Last Cut

by Wren Handman

Caitlin Myers's greatest ambition is to be a star, and she can outshine anyone at her school. But then Lianne comes to town and starts to give Caitlin a run for her money, even getting top billing in the school play. So when Caitlin's offered a bit role as the bikini girl in a low-budget slasher flick, she ignores the warning bells (and her parents), lies about her age and takes the part. It's not long before Caitlin finds herself out of her element, with bossy directors and experienced film crews. Her only way out is to fess up about her age, but if she does, she'll have to come clean to her parents, her friends and her boyfriend about the things she's done.

144 pages, Paperback

First published September 12, 2012

About the author

Wren Handman is a novelist and screenwriter living in soggy Vancouver, which gives her plenty of time to curl up in front of a computer.

She primarily writes young adult fiction and fantasy novels. In her screenwriting, her emphasis is on the real world with a touch of fantastical. She believes that what we see in media impacts how we see the world, and she hopes to make that view brighter.

Reviews

[Lisbeth Avery {Domus Libri} · Rating 1 out of 5]

Being that first reviewer on Goodreads is a lot of pressure. Well, at least that's what I feel. It's just kind of scary knowing that you're the first out of every person on Goodreads. I don't mean to sound full of myself but it's kind of like I have the opportunity to make or break an author's book.

While I enjoy writing rants about books I hate, there's always this little part of me that says: "This isn't who you are. These aren't the reviews you write". And it's true. When I write rants, I'm bitchy, crude, and honestly, not very good.

I'll admit it to everyone: I write rants for the views. My rant of FROM ASHES is one of my most liked and commented on reviews of all time and I like that. Who doesn't like the attention? I certainly cannot say I don't like being popular for a few meager moments.

However, I never feel that my purposely ranty-reviews are my favorite or my best. They're just not as good as my other reviews. My favorite review out of all that I've written is actually a favorable review (five stars and all that).

So, even though this book is definitely among the books I hate, I will not be ranting in this review - or at least I will not be purposely ranty. I will be expressing my honest opinions, which aren't really favorable.

Now, with that out of the way, let's get on to the actual review.

LAST CUT is a book that I normally would never pick up but it was on NetGalley and it's physically impossible for me not to request everything and anything from that site because well it's free and this is me on a day to day basis:



So, I requested it and got approved because everyone loves me there and promptly forgot about it because I do that - a lot. However, I soon remembered it and picked it up. LAST CUT is an extremely fast book to read since it's smaller than my 7-year-old brother's chapter books.

My main problem was with the MC, as I'll be covering in the next segment.

Characters
Caitlin Myer isn't the worst heroine I've ever encountered but she definitely is pretty high on my I-really-hate-you list (and yes, I really have one). Caitlin is a pretty generic heroine - for the most part at least. I could go over her "generic qualities" but I'd rather go with the one worded explanation: Mary-Sue.

What I really hated about her was her tendency to slut shaming. If you don't know this about me, I really really hate slut shaming and her overall hate of girls. Caitlin just seems to hate every female that she meets - including her "friends". Some examples for you:

What does she have that I don't? Other than a tiny waist and gigantic breasts. And she acts so innocent, like she has no idea that her tank top is three sizes too small.

"Book?"
"Ender's Game..."
"Didn't you say that if there wasn't a love triangle in it, you weren't interested?"
"That was two years ago," Hannah says defensively and I shrug. She's probably just trying to seem smart for some guy.

Seriously? This is what the whole book was like. I could go on but honestly? It's physically painful to go over these again. The other characters were lifeless and the only real character in this was Caitlin. The other characters really just were there to pamper Caitlin and tell her how amahzing she is.

Plot and Writing
Plot
The plot is basically a caution tale except it was done horribly. The plot to this is basically Caitlin applies for a job in a movie, gets the job but needed to lie about her age, has to take of her shirt for boob shot, people find out she's sixteen and is kicked from the movie, and the ending? Everyone leaves her. I'm serious. The last scene is her boyfriend walking away after Caitlin's friends had walked away.

