Sunday, January 30, 2011

Plan B by Charnan Simon

Photo taken from Goodreads

Book Info

Title:  Plan B
 
Author:  Charnan Simon
Publisher:  Lerner Publishing Group
Publication Date:  3/1/2011 
Language: English 
Format:  Digital copy 
Pages:  104 pages 
ISBN-13:  9780761361497
Source:  Advanced reader's digital copy from Lerner Publishing Group, via NetGalley
*Part of my Mini Reading Challenge*  

From Lerner Publishing Group:
 
"Is this happily ever after?
Lucy has her life planned out: she'll graduate and then join her boyfriend, Luke, at college in Austin. She'll become a Spanish teacher and of course they'll get married. So there's no reason to wait, right? They try to be careful. But then Lucy gets pregnant. Now, none of Lucy's options are part of her picture-perfect plan. Together, she and Luke will have to make the most difficult decision of their lives."
Review

After reading After - isn't that funny? - by Amy Efaw, I was hoping to read a similar story with a different take, something more accepting of their situation, unlike Devon and her denial.  I wanted something like Juno or like Allison in Knocked Up.  That is why I decided to request for this book on NetGalley.

This book had so much potential, but never unraveled.  And I am not complaining about this book's length.  Good stories do not need hundreds of pages.  But it would have been great if the author was able to elaborate further on the effects of teenage unprotected premarital sex.  Luke and Lucy were very credible as lovesick and lovestruck teenagers.  They were very in love with each other, but the quick shift into Lucy's pregnancy also created a confusing shift in their characters.  I felt that Luke's sudden change from scared and irresponsible boy to dependable and mature adult was too hurried and unreal, in that it still felt like he was still acting under his parents' influence.  It did not feel like how a real responsible teenager would act under the circumstances.  I'm not saying that a real teen would immediately accept whatever happened, but the phases that he would go through would be very obvious and notable that when he finally accepts his responsibility, everything has fallen into place naturally.  Lucy, on the other hand, was the perfect scared and confused pregnant teen.  Between these two, I would have preferred more communication and action to have happened before the final outcome.  

Another problem I had was that this book was supposed to show Luke and Lucy's Plan B.  However, even towards the end, they were still undecided about what that plan would be.  The readers are left hanging as to the characters' futures and though sometimes it's good to make your own guess, I would have liked a more black and white ending for this story as I felt it required more specific answers for its very specific topic.  

On the bright side, the author was able to perfectly portray the causal relationship between unprotected sexual contact and growing number of teenage pregnancy - and in such limited number of pages at that.  Regardless of the issues I presented above, this story is a good, light, but educational read for teenagers in teaching them about safe sex.  Most reproductive health classes would appear too superficial and feigning concern for the issues but reading this book, not only would teenagers be able to accept and understand the impact of safer sex, they would also be entertained by this light and compelling read that was able to summarily delve into their world without any judgment and prejudice.

And regardless of my negative points, I would still say that I enjoyed this book, although not as much as I enjoyed After, but good enough. 


Rating


If you have any questions on this particular rating, please refer to my ratings system here.


Notice

I received this book free of charge from the publisher, Lerner Publishing Group through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest and truthful review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book. 

Please contact me for questions, comments, and suggestions.   
 

8 comments:

  1. I totally agree with the whole ending thing. I would have love to seen it filled out better I guess you could say. Luke did change from one emotion to the other quickly.

    I have after to read on my shelf so I'm hoping it's better.

    Nice review as always

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  2. Now I know exactly what you were talking about in your review! But I still enjoyed it. Thank you for liking the review :D

    And I do hope you enjoy After as well!

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  3. Aw, shucks. I was looking forward to this one. I'll just push it back a bit on my TBR list and get to it later.

    Thanks for the review. :]

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  4. Alissa: Aw you should still read this, better get through it now than later. And it did have its own awesome moments that you might enjoy. Thank you for reading my review :D

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  5. I was really curious about this one! Great review.

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  6. I know this is off-topic here, but if I respond back on my post, I'm afraid the comment will get lost in the others. So, thanks for your little novella! :] I 100% agree about maintaining a level of professionalism.

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I just have to tell you, ARGH feeds on awesomeness, so if you can, drop him some awesome here, and I promise to give some awesome back :D

Right now, because of my really busy schedule, I'm cutting back on receiving awards. So until further notice, me and ARGH would not be accepting awards. But thank you for thinking of us, we really appreciate it!