Thursday, June 30, 2011

Book Report: Being Emelle

When I was in elementary school, we were assigned book reports to write, and frankly, I had no idea how to write a book report.  I was already aware of spoilers from my Star Wars debacle, and I didn’t want to give away any important details and so they all sounded like blurbs selling the book:



And so, I always got really bad grades on my book reports.

It is not like I wasn’t reading the books, or that I didn’t understand what I was reading.  I love reading. I love books.  I just don’t particularly trust myself to tell people things about books without giving away the plot.  I’m the same way with movies.  My reviews usually go:  “It was entertaining.  I didn’t want to punch myself in the face for having spent 3 hours watching it.”

And so, when my friend, who is a kick-ass author, asked me, at a dinner we were at together, if I would want an advanced copy of her book to read on my Kindle and maybe review here, I said, “Yes! Totally! Sure! That would be awesome…” I’m actually hoping to review some other books in the future, so it will be good practice, and then I realized she probably would not be very pleased with me reviewing her book in my normal manner, which would be:

“I read Being Emelle by E.M. Stoops. This book totally kicked ass.  I stayed up way too late reading it, and then I woke up early and read it some more even though I was totally tired and treated everyone like crap the rest of the day because I had to interact with them when what I really wanted to do was go back and read about Emelle, and OMG, are they gonna kiss?! They’d better kiss! 
I liked this book. You should read it to find out what happens next!” 

 But while all of that is true, it is not entirely helpful. So here goes.  In Being Emelle, you get to follow an awkward and intelligent Emelle from early childhood through adulthood, learning about his philosophies,  how he deals with the strained relationship with his father, his wonderful supportive mom, and the great dynamics with his best friend, Annalyn, and his other classmates. I, quite honestly, dug the hell out of her book.  It was sweet, and funny, and a little sad, and it was incredibly sexy, and a little kinky, and it flowed really nicely.  It is an advanced copy though, so it needs a tad bit more editing, but not so much that it affected my desire to keep reading. So if you have a kindle and you’d like to read it to, you can find it over on Amazon.com. At least check out the sample!






It is also available on Nook, I am being told- find it here!

This is not a paid review.  It is my honest opinion of a book written by a friend.  She didn't even buy me a cup of bacon to get me to write this.  I just received a PDF of the book to read.  If I am ever paid for a review, I will certainly let EVERYONE know. 

9 comments:

  1. Spoiler alert: Emelle is a guy! My mind kept thinking "Emily" or "Amelie" so when you said "his father" it was a bit of a shock.

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  2. LOL i was thinking what alan was thinking. i think your review was very good, tho!

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  3. I will read it to find out what happens next!

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  4. I can't wait! I'm getting ready to check it out now.

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  5. LOL! I'm a writer in the exact same position (My book has gotten as far as advanced copies in the e-book stores.) I would totally pay you to read it and review it!

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  6. I read an early manuscript of this book. It's very good and quite an addicting read. Sadly, I never finished it. But, I do highly recommend it.

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  7. Haha! I can TOTALLY relate to you on the reviewing handicap. Thanks for the recommendation, I'll be checking it out.

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  8. I just got it delivered to my kindle...

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  9. JRose that dinosaur would look awesome on little kid's pajamas-I love your drawing style

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