Saturday, July 2, 2011

Spoiled, by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

SpoiledSpoiled by Heather Cocks

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


You know right off the bat that a book isn't going to take itself too seriously when a character named Arugula is the first thing to appear, word one, page one. And although I really liked this book (that's what four stars means, right?) the "Arugula" issue seemed to typify the ambivalence the authors felt between going for the cheap laugh, or telling a story with real characters, capable of evoking real emotions. Happily, for me at least, the latter impulse seems to predominate, although there are plenty of laugh out loud lines peppered throughout ("You look like ten pounds of sexy in a five pound bag of awesome!") But I really did like this book (four stars worth!), and its retelling of the girl who discovers she's royalty (ok, Hollywood royalty, in this instance), only to have to deal with palace intrigue, jealous courtiers and an inattentive but loving King, is told with a fresh, freewheeling trendalicious voice, and with a main character, Molly, who is just the right mix of naivete and gumption. This is not one of those books where you are guessing about how it's going to turn out. But just like old bluesmen can take three chords, time worn themes and phrases, and recombine them in seemingly infinite iterations, the authors take the familiar elements and spin them into a funny and touching narrative full of great characters and witty banter.



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