Tag: Madeleine Labitan

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Bookit Review: Perfectly Clueless

Posted on by sokorra

Title: Perfectly Clueless (Book 3 in the Bayfield High Series)
Author: Madeleine Labitan
Publication: September 19, 2018  (115 pages)
Edition:  Kindle (via Kindle Unlimited)
Genre:  Teen Romance
Rating:  C-ish
Bookit 2009 #6

This is the final released novel in the Bayfield series.  I’m not sure if this is the final novel, or if Ms. Labitan plans on writing more.  Like its two predecessors Truth or Dare and Kiss and Make Up,  this is more of a novella then a novel at only 115 pages.  Its the longest of the three, but oddly enough not the best one.  I believe the first novel felt the most complete, even if it was short and could have used some development.

I think my main problem with this one is that there was no build up in the novel.  We are supposed to believe that Dylan and Bianca have been in love for awhile but Dylan has been in denial but its not really there in moments.   Side characters are finding it so obvious but it doesn’t seem as obvious as we are supposed to believe.  Perhaps if it was drawn out into a full novel we could have gotten more moments where we could see that Dylan is feeling it too outside him being a jerk to Bianca’s dates.    This story might also have worked better if the characters were a little older.

I also have an issue with romances that decide to make the character who is the competitor in the one character’s affections somehow a horrible person in order to make it okay that the main characters did whatever they did.  I find that unnecessary.

My final grade is C-ish due to it feeling its unfinished and also because of the troublesome bits.  This author shows promise, and I look forward to what she writes in the future, but I’m hoping that with experience in writing will come some more depth to the novels they write.

Posted in book reviews, bookit

Bookit Review: Kiss & Make-Up

Posted on by sokorra

 Title:   Kiss & Make Up (Part 2 of the Bayfield High series)
Author: Madeleine Labitan
Publication:  June 11, 2018  (86 pages)
Edition:  Kindle (via Kindle Unlimited)
Genre:  Teen Romance
Rating:  C-ish
Bookit 2009 #5

This is the sequel to Labitan’s debut novel Truth or Dare,  and continues to take place in Bayfield High school.  This time around, the star is  Madison Cooper, the girlfriend Adam dumped for alleged cheating in the previous novella.  As Kenzie and Sean learned in that one, Maddie had in fact not cheated on Adam, and he spends this one trying to win her back.

This story is remarkably shorter then the first.  I’m wondering if perhaps all three novels were supposed to be a collection together rather than sold separately.   It takes over more time within in the novella, although it doesn’t have much of a driving plot other then “Adam tries to win Maddie back.”  Many of the minor characters aren’t developed enough to be interesting, which is fine as they don’t have anything really to do.  I wish the author could have the characters from the last novel in this one a little bit more to develop more of a connection and flow in the series.

I feel like this would have been better set as the b-plot in a combined novel.  Both the other novellas in this series were longer and had a bit more depth to them.

I ended up giving this a C-ish grade because I feel it could have been developed into a deeper story, or added to fill out one of the other novels.  It wasn’t horrible, just quick and lacking the development in full-length novels.

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Bookit Review: Truth or Dare

Posted on by sokorra

Title:   Truth or Dare (Part 1 of the Bayfield High series)
Author: Madeleine Labitan
Publication:  February 27, 2018  (105 pages)
Edition:  Kindle (via Kindle Unlimited)
Genre:  Teen Romance
Rating:  Bish
Bookit 2009 #4

So this was recommended to me because I was reading the Scandalous series by R. Linda so I decided to try it out.  Its relatively short, and I was able to read it, and its two sequels in about 2 and half hours one morning.  So its definately one of those short-and-sweet novels. 
Because its so short, the action of the plot is relatively short.  I feel like this story had the promise of more, but hadn’t been given the time.  This entire story takes place over a couple hours for the most part at a teen party with underage drinking.  There is a slight element of ridiculous in the set up of the events, but I think they would be more forgivable if more happened.
In the first novel (of 3 I read) the main character is Kenzie, who spends half the novel helping her best friend enact  revenge for his cheating on her.  Cheating is a recurring element in these stories.  This story sets up the second book with that same theme.

Kenzie has a prank war with Sean, her love interest in this novella.  However after several mishaps over the night and getting stuck in the bathroom while his girlfriend cheats on him in the other room, Sean relates that he started the pranks as a way to get her attention.  
It’s hard to summarize this because its so short.  Its only around 90 pages long (the book has a bunch of samples at the end).  I think its a nice start, but could have used some more plot in the background.  On the other hand the angst side of things isn’t dragged out endlessly.  

I am going to give it a B-ish.  I feel that this author has potential, although she does have a problem with length.   Maybe in the future she can reissue this series with more backstory development and lengthen the story in general. Till then it almost seems like I’m grading something unfinished. That being said, if you have a wait somewhere and want to read something quick, this book could work for you. It didn’t make me want to (figuratively) throw my kindle in annoyance either.