TEST
Chloe, Queen of Denial is a Young Adult Romance written for Dorchester’s Smooch line. This is the first book I’ve tried from this line, but I’ve seen several in passing. They all have hip, appealing titles, and many involve foreign travel. I think the line as a whole is a good idea, and I’m glad Dorchester is trying it. This particular book is cute, but somewhat lacking in appeal for adults.
Chloe considers herself the ultimate fraidy-cat. Younger sister to three brothers, she’d rather avoid the limelight – and any task which might be considered remotely dangerous. However, her college-obsessed parents are always insisting that she stuff her life full of application-worthy experiences, and when the opportunity comes to participate in a teen archaeology project called Dig Egypt!, they convince her to go. Chloe does like studying about ancient Egypt, but she has no desire to get on a plane, leave her family, and travel to a land of sand and scorpions. However, since she’s forced to do it, she resolves to make the best of it. On this trip, she’s going to be a whole knew Chloe; no more Queen of Denial for her. Not only will she be brave, she’ll be the bravest teen there.
What follows are Chloe’s antics as she participates in the dig, goes without showers and decent food, gets kissed by two of her fellow diggers, and falls seriously for one of them. All the while she thinks about her self image. Which is the real Chloe? The one who bravely runs out of her tent and kicks a deadly scorpion off a cliff, or the Chloe who wishes that this stuff could be happening to someone else? As she tries to sort it all out, she interacts with several different personalities. There’s the really hot guy from her school, Connor, who’s got a secret of his own. Then there’s her hyper-superstitious chaperone Dag and her annoying tent mate Kathy. Rounding out the cast are a pair of twin hotties, a French girl who needs everything translated, Chloe’s pal Sue, and the archaeologist in charge who sees more in Chloe than Chloe sees in herself.
The setting here is really, really fun. It isn’t very high adventure, Indiana Jones stuff, but it is exotic. I would have killed to do something like this as a teen, and I suspect that many teens will enjoy that part of the book. What works even better, however, is Chloe’s ongoing identity crisis. Most teens spend a lot of time trying to figure out who they are, or sometimes more importantly, who everyone else thinks they are. This aspect of Chloe seemed very real, and very well done.
Where the book fell a little short was in the humor department. Chloe is often funny, but the humor has something of a manic quality about it. She keeps the witty, wry remarks going 24/7, and sometimes it gets to be a bit much. This is exacerbated by the occasional choppiness of the book. Sometimes whole scenes appear to be suspended in the middle while the reader is thrust ahead to the next one. I suspect it may have been edited to fit the page count, and the pacing suffered in the process.
I strongly suspect that the things that bothered me would not bother a younger reader at all. I graded the book as adult reader with adult readers in mind. It’s not the type of YA book that transcends age barriers (like Harry Potter or Anne of Green Gables, for example), which is why I wouldn’t strongly recommend it for adults. However, I have a hunch that its intended audience, young teens, would find it highly enjoyable. I intend to test that hypothesis by giving my copy to my twelve-year-old. I’ll let you know how this works out.
Grade: C+
Book Type: Young Adult
Sensuality: Kisses
Review Date: 08/08/04
Publication Date: 2004
I've been at AAR since dinosaurs roamed the Internet. I've been a Reviewer, Reviews Editor, Managing Editor, Publisher, and Blogger. Oh, and Advertising Corodinator. Right now I'm taking a step back to concentrate on kids, new husband, and new job in law...but I'll still keep my toe in the romance waters.
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.