I think Handman was trying to say something with this. Maybe it was "don't lie" or something to that key but in the end? It failed terribly. It didn't teach me anything. It didn't do anything except leave me thinking "Did I really waste half an hour reading this?".

Writing
By the 5%, I was sure this was fan fiction or written by a twelve year old. I'm sorry but the writing was atrocious. I really don't think that Wren Handman had an editor because there were so many grammatical errors and poorly phrased sentences (and don't say that's because this is an ARC, it's not - LAST CUT is a republished book since it was originally published August 13th, 2012).

Likes and Dislikes
Likes:
N/A

Dislikes:
- Characters
- Plot
- Writing

In conclusion
LAST CUT is a really bad book and I do not recommend it to any one.

Find this review and more at my blog:

[Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

What can I say? Oonly 3 members on here have read it. No wonder I was given a review copy since Goodreads is always packed with readers and this has done so poorly in ratings.
I was given this to review to raise some hype but all I, going to say is stay away from this book, you won't get anything out of it.
Like I said poor, that is what this book was. A measly 144 pages- which first i am obliged tk say this would make a way better full story rather than a collection of shorts.
Well lets get a move on, this book was very rushed, not very detailed and needed a lot of work. I can't believe this isn't a first draft.
You see I had no problem with the overall plot, I got where this was heading, Caitlin the lead character was very demanding and very arrogant, she never considered other people's feelings so of course eventually her friends would have enough of her attitude and leave her, as well as her boyfriend. Her soon perfect life crumbles all because of her selfishness and bad decisions.

I felt very sorry on her, I know she brought it all in herself. Let her jealously take over as she perceived the new girl as a threat to her social life. But damn she did take it too far. And as forher boyfriend, who was very very sweet she never took notice of him and his life. I still felt sorry for her though. I felt her hurt. But even though I related I just cannot give this anymore than two stars.
As a longer book, things could have been more developed and we could have had the opportunity to get to know the other characters.
I don't have much to say on this book other than it was very disappointing, even more so as I know it had the opportunity to be a great read.

[Wren Handman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, this is cheating a little bit. But, since I wrote it, I think it's only fair to include it in the list of books that I've read, and to say that I enjoyed the process of writing it, and I've enjoyed the feedback from those who have read it.

It's a great, compact novel for teenagers with reading difficulties, about a girl who is willing to risk everything for her chance at fame - only to realize what it is she's really sacrificing, and how hard it might be to come back from.

[h o l l i s · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel like almost all of the reviewers on here have completely missed the point of this story.

Is Caitlin perfect? No. Is she worth hating? Maybe. But maybe that's because we all have a little bit of Caitlin in us. Selfish, judgmental, and holier-than-thou. Maybe that's because we have ALL been sixteen once before.

The author has given us a character that is far from cookie-cutter but certainly not the evil pointy-hatted villain either. Caitlin makes mistake after mistake in a quest to achieve what she thinks she wants : become a famous actress; but one with integrity, reaching fame & glory not because of her looks but because of her talent and passion. It's a beautiful shiny dream. But along the way, when she's finally given a shot, she loses sight of that and her drive to succeed takes a short-cut. She lies, she schemes and she's forced to prove herself capable in ways she never wanted to.

At the same time, wrestling with guilt and uncertainty because of her actions, forced to rationalize her behaviour, she finds herself face to face with a girl she assumes does all these things without hesitation to win parts as well as friends, automatically and unjustly scorning her for how she looks, dismissing her behaviour as false and fake. Which only makes it worse when her best friends seem to dismiss Caitlin's judgements and instead welcome and befriend her in her absence. The jealousy the main character feels grows only stronger when the new girl, Lianne, seems overly friendly to Mark, the main character's boyfriend.

Between the lies, the tension, and the stress of the film part that Caitlin finds herself starring in, things do, as she predicted, come back to "bite her in the ass." As it rightly should.

