Tuesday, April 30, 2013

REVIEW: DITCHED: A LOVE STORY by Robin Mellom


Title: Ditched: A Love Story
Author: Robin Mellom
Publisher: Hyperion (Disney)
Publication Date: January 1, 2013
Genres: YA, Romance, Humor
Reviewed by: Books4Tomorrow
Source: Purchased
My star rating: 5/5

SUMMARY

There's a girl.
Justina Griffith was never the girl who dreamed of going to prom. Designer dresses and strappy heels? Not her thing. That said, she never expected her best friend, Ian Clark, to ask her.

And there's a boy.
Ian, who always passed her the baseball bat, handle first.
Ian, who knew exactly when she needed red licorice.
Ian, who promised her the most amazing night at prom.

Then there's a ditch.
But when Justina is ditched, figuratively and literally, she must piece together--stain-by-stain on her thrift store dress--exactly how she ended up dateless...with only the help of some opinionated ladies at the 7-Eleven.

To get the whole store, Justina will have to face the boy who ditched her. Can losing out at her prom ultimately lead to finding true love?

REVIEW

Oh my gosh, it’s been a long time since I’ve read a romance where I couldn’t wait for the two main characters to just fall in love and get on with it. Justina and Ian are definitely going to be added to my “Top Ten Book Couples of 2013” list. This has been an incredibly fun book to read, and I love the way in which it was written and how the story unfolds through each stain on Justina’s prom dress and every bruise and injury on her body.

 First of all I really love the cover. It’s colorful and eye-catching, but mostly it shows the dress which forms a fundamental part of the story, in its exact style and color. Justina feels like a blueberry and Oompa Loompa in this dress with its matching blue corsage and blue dyed shoes, and looking at the cover I’m bound to agree with her. Justina is such a lovely character, but her self-doubt and assumptions were slightly bothersome from time to time. Nevertheless, by the middle of the book it made complete sense why she is the way she is and I have to hand it to this girl: she endured each blow with dignity. If I was ridiculed by two of the most popular girls, the zip of my prom dress ripped off, been bitten by a three-legged Chihuahua named Chomper, and unwillingly been kissed by Dan-O the Man-O whose dad accidentally spilled a bowl of soy sauce on my dress, I would’ve cracked like an egg in no time.

Ian was undoubtedly my favorite character. He is all-out boyfriend material, and because I liked Justina and fell in love with Ian, I was rooting for this friends-to-lovers couple all the way. They just couldn’t seem to be in the same spot at the same time, and their prom night ended being an incredibly hilarious, but also sentimental journey not only for Justina, Ian, Donna (the self-proclaimed cougar), Gilda (the shop assistant at the 7-Eleven), the two stoner Mikes with their girlfriends Serenity and Bliss, but also for the reader who gets tagged along on Justina’s numerous quests in finding Ian, who disappeared without an explanation.

Ditched is a quirky, feel-good romantic comedy which, while reading it, can make you believe that there is such a thing as “the perfect love”. It had such a cheesy, clichéd, typically romcom-movie ending, but it was perfect. I wouldn’t have written it differently. I’m not a fan of romance books, so the mere fact that I enjoyed this book so much I couldn’t put it down until I’ve devoured the last chapter, speaks volumes about what a terrific read this is! I assure you it is as awesome as the beautiful cover promises it would be.

 



 


READ more REVIEWS

Ditched: A Love Story by Robin Mellom has 311 reviews on Goodreads. Read it here.

PURCHASE LINKS

Amazon      *      Barnes & Noble

ABOUT the AUTHOR

Robin Mellom has taught grades five through eight and has a master's degree in education. DITCHED: A LOVE STORY is her first novel. Her new middle grade series, THE CLASSROOM, was launched in June 2012. She lives with her husband and son on the Central Coast of California.

AUTHOR LINKS

Website    *    Facebook    *    Twitter    *    Goodreads    *    Amazon

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