Undecided » Book Review

It's no secret that I've been in a blue mood recently.  So Undecided, a fresh-of-the-presses NA romance was just what the doctor ordered.

Before I begin my (all over the place) review, let me analyze the cover a little.

1. I have lots of feminist rage in me, and one of my main combustion points is man-spreading.  You know, when you're on mass-transit or the couch or whatever and the dude next to you spreads out his legs like he's at a trip to the gyno, taking up all your lateral space. THIS REALLY HAPPENS AND IT'S BULLSHIT.  When I saw the man-spreading on this cover, and the MC in between, all scrunched up, I was like, "HELLS NAH."


2. They look like they are at a Planned Parenthood waiting room. Or the Dean's office, maybe. Just a little bit.


3. There is a strong suggestion of a love triangle. A worried and conflicted female, caught between two men. Yep, sure.

But, having read the book, here's what I found.

1. It didn't have that much of a feminist message, sure, but the book wasn't misogynist.  There was a part when the MC can't wield tools in the slightest and needs the guy to put together her furniture, but I'll give that a pass on the grounds of individual characterization.  Not every feminist girl has to be a superhero in all fields.


2. The Planned Parenthood/Dean's office waiting room theme is not without merit.  There's [spoiler]no pregnancy scare[/spoiler] as some readers were speculating, but waiting rooms do have some pertinency to the text.


3.  There is a little bit of a love triangle in the beginning, but it's really harmless.  Trust me, I loathe love triangles, and this was mild compared to what's out there.

So that's that on the cover. Aside from the man-spreading, it's a pretty good one, communicating a lot about the voice of the book, the characters, and its plot points.

Speaking of plot...  The story follows Nora, a sophomore in college.  Nora was a bit of a nobody in high school, and made up for that by being a crazy party girl her freshman year.  Now, having lost part of her scholarship and more, she's ready to get back on the straight and narrow. So she moves into an off-campus house advertised to be for 'responsible and studious' people.  Then, what she finds out about her new roommate and his best friend should be enough to have her running for the hills.  But she dives in, anyway.

Undecided, despite it's lack of substance, had great, near PERFECT pacing.  I couldn't put this book down, because there were really no boring parts to waylay me.  I had to find out what was on the next page, each time.  The book starts off strong, with a bang, and maintains that energy to the very end.  I was hugely impressed by that.

I really do have a soft spot for NA, I've found.  I love the whole finding-yourself angle, because I'm still there, despite being a few years out of university. The trick is, to not read NA books that don't come well-reviewed.  That way, there's no way to get burned out on poor writing and predictable ! Not a great policy for a book reviewer, I know, but hey, I can't read everything that gets put out.  I must and do rely on the work of my fellow bloggers. In this case, Nick and Nereyda were dead on about this one.  Thanks, guys!