2 March 2016

Review #356: Like Candy (Candy #1) by Debra Doxer



My rating: 3 of 5 stars


“Revenge, the sweetest morsel to the mouth that ever was cooked in hell.”

----Walter Scott




Debra Doxer, an American author, has penned a compelling YA tale, Like Candy which is about a high school teenage badass girl who stood up for everything and never tolerated injustice, in short, her peers feared her. Being a daughter of a spy, makes her even more rough and this is her story about she gets tangled up in her father's mysteries along with her own.






Synopsis:

Revenge is sweet, just like candy.

Candy Seaborne knows she’s badass. She takes after her father, an assassin and possibly a spy, although he won’t admit to either. She idolizes him. Her dream is to follow in his footsteps. But first, she has to finish high school.

Biding her time, waiting for real life to begin, Candy craves drama and isn’t above manufacturing some. If you’re a classmate who wronged her or a boyfriend who cheated, watch your back. She’s no pushover, and revenge may be her favorite pastime.

Jonah Bryson is the senior class heartthrob who breaks all the stereotypes. He’s a jock, but he isn’t the typical player. He’s moody and antisocial. No girl has gotten anywhere with him since his last girlfriend broke his heart.

Candy sees Jonah as a challenge and the perfect distraction. But she may be in over her head because unlike everyone else, Jonah isn’t buying her tough act. He sees the lost, lonely girl inside. He sees too much. When he looks at her that way, she wants to let her guard down and be vulnerable. But that’s the last thing she should do because her father’s world is spilling over into hers, and life is about to get real much sooner than Candy expected.



Candy, a rough and kick ass high school teenager, does not fear anything. Instead her friends and schoolmates fear her. But when it comes to the senior year jock of her school, Jonah- the heart-breaker, Candy wants to be someone else in front of him. She wan ts to be in love with this mysterious brooding hot guy, who seems to hard to get on. Now Candy, here, wants to charm him with her badass demeanor. And when Jonah looks at Candy, he is sure that she is alone from the inside. But Candy's perfect love-life tumbles down when her father's world, who happens to be a spy, gets tangled up into hers.

This is the first time for me that I read anything by Debra Doxer. Yeah the plot is quite unique and interesting. Unfortunately, the story did not click with me, not even I could connect with the characters. The book's synopsis speaks a lot about mystery, but the mystery penned by the author is not polished or striking. The story line only centered around a typical high school love affair.

The narrative is also not that engaging enough to keep me hooked onto the story for a very long time. Yes although the story progresses in a gripping way, but I felt, the elements of mystery could have been played out pretty well. The climax ends with a mild cliffhanger that, if you loved this story, would make you vouch for the next book in the series.

The characters are sweet and not much realistic. The guy is swoon-worth, and has demeanor is quite mature and serious. His attitude towards Candy is of understanding in nature. Candy, on the other hand, made me annoyed with her love-to-hate badass and selfish, melodramatic and strong attitude. She has a smart mouth, unlike of any regular 18-year old girls. The supporting characters are also pretty nice. Overall, I did not feel any inkling towards any of the characters.

The high-school romance, oh well, is cute, very typical, but what lacked is the deep emotions that will make the readers feel for the lovers. Some make-out scenes which are at times bit graphic. That's all. Yeah in a nutshell, the drama in this story is way too overrated.

Verdict: You can turn a blind eye to this one!

Courtesy: I received a review copy from YA Bound Book Blog Tours.
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Author Info:
Debra Doxer was born in Boston, and other than a few lost years in the California sunshine, she has always resided in the Boston area. She writes fiction, technical software documents, illegible scribbles on sticky notes, and texts that get mangled by AutoCorrect. She writes for a living, and she writes for fun. When her daughter asks when she’ll run out of words, her response always is, “When I run out of time.”
Visit him here


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