BOOK REPORT for The Little Woods by McCormick Templeman
Cover Story: Lovely
BFF Charm: Maybe
Swoonworthy Scale: 5?
Talky Talk: Edgy
Bonus Factors: Mystery, Boarding School, Puzzles
Relationship Status: I probably won't get asked back next semester
Cover Story: Lovely
This book cover is really, really pretty. However, the little woods don't look scary at all! They look pink and purple! Pink and purple aren't scary! Except together. On a grownup.
The Deal:
Ten years ago, Cally's older sister vanished while visiting a friend from camp at St. Bede's Academy, and her family fell apart. Now Cally has transferred to St. Bede's half way through her junior year, and she doesn't really even know why. Could attending the school bring her some sort of closure? Soon Cally finds herself faced with more than just trying to fit in among the elite, privileged students at her new school. Because it turns out another girl has gone missing in the the little woods behind the school...
BFF Charm: Maybe
Cally's brilliant, but lazy. She's also totally punk rock in a way that I would think I'd connect with, but somehow didn't. Perhaps because every person in this story felt a little too shiny, a little too languidly rich, a little too perfectly rough around the edges in a way that only people playing a role can be. Of course, if this description doesn't fit a bunch of teenagers at a boarding school, I don't know what does. In the end I liked Cally well enough, but I'd want to give her a few more years before making a decision as serious as giving her half my heart in the form of a gold necklace.
Swoonworthy Scale: 5?
It seems I haven't really felt the swoon in the last few YA books I've read, and I'm absolutely okay with recognizing that it's because, as an adult, I'm not necessarily the intended audience. That is not to say that I didn't enjoy the drama and hookups and yearning that comes with developing feelings, but I found myself wishing for a little more sexual tension. I didn't see the hookups coming, because there just wasn't a ton of chemistry before they happened, and for me, anticipation is what it's all about.
Talky Talk: Edgy
I liked this book, but I didn't love it. I enjoyed the pacing, but found I was able to put it down. I liked how the author had her protagonist use big words, but it also felt a little disingenuous at times. The prose is sharp, though, and the story compelling, and it did achieve what I always hope a suspenseful book will do: It made me dream about it.
Bonus Factor: Mystery
So okay, I guessed who the murderer was the moment that person was introduced, but Templeman still kept me guessing with red herrings and perplexing characters.
Bonus Factor: Boarding School
Apart from the whole "murder" thing, St. Bede's was a much more dramatic, incestuous, scary -- in that mean girls way -- place than I ever imagined, when I daydreamed of attending a boarding school. It was probably a lot more realistic, too.
Bonus Factor: Puzzles
I'm not talking about the kind that make pretty pictures. This book features some awesome cryptanalysis that brought me back to the days of collecting a spy kit piece-by-piece, from cereal boxes.
Casting Call:
I had the perfect actress in mind to play Cally -- I just couldn't think of her name. Then, after an extensive internet search, I realized that I had somehow combined Alexis Bledel and Leighton Meester into one person in my mind. So, until those two have a love child, I'll just go with:
Alexis Bledel as Cally
Alfie Enoch as Alex
Tom Sturridge as Jack
Now that I've cast these guys, I think I might need to rethink that chemistry...
Relationship Status: I probably won't get asked back next semester
I mean, it's not this book's fault -- or mine -- that I'd already taken all the courses it had to offer. And sure, that didn't necessarily give me the excuse to totally slack off like I did, but these things happen. I don't regret the semester we spent together, but I'm going to go ahead and plan on attending my local public school come January.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received my review copy from Random House. I received neither money nor cocktails for writing this review (dammit!). The Little Woods is available now.