Book Review: Grounding Quinn by Steph Campbell

THE DETAILS:
Pages: 254
Genre: Teenage Fiction, Contemporary
Publisher: Kindle
Release Date: 12/06/11
I bought this book with my own money.

THE DESCRIPTION:
Eighteen-year-old Quinn MacPherson's biggest fear has always been turning out like her mentally unstable mother. (Solving algebraic equations comes in as a close second.) 

That is, until she meets Benjamin Shaw. 

Quinn thinks hooking up with Ben over summer vacation will be nothing more than a quick fling. She can’t even commit to a nail polish choice, much less some guy. 
Unfortunately for her, Ben is not just some guy. Ben gets her- the real her, flaws and all- and that scares the hell out of her. 

When Ben does the unthinkable- tells Quinn he’s in love with her- she does what comes naturally. She pushes him away. Ben can only watch from a distance as Quinn lashes out, and punishes him for daring to care about her. 

But how far can you push someone, even someone that loves you, before they are gone for good?

MY REVIEW:
I bought this book thinking it was a different book that I had seen a good review on. I was buying a bunch of cheap kindle books and I saw this and thought "oh, that's that book I saw on that blog". Apparently it wasn't. The cover is kind of similar, with dark green grass, a girl wearing boots and some flowers, but apparently the book I was after is about a girl named Viola, and not Quinn. I realised this after I started the book and thought since I had already bought it and started reading, that I should give 'Grounding Quinn' the benefit of the doubt and keep on reading. Did I enjoy the novel though? I'm not really sure...

I didn't hate the novel, but I didn't love it either. It took me a while to read it. I read through the first half in one night and slowly read through the rest for weeks and weeks later. The only reason I even finished it is because I felt like I had wasted so much time reading it that I should just keep going. I eventually ended up reading it and then waited at least a month (it has possibly been longer) to write this review, because I didn't really have that much to say.

I think the story was okay. It didn't seem overly original and it reminded me a little of that movie 'Crazy Beautiful'. The main character was a bit messed up and blames it on her parents who are also messed up. There is a bit of drug use (as in wrongfully medicating rather than recreational) and I thought that seemed unrealistic. She was just taking all of these pills out of her mothers medication cabinet and taking them at random and she didn't even know what they were. She's a teenager she can read, if she wants sleeping pills or mood stabilizers, can't she find out which is which? And then, spoiler alert she accidentally overdoses on the random cocktail of pills and has to convince people that she's not suicidal...

I didn't really like the guy in the story. I felt like I should because the main character likes him, but the whole set up was just too unrealistic from the start and he had some really annoying qualities. He was one of those characters that tries to please everyone and then realises he doesn't have to please anyone but himself. He then does a back flip and compromises his morals to make someone else happy in the end. Not a great message to be sending to any young impressionable readers. Also, he calls Quinn "Babe" and "Baby" a lot. It's okay in small doses, but it just seemed too cheesy and a little cheap when it's in every conversation...

I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the book at all. I did find Quinn to be quite funny at times and I did read through the first half of the novel quite quickly. I really wanted the characters to be happy, but I also just wanted the book to be over already so I could read something else...

Overall, I think this book is worth 2.5/5 stars. I didn't love it. I didn't hate it. I think the books is suited more to older teens because of some of the content. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone I know, but if you are looking for a cheap read then there are probably much worse things out there in the kindle store.

I know I haven't posted anything in a couple of weeks. Now that I have finally stopped procrastinating this review I am hoping to get up some more blog posts for you guys soon.

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