. Having Luna know both Orlando Bloom and Drew Barrymore did nothing to advance the plot and seemed to be little more than gratuitous celebrity worship to me. The stars Luna's father works with are not only irrelevant, but will quickly date the book. Oliver's father was also little more than a stereotype. While I acknowledge that most YA adults aren't central to the story, I really have no sense for why Oliver's father is so driven, other than to give Oliver something against which to struggle.
All in all, I'll probably read another Stewart Lewis novel. Despite the elements I didn't like, he's a good storyteller. If his next work builds on the strengths of this one, it will be a snappy, engaging read.
November 19, 2012
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I just finished this book, like 10 minutes ago, and I'm not sure what I think of it. It's a very sad, depressing book, and it has some relationship ideas that I wouldn't deem appropriate for the audience this book was written for. It delves into things that are deep and controversial, but the writer puts it out there like his beliefs are the only true and right way.
That being said, I liked how the story emphasizes that people aren't perfect and that we all make mistakes, and that we should be willing to forgive. That theme alone is why I give this book three stars.
Maybe in a few days, after I give it time to stew, I'll change my star rating, but three is feeling just right.
I just finished this book, like 10 minutes ago, and I'm not sure what I think of it. It's a very sad, depressing book, and it has some relationship ideas that I wouldn't deem appropriate for the audience this book was written for. It delves into things that are deep and controversial, but the writer puts it out there like his beliefs are the only true and right way.
That being said, I liked how the story emphasizes that people aren't perfect and that we all make mistakes, and that we should be willing to forgive. That theme alone is why I give this book three stars.
Maybe in a few days, after I give it time to stew, I'll change my star rating, but three is feeling just right.
May 1, 2019
So boring! What was the point of this book. We learned nothing and the characters were flat. Not a story I'd recommend.
September 8, 2015
If you haven't read this book yet, don't let every one else's bad reviews stop you. I honestly loved this book so much and I cried while reading it. I have no clue why everyone on Goodreads hates it so much. The author did such a great job keeping me on the edge of my seat.
January 16, 2021
Meh.
That's it, that's my review.
That's it, that's my review.
September 10, 2017
*3.5 Stars*
Grief is not a new topic in YA fiction. In probably at least half of the contemporaries I read, the protagonist is dealing with some type of grief, whether it be a deceased parent or grandparent, a friend moving away, or divorced or missing parents. Nevertheless, when I was checking out some of the books at my local library, this one caught my eye and seemed like it would be a captivating mystery story involving grief with immense character development.
Even though I did see some undeniable flaws in this novel, I think that it's pretty safe to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn't think that the concept and protagonist were mind-blowingly unique, but I really appreciated the morals and writing style this book offers.
You Have Seven Messages basically follows a teenage girl named Luna. A year ago, her mother, who was a model, was killed by a taxi on the streets of New York. One day, Luna decides to go through her mom's old studio and finds her old cellphone. She notices that seven messages had been left, and intrigued, she decides to listen to them. Little did she know that each one leads her to somewhere different and helps put together the puzzle pieces of her mom's rather mysterious and sudden death.
I believe that Luna was an okay protagonist, but in my opinion she was also pretty average and forgettable. One thing I have to mention is that although she was 15 in the story, she sounded a bit more juvenile than that- maybe around the 12 or 13 year old range. Most 15 year olds I know are much more mature than her character was, and this bothered me a bit.
Plot-wise, You Have Seven Messages is not the most unique thing I've read, either. If you want me to be completely honest, grief is so overdone in books, and this book's portrayal of grief simply wasn't one that really stood out. In spite of this, I enjoyed following the mysteries that Luna unraveled about her mom's death and seeing her grow as a person, as well.
Overall, this was a good story about learning to let go and move on from tragedy, and also knowing that the person you miss is still inside of you somewhere, waiting to emerge. If you enjoy mystery novels revolving around grief and character development, You Have Seven Messages is calling your name. You may not fall in love with the protagonist, but the mystery and morals are too good to be overlooked.
