Lauren Bjorkman
288 pages
Released: November 13, 2012
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Source: swapped for ARC
★★☆☆☆
You can read the Goodreads summary here.
Somewhat based on a true story, Miss Fortune Cookie follows the lives of Erin and her two best friends as they navigate their final year of high school and await their college acceptance letters. Erin has a secret though, she runs the blog "Miss Fortune Cookie," where she doles out advice to her peers anonymously. Then, when a hate group comes to protest the girl's high school (here's the true story part), they organize a counter protest.
Oh man, this book didn't do it for me and that makes me sad because I really wanted to like it. I had two main issues with this book - first, I found Erin's relationships with her friends confusing. I don't understand why they couldn't have just been a trio of friends and why there was all this grudge-holding from fourth grade. But despite their strange friendship, I did like Erin's character. She only wanted to do what was right for her friends and for her blog followers. Most of the time I found her advice pretty sound.
The second issue I had with Miss Fortune Cookie was the protest part of the plot. Erin and her friends seemed to put a lot of thought in their protest and I admire their values (and for that I would recommend this book to high schoolers) but I felt like not enough time was spend with the protest, particularly after they arrived and what might have happened after. The protest ended and that was pretty much it for that plot line. It was almost like an afterthought and I think if more time had been spent on it, some great life lessons could have been learned.
There is a side of romance in this novel, which was a little compelling. It was pretty adorable the way Erin met her love interest and I rooted for them. On another positive note, there were several random and diverse tertiary characters who were pretty awesome.
Two stars. I didn't hate Miss Fortune Cookie and it held my attention, but after all was said and done (and read) it was only okay. This might be a great read for younger YA fans, though I hesitate to say middle grade because of all the mentions of sex.
Aww, sorry you didn't like this one better. I'm kind of on the fence about reading it!
ReplyDeleteWhen I first heard about this one I thought that it seemed interesting enough. With all of the new and amazing books out that I've been dying to read I kind of pushed this one aside. After reading your review I don't think I will end up picking this one up. Personally I'm not as big of a fan of novels that are more for younger YA fans, I prefer mostly New Adult novels or ones that are closer to that. I'm also not sure if this type of book would be able to keep my attention. I prefer to pick up reads where the story stays with me after I've read the book.
ReplyDeleteI want to read miss fortune cookies and the review it help, thanks^^
ReplyDeletenot too interest with the book too but thanks for the review :)
ReplyDeleteIt does sound like an interesting (and unique!) premise. I've heard good things about it, but hadn't really heard complaints about story lines not being fleshed out/not being fully realized. I may hold off on it because, even though it seems like it could be a good read, contemporaries generally aren't my favorite, so I might have some issues with it.
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