imaginarycircus

I've been trying to pick through the YA books that sounds smart or popular since I hope to sell one. I saw recs for "Impossible" by Nancy Werlin.

I'm honestly quite torn about whether or not I liked it. I found it badly written in terms of craft and POV. Werlin tells quite a lot and shows very little, which irked me. Her dialog does not sound like any teenagers I've ever met. I read a lot of literature when I was a 15, 16, 17--and even I didn't sounds like these kids. They sound like 40 year old house wives. Her prose is riddled with cliche phrases and cluttered by useless chaff "like the fact that."

The POV is probably my number one problem with the novel. It hops from character to character within chapters. This can be done to great effect--or it can be a murky disaster that locks the reader outside the novel. I felt it took the latter route--especially when it drifted into a murky third person.

The thing is--it has a great plot--but even that is difficult.

( cut for spoilers )