I think it lacked the emotional intensity I had wanted to get out of the story, so even though I liked where the characters ended up, I felt a little let down at the same time. It wasn’t bad, but I wasn’t particularly drawn to it, either. I’m not sure exactly what it was about the story, but I closed the book feeling rather indifferent about it. I was left with the impression that they had made permanent, measureable growth by the last page. Both of them had to go through some pretty disappointing experiences in order to come to a deeper understanding of their true selves.

Mackler did a tremendous job with the characterization of both girls, moving Jena from annoyingly whiny and Skye from annoyingly snooty first impressions. I can concede that it’s possible there was struggling that wasn’t on-page, but I would have bought into his transformation if I’d been able to see some of that.īecause each character had a distinct voice, it was fairly easy to figure out early on in each narrative who the character was. I almost felt that he hadn’t grappled enough with what he learned.

I do think that he would eventually come to the place where he ended up, but it seemed to be a bit too soon for him. While I liked watching the characters grow, I found Dakota’s to be a little too quick and easy. I did enjoy focusing a section of the book on each of the four characters, though I’ll admit that I found it disorienting at the beginning of each section. To me, that’s real, and I applaud Mackler for focusing on those of us who are “normal”, and making it work (because that’s kinda hard to do). They were run-of-the-mill teenagers, living life with a small number of good friends and a lot of people who just don’t get them. Jena and Owen weren’t knockout gorgeous, but neither were they grotesque they weren’t particularly witty and clever, but they weren’t dull. Let me first say that it was so refreshing to read a book in which some of the main characters were average.

Tangled by Carolyn Mackler