Grief is not a new topic in YA fiction. In probably at least half of the contemporaries I read, the protagonist is dealing with some type of grief, whether it be a deceased parent or grandparent, a friend moving away, or divorced or missing parents. Nevertheless, when I was checking out some of the books at my local library, this one caught my eye and seemed like it would be a captivating mystery story involving grief with immense character development.
Even though I did see some undeniable flaws in this novel, I think that it's pretty safe to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn't think that the concept and protagonist were mind-blowingly unique, but I really appreciated the morals and writing style this book offers.
You Have Seven Messages basically follows a teenage girl named Luna. A year ago, her mother, who was a model, was killed by a taxi on the streets of New York. One day, Luna decides to go through her mom's old studio and finds her old cellphone. She notices that seven messages had been left, and intrigued, she decides to listen to them. Little did she know that each one leads her to somewhere different and helps put together the puzzle pieces of her mom's rather mysterious and sudden death.
I believe that Luna was an okay protagonist, but in my opinion she was also pretty average and forgettable. One thing I have to mention is that although she was 15 in the story, she sounded a bit more juvenile than that- maybe around the 12 or 13 year old range. Most 15 year olds I know are much more mature than her character was, and this bothered me a bit.
Plot-wise, You Have Seven Messages is not the most unique thing I've read, either. If you want me to be completely honest, grief is so overdone in books, and this book's portrayal of grief simply wasn't one that really stood out. In spite of this, I enjoyed following the mysteries that Luna unraveled about her mom's death and seeing her grow as a person, as well.
Overall, this was a good story about learning to let go and move on from tragedy, and also knowing that the person you miss is still inside of you somewhere, waiting to emerge. If you enjoy mystery novels revolving around grief and character development, You Have Seven Messages is calling your name. You may not fall in love with the protagonist, but the mystery and morals are too good to be overlooked.
April 20, 2023
3.5 stars. I had high hopes for You Have Seven Messages. When I bought it, I thought that it was going to be a suspense, but it turned out to be more of a romance. The romance aspect of it turned out to be my favorite part. I don’t think I will read this book again, but I recommend you do. Although I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would, it was still a nice story of finding out that our childhood heroes are not perfect, and that young love exists.
January 10, 2019
Where do I even begin? I started this book for a project and completely hated it about 50 pages in. I am someone that loves all books, but this is a waste of time. I picked it up because it sounded interesting but it was not at all what I was expecting. You find out about what happened to her mom about 100 pages in and the rest of the book is just mindless details. The MC, Luna, is a 14-15-year-old but she does not act like it at all. Her brother, Tile, is more mature than her and he is NINE! It was so slow and boring. So all in all, no, I would not recommend this book at all. Sorry!
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November 13, 2019I LOVED this book!! I think this was one of the best books I have ever read in my life. Luna had a show for her work that she does with photography in Paris so she leaves New York and heads to live in Paris with her uncle and husband. She was also mad at her "Boyfriend" (yet they were never dating) because he had "gotten together with her best friend" and so he gave Luna a ticket to one of his cello shows and Luna decided to forgive him from the fact that the song that Oliver(Boyfriend) played was meant for her. She also realized that there was more to her mom's affair as well as her dad was kind of having an affair at the same time as her mom was. Overall this book was exceptional!!
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May 8, 2017The overall theme of the book is Sadness but also romantic. Why it is sadness is b/c the mom dies , but she and her boyfriend are trying to figure out what happened. A big hint to how they figured out what happened was the mom left the phone and there were messages on it that gave them hints and who to ask.
April 17, 2017
This was a good book. It is about this girl who's mom died and she finds her phone a year later with 7 messages on it. She has to find out what her parents relationship was really like while trying to figure out her own relationship. I would recommend this book.
September 7, 2019
I never really felt a strong connection to the characters and the plot was kind of random.
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