The ending might leave much to be desired by many readers who want everything wrapped up neatly with a big shiny red bow. Instead we are left with discord, loss, heartbreak and no resolution except this : our character, alone, forced to finally see the devastation left in the wake of her selfishness. And that the lies she's told her friends hurt more because of the carefully concealed lies she's been living.

[Jana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh my God. I can't believe that I actually wasted a few hours of my life reading this. Oh dear. I HATED this book with a passion that I'm not even going to do a normal sized review, otherwise this would just turn into a lengthy rant and I'm trying to avoid that. Ha.

Caitlin is possibly the most stupid, idiotic, dumb, pathetic and insert-every-bad-word-here character that I've ever met. This girl just wants me to rip my hair out and throw my kindle on the wall. She's 16, which makes her the same age as me, but unforetunately she's got a mind of a 5 year old. I don't mind (well, mostly) when main characters make mistakes, but she, SHE is just taking this whole damn stupid mistake thing to a whole new level. *claps* I might be a bitch for saying this, but what happens to her in the end, she DESERVES completely. I actually wished for more horrible things. Ha. I'm such a nice person.

Anyway, there really isn't much of this story that didn't annoy me, and there was really kinda no plot at all. No likeable characters. None.

In every book review that I do, I try to list the positives and the negatives but I seriously can't find a good thing in this book. Ugh. Just save yourself some money and time and don't pick this up. I warned you.

[Satyros Brucato · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a former teen actor and occasional low-budget filmmaker, I grabbed this book with keen interest. Read it cover-to-cover in one sitting in the middle of the night, unwilling to put it aside. The character comes across as an authentic reminder of my own arrogant-teen days, and the plot contains enough unexpected moments (as well as ones I saw coming because I've sorta been there myself) to keep me invested up to the final line. The only thing I was left wanting was a longer book, as I wasn't quite ready to let go of this one even though I know we needed to part ways. Good stuff. I'll be looking for more work by Wren Handman. Check it out!

[Justine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book free for an honest review from Netgalley.

I didn’t care for this book at all. I don’t like the cover. I didn’t connect with any of the characters. Caitlyn knows she’s doing something dumb and then is upset that everyone calls her out on doing said dumb thing. She wasn’t a good friends or girlfriend. She was a dive and got jealous for no reason over a new girl. And then the story just ends. I don’t know, it was very weird. The only good thing is it was short so I only wasted 30 minutes reading it.

[Michael Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

Caitlin Myers is a teenage actress who desperately wants to be a superstar. When she gets the chance to audition for a local B-movie slasher flick, she leaps at the chance. She’s thrilled when she wins the role, though less so when she learns it’s as a bikini babe who spends way too much time showing way too much skin. Nevertheless, she allows ambition to override common sense, and accepts the role.

Two problems: She���s 16, and her mother won’t let her take the time off school to do the film.

Solution: Caitlin starts lying. To everyone. She tells the people doing the movie that she’s 18 and, you know, totally legal. And she plays her separated parents off against one another to create the alibis needed to skip school and follow her dreams. She lies to her friends about the quality and prestige of the film and the fun she’s having. She lies to her boyfriend about the same things, and how she’s feeling.

The work is long and hard and exhausting. It’s also more than a little sleazy and unsettling. And when they ask her to take her top off, she naturally balks. But faced with pressure, she caves and does the nude scene. Later, after second thoughts, she changes her mind and tries to have the scene removed. Fat chance. It’s there to stay, and her contract won’t allow for her to object further.

Faced with no other way out, Caitlin reveals her true age…and that’s when the house of cards collapses all around her. As the lies stand revealed, she’s faced with upset people on all sides: parents, friends, boyfriend, director and producer….

