Francine Paula Pascal was an American author best known for her Sweet Valley series of young adult novels. Sweet Valley High, the backbone of the collection, was made into a television series, which led to several spin-offs, including The Unicorn Club and Sweet Valley University. Although most of these books were published in the 1980s and 1990s, they remained so popular that several titles were re-released decades later.
Basic Plot: Thanksgiving break commences, Gaia spends more time with Mary, Heather finally knows Sam has fallen for Gaia, A sideplot about a plastic surgeon tracking down Gaia goes nowhere, Our heroine is rushed to the hospital after going unconscious in Sam's dorm, and Gaia is left to wonder if the night with Sam really happened.
Despite that plot description I gave you, nothing much happens in this book. In fact I'm willing to say that even Twisted had more events happen in it disregarding how facepalm-inducing they were. This book was so lackluster and boring I was reminded why I initially stopped reading this series in the first place.
1) I feel like the plastic surgeon plot was put in just to make the book longer. If you took out his subplot, the book's content wouldn't change at all. He doesn't even succeed in catching Gaia. His character is hardly built upon and all that's left is a just page lengthener of events that don't add up to the rest.
2) Why would Ella think putting in just ONE tracking device in Gaia's jacket is going to be a 100% no-fail scheme? I can get that the devices can be expensive (especially when it was revealed to be a bomb), but Ella could have went the extra effort in planting multiple trackers in all of Gaia's jackets. She only nearly succeeded because Gaia stuck to just one jacket instead of alternating between 2-4 different ones.
3) Gaia claims in her opening narrative that "Somebody tries to kill me at least once a week." At least one event (David) was because of her own stupidity and wanting to track down and eliminate The Gentleman. If Gaia hadn't ran into David, she could have slipped under his blonde radar among dozens of other potential victims he'd kill instead.
4) I love how Gaia still claims she went on her "real first date of my life" without bothering to wonder why some random dweeb she crashed into in the school hallway asked her out or hang out with David more before the actual date. I already mentioned this in my previous review but it still irks me.
5) Kiss yet again brings up the sexist statements against men by claiming they're all sex-obsessed. Although this one time, it's justified since the chapter was in Ella's POV.
6) I'm starting to wonder why George and Ella are married in the first place if she's such a vapid woman with barely any likeable traits.
7) Why does Ella resort to attempting to shoot Gaia after she gets one punch to the face? She was kind of asking for it after verbally abusing her beforehand.
8) The story claims Gaia punched Ella out cold, yet in the actual chapter it happens in, Ella gets up shortly after getting punched. Possible annoying retcon?
9) Loki still attempts to be anonymous yet keep in mind trackable email communication is likely still going to keep taking place between him and Ella.
10) Speaking of Loki, how's he managing to see all the events that happened (For example, when Ella was placing the tracking device in Gaia's coat pocket)? Are there hidden cameras in the house or something? This makes no freaking sense in the slightest.
11) In the parade subplot, one of the balloons are mentioned to be a "Random Rugrat" without ever saying which character from Rugrats it is at least two times. This could have been a copyright issue but then how did the book get permission to mention Spiderman, Snoopy, and Clifford all on the same page? To me it just comes off as the author lacking basic knowledge about Rugrats, a classic and well-loved Nicktoon.
12) Francine Pascal doesn't also seem to think pumpkin pie has it's fans even though there are plenty of people that enjoy it.
13) Why would Mary randomly send M&Ms in with her letter to Gaia? It stupid enough, and not to mention the chocolate has a chance of melting if it’s hot enough in the package or mail van, rendering the letter unreadable.
14) According to Ella, Gaia's been to the hospital twice so far in the series. Where was Ella the first time Gaia ended up there?
What a boring read, but I wonder if the next book will be 1% better…
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This one wasn't as good as the other ones have been. I felt horrible for Gaia she had a horrible Thanksgiving holiday. Ed was visiting family, Mary her friend from book four she caught doing drugs and all the happiness that had filled Gaia left and she ran away for second time.
The first time was when Ella her so called foster mother mentioned about her mom who's dead she had already been pushing and pushing til Gaia and she punched her out. Elaine was going to try to shoot her and if Gaia hadn't left she would have maybe gotten of a shot.
At train station Gaia has taken on what believe was pimps and were attacking another girl Gaia she which is how she gets mutilated by a plastic surgeon who Ella hired to hurt Gaia so that Loki could get at his twin brother Tom, Gaia's dad didn’t work.
Gaia made to Sam's dorm by once again breaking in and she showered and was in his bed he got back after finally ending it with Heather who he tried to earlier but the girl is dense and Sam wasn't specific on who it was over and never started with.
Gaia gets her first kiss too bad that she can't remember because if her head injury and Ella lied to her that she never saw Sam. But the evidence Gaia discovered on her proves otherwise. Poor Gaia. Just wasn't as into this one, but on second read I did like it a little more than 2019. Hope six is better cause liked the first four more. Wasn't enough Ed and there was too much Ella and Heather. I hope Mary does get the help she wants.
Pretty solid although Ella's dumbass doctor idea goes nowhere and adds nothing to the plot except I suppose an elaborate way to get Heather and Sam to finally broke up. I also am so bored of Gaia and Sam and their connection based on absolutely nothing but apparently vibes. The whole fractured memory stuff at the end means more suffering with watching Gaia and Sam waffle around in their feelings for one another. Also, very strange how multiple times the book needs to clarify Mary is NOT a lesbian and not into Gaia that way as if it's a bad thing if she would be.
