Novel Review: The Julian Game by Adele Griffin

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Putnam (Penguin)

Release Date: 2010

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Read Adele Griffin's blogs and other content on the Penguin Community.

All new girl Raye Archer wants is a way into the in crowd, so when ice-queen Ella Parker picks her to get back at her ex, the gorgeous Julian Kilgarry, Raye is more than game. Even if it means creating a fake Facebook identity so she can learn enough about Julian to sabotage him. It's a fun and dangerous thrill at first, but Raye hadn't counted on falling for Julian herself-and igniting Ella's rage.

As Raye works to reconcile the temptress Elizabeth with her real-life self, Ella serves up her own revenge, creating an online smear campaign of nasty rumors and trashy photographs. Suddenly notorious, Raye has to find a way out of the web of deceit that she's helped to build, and back to the relationships that matter.

Adele Griffin's riveting novel explores the issues of generation Facebook: the desire to be someone else, real versus online friends, and the pitfalls and fallouts of posting your personal life online for all the world to judge.

The Cover:

I like this cover. It's nice to look at, it's eye-catching, and it definitely has to do with the book--I am definitely glad that the gloves and the hair are actually in the book. I don't like that, given the ending, it's very misleading, though.

Quote:

• "My mother had been so big on never speaking against other women. How the world was hard enough. How loyalty was essential to wellness.” (Hardback, pg. 82)

Review:

This book surprised me, in several ways.

I expected what happened with Julian, so that wasn’t too much of a surprise. I was hopeful for something better, but oh well. The jerk.

I wasn’t quite expecting Ella. I thought she was going to be quite horrible, but not really in the ways she was. I really did not like her, at all. I did like that she had some quirks, though, since it gave her more personality, which is often missing in enemies.

I did like Raye. She’s weak at the beginning, doing as Ella says, wanting very badly to fit in, but at the same time feeling a little bad about it. And then she finally stands up for herself. I related to her during some of this. I understand why she took the high road at the end, and I am happy about that on one hand, as it was the better path to go down. But at the same time, I kind of wanted some kind of retaliation to Ella, and was disappointed that nothing happened. Not terribly surprised, but a little disappointed.

This was a very short story, and there was not quite as much development as I would have liked. And because of that, I am glad that the budding romance at the end was just starting, and didn’t jump forward too fast. It made sense, for how the rest of the book went.

Overall, this was a pretty average book. I enjoyed it, mostly, but am not feeling too intense about it.