Saturday, January 9, 2010

Book Review: Hottie by Jonathan Bernstein

Alison Cole’s got it all: She’s gorgeous, dating a steamy surfer boy, and has just been crowned Beverly Hills High Freshman Class President. Then during a special “symmetry” surgery, a lightning bolt zaps her, and Alison instantly transforms into Hottie—that is, a totally sizzling superhero with the power to shoot fire from her fingers!

Shunned as a Pyro-Freak, Alison must adopt dorky David Eels as her crime-fighting sidekick. Worse, she’s falling for the one guy who wants to “extinguish” her forever, Junior Class President of Cuteness— and wannabe firefighter—T. Hull. But she doesn’t realize that a supervillain’s lurking. . . .

Has Hottie met her match?

I was drawn to this book because of the unique sound of the premise. I couldn't think of any stories that focus on a female teen superhero (can you?), and jumped at the chance to read it. The fact that being a superhero helped to increase Alison's confidence, and allowed her to meet people who supported her growth, made the book even better.

I should point out that it's fairly obvious who the villain is in the story, but the predictability didn't really detract from the fun of the story.

Although I grew to like Alison over the course of the book, I wasn't really sure whether I was going to connect with her character. Plus, I was worried that she wouldn't show any emotional growth. She started off with great (or so she thought) friends, popularity, and she's just been elected class president. In my opinion, most high schools girls (not all, mind you) would be extremely jealous of Alison's current situation. It soon became obvious that, despite all of the aforementioned positive aspects of her life, Alison had self-esteem problems, a scummy boyfriend, and an evil stepmother. Eventually I did connect with her, although I wish that there had been more points where she showed a bit more depth of character.

The one question I had regarding this book involved Alison's plastic surgery. If a girl is under 18 doesn't she need to have written permission, or a parent/guardian present? What kind of doctor would preform surgery on a girl who may not have even finished growing/puberty/etc (ok, a greedy one).

Overall a fun, and fairly quick read.

Hottie
By Jonathan Bernstein
Published by Razorbill
320 Pages
Rating: B-

7 comments:

YA Book Queen said...

This sounds like a fun novel! B-? That's not too shabby. ;)

Monster of Books said...

I would never do plastic surgery. Interesting premises indeed. Great review :)

Emma said...

Nice review! Sounds cute.

Tales of Whimsy said...

Sounds cute. I might add this one to my list. :)

Andrea said...

It sounds cute, but not my thing. Great review.

Anonymous said...

Great review, addressed all my concerns about the book from reading the summary, thanks! It sounds like a fun plot, might be perfect for my niece's birthday later this year...

The Best Blogger in the World said...

I've read this book and I think it's one of the best books in the world

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