Mini-Reviews: Finding Audrey & Pointe

This (first) round of mini-reviews features the contemporary books: Finding Audrey and Pointe. There are some spoilers in my review of Pointe but you can read on to find out what I think of Finding Audrey. 

I have really mixed thoughts about this book..On one hand, I’m pleased that I read a book featuring a character struggling with and recovering from anxiety..On the other hand, I’m frustrated that her recovery and sometimes other aspects of Audrey’s life aren’t portrayed that realistically. For example, Audrey overcomes SAD surprisingly fast..I mean in the start of the book, she experiences a lot of lows but then she starts hanging out with Linus and it feels like her SAD just disappears during some of those encounters. That just didn’t seem natural to me because her SAD is pretty bad in the beginning of the book. And then her therapist keeps pushing her to do things she’s clearly not ready for. Is this normal? 

Audrey is also really obsessed with Linus. But what bothers me is that she’s experiencing severe anxiety that makes her feel like she’s about to get attacked any minute and all of a sudden, she sees this guy (Linus) and decides she likes him?! It just doesn’t make any sense..I also did not like the way Linus treats her. At first he seemed perfect but he can be a bit of an asshole and even goes as far as to imply that she’s selfish because she wants to do something that could cause her to relapse. I’m not sure if the author wanted to make Linus seem more human by making him flawed but he seemed like a jerk to me. I hated the romance because it was unnecessary and seemed to imply that Audrey wouldn’t have been able to recover if she didn’t meet Linus.

So I had some issues with this book..but I couldn’t help liking the author’s writing style and finding parts of it entertaining. 

Rating: 3.5 stars

I feel like the cover and the title of the book are a bit misleading because while ballet is incorporated into the book..it’s not what I think of when I remember this book. I think about a thirteen year old girl who’s tricked into “dating” a man who is way older than he claims he is. Quite frankly, I think of rape. And I’m glad that this book is addressing this incredibly important issue of teenagers being taken advantage of.

I like how the author tackles the topic of sexual assault through the perspective of Theo who is a very pragmatic character. Present-day Theo is in no way “innocent” but she still hasn’t realized the truth about her relationship with her ex-boyfriend. In the start of the book, Theo’s ex-boyfriend is just a cherished memory but when she discovers that her ex and Donovan’s kidnapper are the same person, she starts analysing her past. That is when things start getting interesting. We start seeing flashbacks to her time with her ex as she tries to figure out whether to speak up at his trial (and tell the truth about what he did to her).

This is definitely not a light read and it’s fairly intense at some parts but it’s worth trying.

Rating: 5 stars

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