The Fine Art of Truth or Dare in Sophomore Reading Challenge

Aug 23, 2011 Sasha rated it really liked it

Shelves: penguin, realistic, young-adult, read-in-2012, 2012-publication

Probably like 3.75 stars

The Fine Art of Truth or Dare is the story of a girl named Ella. She has two fab best friends, a hilarious Italian family that reminded me of the family in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and a nasty scar left from a boiling water accident when she was younger. This causes her to be EXTREMELY self-deprecating and self-conscious. The poor girl can't even see how awesome she is!

This book is blurbed as "Anna and the French Kiss meets Pretty in Pink" and I can definitely see the co ...more

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Aug 29, 2011 Andi (Andi's ABCs) rated it did not like it

Shelves: own

I have to be honest, I went into this unsure. I had heard a varying degree of things on this book from good to bad, but I had wanted to read it so I stuck with my guns and did it. And what a disappointment it turned out to be. I mean how can you go wrong with a book that is supposed to be Anna and the French Kiss meets Pretty in Pink. Sure I didn't like Pretty in Pink, but I get the appeal. Sadly The Art of Truth or Dare was nothing as advertised. It took 200 very wordy pages to get what I actua I have to be honest, I went into this unsure. I had heard a varying degree of things on this book from good to bad, but I had wanted to read it so I stuck with my guns and did it. And what a disappointment it turned out to be. I mean how can you go wrong with a book that is supposed to be Anna and the French Kiss meets Pretty in Pink. Sure I didn't like Pretty in Pink, but I get the appeal. Sadly The Art of Truth or Dare was nothing as advertised. It took 200 very wordy pages to get what I actually thought the book was about. Instead of a cute story about two people from opposite backgrounds finding each other in a random coincidence, it was a story about a long deceased 19th century artist that Ella had a weird, weird obsession.

The book started out very quirky in the first chapter. I knew the readers were being played with a little so I kind of got excited thinking the negative I heard was wrong. But as I read further and further and Edward Willing became a bigger and bigger part of the story with no real Alex insight I found myself getting frustrated. I expected some art, the cover alone gives that away, but the over abundance of Edward Willing was entirely too much. By the time I got to see Alex and Ella really interact the book was more then half over and I s just aggravated.

Honestly Ella was plenty enough to carry the book, actually she was more then enough. She was quiet and shy and scared of what people thought of her thanks to a noticeable imperfection. She had a crazy Italian family, sometimes interesting friends and typical teenage thoughts. She was the reason I didn't put the book down. I liked her and I liked her liking Alex. The whole book should have been devoted to that and it would have gotten the point across so much better. Instead I couldn't tell you what the point even was. I know it was there but I just couldn't grasp it because of all the Willing talk. It was just too much and bothered me.

I will say like it has been said...every book has a reader. I just wasn't the reader for this book. Maybe you are, but just be warned it is slow going if you are looking for cutesy romance. I am curious to read Jensen's other book. ...more

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Aug 25, 2011 Hannah rated it liked it

Shelves: own-finished-copy, 2012

I started out loving this book. I could immediately relate to the main character Ella. Her insecurites are easy to understand. As a child, she was burned badly, and she still has a huge scar on her shoulders, neck, and breast, and that makes her very self-conscious. I liked reading about her insecurities as she struggles with her self-esteem but doesn't spend hours whining about it.

I loved Ella's friends as well. Frankie is a hilarious character - I know it's cliched, but I just love the gay-be I started out loving this book. I could immediately relate to the main character Ella. Her insecurites are easy to understand. As a child, she was burned badly, and she still has a huge scar on her shoulders, neck, and breast, and that makes her very self-conscious. I liked reading about her insecurities as she struggles with her self-esteem but doesn't spend hours whining about it.

I loved Ella's friends as well. Frankie is a hilarious character - I know it's cliched, but I just love the gay-best-friend type of character. Sadie is a good character, too, and I liked reading about her family issues. Ella, Frankie and Sadie have a great friendship - the way they support each other is sweet, and I found myself always looking forward to scenes with these two characters. I loved their ToD games, too!

The restaurant and Ella's family situation is a nice addition to the story. Her family is Italian and they own a restaurant where Ella spends a lot of time, since the whole family has to help out. I always loved the scenes in the restaurants - the food sounds so delicious! Seriously, don't read this book hungry - the descriptions of the food had my mouth watering! I would have liked to know some more about each of the family members, but all in all, I liked reading about the family dynamics.

I love the idea for Ella's obsession with the dead painter, Edward Willing - unique and interesting. I liked reading about Edward's life story, and how it relates to Ella's own life. I think we got to know a little too much about Edward, though - there are excerpts from biographies and articles about him and stuff like that, and I was kind of bored during those parts. Maybe that's just because I'm not all that interested in art, though.

All of that sounds pretty postive, and I did really like this book, in the beginning. The only storyline I didn't like is the romance, and sadly, the romance turned into the main focus later on in the book. Ella's obsession with Alex annoyed me - I'm just sick of the quiet-loner-girl-falls-for-the-most-popular-guy-at-school storyline. I never really got Alex as a character - there were times when I wanted to like him, when he really seemed like a good guy; and there were times when I couldn't stand him. I just never got a grasp on what kind of person he was supposed to be. The romance storyline is predictable, and it just didn't work for me.

About halfway through this book, I got bored. The pacing is really, really slow, and I was ready for the book to be over long before it actually was over. I would have liked the book to be a little shorter, the plot to move a little faster.

I'm not sure what to make of this book. I think it had a lot of promise, since I liked the whole set-up, with Ella's character, her friends, her family, and her obsession with Edward. But the slow pacing and predictable romance made it hard for me to enjoy The Fine Art of Truth or Dare. Nevertheless, I liked reading about most storylines other than the romance, and I do think it's a cute, fun book - just nothing special.

Reviewed at http://www.paperbacktreasures.blogspo... ...more

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Aug 03, 2012 Hina rated it really liked it

I must say, I really enjoyed this book. It was different, really. So I say that that a book is "different" in almost every review but that's because the books I choose are mostly chosen carefully, after rounds of reading reviews, the synopsis and gazing at the cover pictures. The latter point contributes to the fact that if it is a fantasy cover, it kind of turns me off despite the fact that I love reading fantasy. It would probably turn out to be a series ( which more often than not turns horri ...more

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