reviews originally posted on this blog! spoilers are sectioned off.
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bluff - julie dill1/13/2018
gambling, and underage at that! Whoa! Well, BLUFF did center around a gambling addiction, but it sure didn't portray the addiction as... well, an addiction. (I think I know how to play poker now.) That being said, let's get into it. plot & writingI'd like to start this off by saying that this book either needed to be way longer or way shorter because of development. Let me clarify: there was one (1) plot throughout this whole 250-page novel. No subplots at all, as far as I'm aware. All conflicts- the, like, 3 or 4 of them that arose with the 3 or 4 other characters- came from this one plot. We know I love me some subplots and a wonderful, unpredictable overarching plot, and I didn't get either of those with this novel. I wish it was shorter because this one plot could've been fit into 100-150 pages if we cut the unnecessary scenes (mainly the flashbacks. What purpose did they serve?). I wish it was longer because I want more subplots and to develop the characters more and to make this book focused on more than a simple plot. SPOILERS IN PINK: The ending... how horrible can you get? What message does this send out to young readers? That it's okay to gamble, as long as you've told everyone in your life when keeping it a secret was getting too hard? Uh, no. I don't think so. Plus, there are really no negative outcomes of gambling on the main character's life. Again, what kind of message does this send? SPOILERS DONE Because of the length of BLUFF, I flew through it- a common theme in the books I read in 2018, weird- but the writing helped with me flying through it as well. And in this case, that's not a good thing. I don't really know how to explain the writing besides for simple and underdeveloped, a common theme in this book. Let me give you an example of this writing: "He makes his way to the highway and merges on in the most masculine way possible." I'm sorry, WHAT? HOW DO YOU MERGE IN A MASCULINE WAY??? That was the type of writing the WHOLE BOOK. Give me a BREAK. charactersChelsea. How dumb can a girl get? Pay your bills before you shop! Geez! And, I'm sorry, but being poor is NO excuse for gambling, being rude, or acting like you're better than rich people. She always complained about having no money but refused to get a job. UGH. Nate. I hated him from the start. I always thought he was going to turn against her at some point because I never trusted him, but that never happened. The father. He annoyed me a lot. How did he never realize that Chelsea was paying all of the bills while he just enjoyed staying at home? Give me a BREAK. Cassidy. Easily the most sensible person in this novel. All she wants to do is help her friend! I'm pretty sure I was supposed to dislike her because she's rich and oh, she'll never understand poor me, but I liked her. Oops? All in all, I kinda regret my time with this book and fully regret how it portrays addiction. I recommend this book to people who want to learn how to play poker while getting a mediocre-at-best story along the way.
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