Take a Bow is a good book. Not an amazingly incredible book, but a good book. Perhaps I was expecting a little too much from the book, after having seen some rave reviews online, but I did feel a little let down after reading this one. After I posted this on a recent book haul, Jaime @ The Perpetual Page-Turner warned me that the book is a little juvenile, but the book is labelled as YA so I wasn't too sure what she meant. Yet, despite a dash of alcohol drinking and a couple of swear words, the book reads more like a middle grade novel. It's definitely juvenile.Take a Bow is the story of four students at a fancy performing arts school in New York. Each student has things to overcome and, without giving anything away, comes into their own throughout the course of the book. There was one character that I just wanted to SMACK throughout the book, and that took a bit away from the development of the story. Plus, the dialogue was a little too much like an adult writer trying too hard to sound like a teen. Instead, there were certain phrases that brought back the preachiness of after-school specials. Like, has anyone ever caught an episode of Full House, and rewatched it as an adult? I LOVED that show as a kid / pre-teen, but now the preachiness of it just makes me gag. At the end of the show, one of the adults would always say, "So, Michelle/Stephanie/DJ, what did you learn out of this experience?" And the girl would spout off her little gem of wisdom that she had learned. I'm rambling (it's close to bedtime!) but there were certain parts of this book that I felt the author's voice came in over top of the characters, and she had them self-rationalize their life choices, and then verbalize what they'd done wrong or right and what they'd learned. I feel like I've ranted more about the book than I meant to. It honestly wasn't THAT bad, but it just wasn't as good as I was expecting it to be. So, if you're in the mood for a lighthearted youthful book that, in my opinion is not really YA at all, then check this one out. But if you're looking for something with a little edge and depth, then this book isn't for you. Review also posted at: http://writergrrlreads.blogspot.ca/2012/06/take-bow-elizabeth-eulberg.html
