3 Stars: An Entertaining Read
Series: Twisted Lit #1
Hardcover: 224 Pages
Publication: December 18, 2012 by Merit Press
Kim, Amy | Goodreads | Amazon | Kindle
Recently banished, unfairly, by the school’s popular crowd, former “it girl,” Miranda Prospero, finds herself in a brave new world: holding dominion amongst a rag-tag crew of geeks and misfits where she works at the Hot-Dog Kabob in the food court of her local mall. When the worst winter storm of the season causes mall workers and last-minute shoppers to be snowed-in for the night, Miranda seizes the opportunity to get revenge against the catty clique behind her social exile. With help from her delightfully dweeby coworker, Ariel, and a sullen loner named Caleb who works at the mall’s nearby gaming and magic shop, Miranda uses charm and trickery to set things to right during this spirited take on Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
Miranda gives off the spoiled rich girl vibe. She feels entitled to power and enjoys manipulating people with her charm and wit. It doesn’t help that she feels sorry for herself getting stuck with a job sellling hot dogs at the mall’s food court. Once you get to know her, however, her softer side comes out. The public-school kids who also work at the mall are open about coming to her for help with their problems, and complain as she might about this, she takes the time to come up with solutions for them. She’s also fiercely protective about her naïve, home-schooled friend and coworker Ariel.
There are a lot of stereotypes in this book: Miranda’s hot and dumb ex-boyfriend, her bitchy ex-friends, and some dorky mall workers. There are also the stereotype breakers: Clint, the hot, sweet, smart jock working at an athlete store, and Caleb, the swarthy, intelligent non-gamer who works at a Game Store and also happens to be in a rock-n-roll band. Mix the ‘cool’ kids and the ‘public school’ kids with one night stranded at the mall and a criminal, possibly well-armed, running around and you have the stage for a drama filled with laugh-out-loud moments.
Sure, some things didn’t ring true to me. I still fail to comprehend this big scandal that sent Miranda from her position as Miss Popular to Miss HotDog Girl. It doesn’t seem like a valid reason for her to get into so much trouble with her school, especially when she’s not the one who turned her online dating service into a cheating hookup site. If she’s such a goody goody, wouldn’t the school be able to tell who’s the real culprit? At minimum, aren’t the cheaters the ones at fault, so why does she have to pay them back? I don’t know much about things like this, but it just doesn’t feel real to me. There are also certain characters’ sudden changes in heart and some messed up moments with the characters randomly deciding to do some things. These I didn’t mind so much because (1) certain characters are brainless and mostly add to the comedy and (2) again, this is a comedy and meant to be read for the humor.
This is a light, highly entertaining read. Once I got past the overly heightened dramatics, I couldn’t stop laughing. This is a fast-paced read about absurd twists in events that give Miranda the opportunity to get revenge on her ex-friends, get over her dumb, what-did-she-ever-see-in-him boyfriend, and find a new love, while taking out an armed criminal and gaining dominion over public and private schoolers alike.
I recommend reading this by the fireplace in the midst of a raging blizzard if possible. If not, this book is still a wonderful holiday read. Yes, I recommend this.
An ARC was provided by Merit Press for review.
Author: Crystal
A story girl at heart, Crystal is a bibliophile who can easily spend the day immersed in a good read. She writes under the name Kristy Wang. You can follow her writing adventures on X and Instagram @_kristywang.
Vivien says
This sounds like a really fun read! I just won this one, so I'm pretty anxious to read it.
Crystal says
Awesome! I hope you like it as much as I did!
Bookworm1858 says
I just had so much fun reading this book-it made me smile and laugh. I only wish I was more familiar with The Tempest so I could compare the two.
Crystal says
I agree. It was a lot of fun to read. I watched a play of The Tempest this past summer and made some connections, but I don't think I was familiar enough with it either to draw more comparisons.