Review: Tangled

Tangled by Carolyn Mackler
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pub. Date: December 29th, 2009
Pages: 308
Age Level: 14+

Synopsis via Goodreads
Jena, Dakota, Skye, and Owen are all at Paradise—the resort in the Caribbean, that is—for different reasons, but in Paradise their lives become tangled together in ways none of them can predict. Over the course of four months, through four voices and four stories, what happened in Paradise will change them all.

In this extraordinary novel, the Printz Honor–winning author brings us her most accomplished work yet. Tangled is a story of the secrets we keep, the risks we take, and the things we do for love.

Review
At once both moving and humorous, Tangled is a well-crafted novel that shows how people's lives can intertwine and effect each other unexpectedly.

In the beginning, I thought the characters seemed a touch on the cliche side but, as the story progressed, the characters began to develop beautifully as I got to view the events unfolding from different perspectives. I would definitely say I related most to Jena and Owen. Like Jena, I'm a bit self-conscious and I tend to ramble sometimes in awkward situations. Also, she keeps a book of quotes that she likes and so do I; I loved the incorporation of that into the story. As for Owen, we're both avid bloggers, even if we blog about separate things. Dakota, to me, was the most dynamic character. In Jena's story, Mackler really set me up to hate Dakota and yet somehow she had me loving him in the end. He starts off as a real jerk but once his story starts, you really get to see another side of him. Skye was a slightly predictable character that I didn't dislike but didn't quite love either. I did, however, feel that her story was probably one of the most emotional. Plus the way Mackler ended Skye's story was just, wow! Overall, Tangled had a well-rounded and realistic cast of characters.

Tangled was both a quick and well-paced read full of humor and emotion. The one thing that kind of disappointed me though was how predictable it was at times. I expected a few more twists and was surprised by how simple and obvious the connections between the four characters were. However, once I got past the disappoint, I actually came to appreciate it; I mean, after all, not everything in life is as complicated as we try to make it. That being said, I actually think Mackler did a great job of crafting this story.

The writing was well done and I felt the dialogue was spot-on. I'm glad that Mackler wrote this book from four perspectives and all in first-person. It really worked perfectly for this book.

The ending was lovely and it tied everything together very nicely, in a way that was both happy and bittersweet, which I really liked.

All in all, Tangled is a very enjoyable novel and it does a great job of balancing the lighter side of the story with some of the slightly heavier topics. I would highly recommend this book to teens, both guys and girls. I can't wait to read more of Carolyn Mackler's work.

Grade
Characters: B
Writing: B-
Plot: B-
Ending: B
Enjoyment/Likability: B
Recommendable: B+

Overall: B

Cover: B