Sidenote: these books were published in 2000 but in this rerelease I noticed they randomly swap out regular phones for iPhones in an attempt to modernize it. Feels very half assed especially when the doctor still has to track down a phone booth lmao.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
In the fifth installment of Gaia Moore, the girl 'born without the fear gene,' she runs away, manages to escape a fatal slashing without knowing it, has fun on a giant M&M balloon, and even manages to get her first kiss.
I think that this book was one of the best. Not only does Sam and Heather break up (yes!) but Gaia also gets her kiss from Sam, even though she hit her head quite badly and doesn't know if it's real or not. She also manages to escape a killer again, although this time, she does not know it. The great thing about Fearless is that there is so many character POVs, so we can not only get Gaia's (the main character) POV, but also other characters.
Even though it didn't really have that much adventure, the kiss made up for it. I still do not know whether to go on Ed or Sam's side...hmm, but it was quite interesting for Ed not to be in this book, since he was at his grandparent's house. I wonder what will happen between Gaia and Mary, and Gaia and Sam. Hmm...
Rating:
95/100
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
this book is part five of my favorite series the fearless books. As always gaia moore gets her self in to trouble trying to find her under cover spie father and living with a family friend who she hates and thinks might just be a bad guy. in this book a girl mary comes to town and shockingly gaia becomes friends with her. mary turns out to be a lesbian which does not affect gaia but everyone thinks that they are an item. when mary decides to come out to her family she brings gaia along and gaia's crush sam i there and he thinks that gaia has switched teams. he leaves disappinted and she finally shows her true feelings for him with a kiss. when i read that they finally kissed i was so happy i have been thinking for so long that he should just leave his mean rude girlfriend and they should date and finally they took a step towards it. i would recomend this book to anyone who likes a book with action, love, and a bit of good verses evil .
I've read this series over ten years ago. But I remember it being very good. For the first 18 books. After that the more it lasted the worst it got. I stopped at book 32. These days I wouldn't give it more than 20.
Back to the good stuff. I found that Gaia was a good strong, pretty but still flawed character. She was special without being annoying. It's just that once the author stopped looking over the shoulder of the ghost writer. Things went down the drain pretty fast.
Last note. The series may be in boxes but I won't be giving them away any time soon. She's a good example of an interesting main character in an interesting premise.
DISCLAIMER: I'm actually cheating on my Goodreads annual book challenge. I'm actually reading a compilation of the Fearless series and I realized that because Kiss was published more than 10 years ago and I've read the new edition and it's like modernized in a way, I mean, iPhones and Bieber? HAHAHA
Anyway, this story introduced us to Mary, cool character, thought she wouldn't be interesting. Also, Gaia and Sam's weird room encounter. Weird in a way, I dunno, you'll get it when you read it
AGAIN I'M CHEATING ON MY CHALLENGE! HAAA GOODREADS YOU CAN'T TAME ME! LOL
Kiss is the 5th installment in the marvellous Fearless series by Francine Pascal. This time around, we get to know the new character "Mary" better - an upper class girl who wants to get to know Gaia better. At the same time, her foster mother wants Gaia disfigured. Is she going to succeed with her evil plan?
Another epic tale. I'm sooooo in love with Gaia (see, the series reduces me to pathetic gushing. I never do that.)! I'm in love with all the characters, in fact. And not only the evil ones! I recommend this to anyone who appreciates slow but steady character developpment and long series.
Just because I want to do something different I'm going to write the reviews in a Friends episode format. Enjoy!
The One With Gaia's First Kiss
Guys, there's barely any action in this one. Because it's all about Sam and Gaia!! Gaia finally gets her first kiss from Sam Moon!! Whoo! And a new character is introduced: Mary Moss. She's reckless and wild. A perfect match for Gaia. And Heather is wondering on where her relationship with Sam is going. Shup up, whiny.
read on it's own having never heard is the series. super quick read as it's a YA novel. interesting premise of a girl unable to feel fear. maybe I'd like it more with all the background info, but it felt somewhat disjointed and very unfinished. reads kind of like a sitcom with a to be continued ending- you get to know a bit about the characters in the short time spent but not all the history so not everything makes sense.. but you get just invested enough that you sort of want to see what happens next but if you miss the next episode it won't haunt you.
This book didn't really have much fighting scenes as the other books, which I liked. I still think the series is kind of confusing because each chapter (section?) is a different narrator, and sometimes I don't know who's talking. I don't know if the reader is supposed to feel that way or not, but I don't like that part of the series. This book also didn't have a cliff hanger ending, which I was kind of suspecting, since there's 36 books in the series. I'm probably not going to read all of them.
only one inconsistency, and it may not really be one, i may have just misinterpreted it....ella makes a plan in secret from her "boss" and fears what he might do when if he finds out....later, he knows about the plan and is going along with it....(in the next book, he knows nothing of her involvement)
Like the rest of the book it is very fast and quick read. As always Gaia gets herself in more trouble. I really liked Mary in this book. Sam had his moments also. I was happy Gaia finally shows her true feelings to the one she likes. A book filled with action, love, and funny moments if that is what your looking for this book series is one to check out.