Here’s where I’d normally leave you with the dangler, and you’d accept that, secure in the knowledge that, having reached Act 2 or 3 in the story, we’d thus be looking forward to Caitlin’s eventual redemption as she climbs out of the hole she’s made for herself. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Last Cut as good as ends with our heroine at her lowest point and we’ve no idea what happens next or how she deals with the fallout. And while I am opposed almost to a fault when it comes to spoilers in my reviews, it’s hard to talk about a book that ends halfway through a character’s journey otherwise.

Caitlin herself puts it best, when she says, “I have a feeling this is going to bite me in the ass.” As the narrator, she’s supposed to have qualities to which we can relate. Instead, we’re treated to the thoughts of a selfish, self-absorbed, high-strung dive, a compulsive liar who barely thinks ahead unless it’s to count her Oscars in her imaginary future. She alternately uses, lies to, and ignores her friends, and is surprised when they turn on her. She pits her parents against one another in a heartless display of emotional manipulation and outright falsehoods. And yeah, I’ m not going to say that the director of the movie is a paragon of virtue, demanding T&A for his low budget slasher flick…but in his defense, he thought she was of consenting age and understood her contract. He may have been a jerkwad, but he didn’t deserve to have Caitlin torpedo the whole production with her illegal, underage showboating.

That’s not all. Caitlin spends the entire story being jealous of a newcomer, a talented actress who transfers to her school and who actually dares to compete with her for the choice roles. At no point do we ever get any impression that Lianne, her competition, is anything other than a genuinely decent person, but Caitlin goes wild with jealousy and hatred at every turn. No wonder her friends are ready to ditch her; Lianne probably seems like a breath of fresh air after all that. Caitlin also quits her job with no notice, to go work on the film…good luck getting a reference after that! Doesn’t she know that most actors wait tables in between gigs anyway?

Perhaps if Last Cut actually had a second half, the one where Caitlin actually dealt with the consequences of her actions, made amends, and displayed some personal growth, I wouldn’t be quite so critical of this story. After all, it’s standard procedure that when you bring your hero low, it’s to build them back up again. We want to see how the protagonist presumably comes out of the experience as a better person. Here, we see Caitlin act horribly, alienate or upset everyone she cares about, and ruin her career, and that’s about it.

It’s a shame; I wanted to like this a lot more than I did. Lorimer’s SideStreets line of edgy, “fast-paced, high interest” books for reluctant readers really seems like a great thing, full of potential. A quick scan of other offerings displays a wide variety of situations and topics, diverse characters, and realistic slices of life. However, they all aim for the 30k word count, which is a pretty tight range for something aspiring to be a book. I’m not sure Last Cut makes the best use of its space. (That, and the overly authentic teenspeak, both in narrative and dialogue, started to grate after a while. As in, “Plus, I don’t think she gets that sometimes kids have to be like, grown up and stuff.”)

In short, I applaud the overall aim of the line of books from which this sprung, but I still feel like I only got half a book featuring a wholly unlikable, unsympathetic character whose ambition got the best of her, and no true resolution.

(Originally published at Schrodinger's Bookshelf">

[Gwen Maroon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book, because the authour captivates me. I thought it was a perfect, fast paced read for a young, but sophisticated reader; or someone who is older, but needs motivation to read and would find the story line compelling. You get dragged in to the main characters life and her decisions right away. I would recommend it to librarians who need to fill this section of their library.

[Emerson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few different reviewers bashed the ending and I agree that the ending was not the best. I loved the writing of the book and I read the book in less than 24 hours which says a lot about how easy and fun the writing was.

[Eliza Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book totally would have got 4 stars had it not ended so abruptly. I truly enjoyed the whole story.

[Estelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars.

Review originally posted on Rather Be Reading Blog

If you've been reading here for awhile, you may have noticed I'm not exactly the type of reader to miss out on a title just because the author or the publishing company isn't familiar to me.

Even the three reviews of Goodreads (poor ones) did not dissuade me from reading Last Cut. I thought it might be Don't Tell Mom the Baby-sitter's Dead-esque -- a schemer who might mean well but you know her actions will only blow up in her face. Or to take it down a notch, The Lizzie McGuire Movie, where a character has to keep up with a double life of sorts.

Well.

Last Cut was neither of those. I'm sorry to say. The writing wasn't terrible; I actually liked the dialogue (the author is a playwright so that may have helped) and even though the premise didn't grow to be as meaty as it could have been, I thought the story was entertaining enough.

Girl lies, cuts herself off from friends and family, faces unknown challenges in a job she always wanted, and BOOM because of one split second decision everything goes nuts.

Totally reasonable right? Until the ending that kept me whispering obscenities into the night as my husband was sleeping and my cat was laying on my legs. I've reached the end of books before where I wanted more for one reason or another. Sometimes it's because I'm selfish and don't want to say goodbye. Other times, it's because there is one plotline that doesn't seem to have reached any kind of conclusion.

Friends, I was livid and flabbergasted by how the ending cut off, and how I was frantically clicking the button on my Nook for pages that I knew were not there. Funnily enough, the publisher boasts their collection of "books for reluctant readers." If this is what reluctant readers are picking up, I'm not feeling too confident about their growing love of books.

This easily could have been a fast-paced, fun read with lessons thrown in there. A girl discovers her strength! The self-awareness we sometimes lack and how it affects our relationships with friends and family. A ridiculous slasher flick in the background.

With some tweaking and some sort of understood obligation to give readers a book these deserve to spend their time reading, I probably would have liked this. Instead, I felt the author showed little respect for this main character and the reader. We both deserved more.

This leads me to the question: for you as a reader and/or a reviewer, do you shy away from lesser known books published by lesser known publishers for the chance of a blunder like this one?

[Chrissy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Caitlin wants nothing more than to see her name in lights, so she decides she definitely can't turn down the chance to audition for a role as a bikini babe in a low budget slasher film. While her friends are practicing their lines for another sleepy school production, Caitlin soon learns that she will actually be starring in a real live movie production, complete with twelve hour days, professional hair and makeup, and even her own little (shared) movie trailer. Caitlin is sure that she has finally hit the big time!

Except, there is just one *major* problem -- Caitlin is underage and her contract requires that she be at least eighteen years old. One little white lie can't really hurt anything, right? But, it doesn't take long for Caitlin to realize how quickly her new drive to stardom would begin to take over her life, edging out her parents, her best friends, and even her boyfriend. And why is the perky new girl at school suddenly developing an interest in everyone that is important to Caitlin?

Caitlin was only looking for her first big role in a real movie, but she may discover that she has gotten in way over her little underage head. Is a chance at fame worth the price tag, even if it means losing the people she loves?

Honestly, when I started LAST CUT, I was a little confused by the writing style. Although the subjects are fairly weighty and the language is pretty adult at times, the reading level on this one seems to be more geared more towards what one might expect from a middle grade novel. That said, I don't think this book is actually intended for an audience that young, so I can only guess that the intention was to create a story for teenagers who are (for whatever reason) more reluctant readers.

That said, I do think the author did a pretty good job laying out a quick, readable story that was easy to understand while maintaining a reasonable degree of entertainment value for people who may struggle with attention span or even a more advanced reading vocabulary. If this had *not* been intended to fill this reluctant reader gap, though, I probably would have rated this one a bit differently -- because I'm sure it would seem a big awkward and underdeveloped if one jumped into it expecting another typical young adult novel.

Overall, I actually *did* enjoy the story and I was pretty pleased with the ending. Although I wanted to feel sorry for Caitlin's character at various points throughout the novel, she did ultimately present herself as a cocky little diva -- hence giving me, as a reader, an almost guilty pleasure in seeing that maybe she got what she deserved at the end!

[Wendy-Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don't know how I feel about this book or even what to write about it. Confused...:(

[Courtney · Rating 2 out of 5]

Made a mistake requesting this on Netgalley. It was not good. It wasn't terrible, but there was nothing that made me enjoy it either.

[Jayrell Hyman · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was a good book but at the end i really get it that much as i understand it in the begaing.