Book: Tagged
Author: Mara Purnhagen
Age: YA
Release date: March 1st, 2010
Pages: 208
Source: Author
Summary:
Can Kate Morgan stand up for herself -- without being labeled a snitch?
Kate is just as confused as her best friend, Lan, when she arrives at Cleary High to find the building's been "tagged" with a life-size graffiti mural. Could the culprit be one of their friends or classmates? And is the kind-of-amazing creation really vandalism, or a work of art? She's tempted to stay out of it -- mostly because, as the police chief's daughter, she's worried about being labeled a snitch. But when the same mysterious graffiti starts appearing throughout the state, putting more pressure on the authorities to catch the vandal, her investigative instincts kick in.
Now Eli, Kate's favorite coworker at the local coffee shop, is MIA. With Lan preoccupied with her own boy troubles, Kate needs to figure some things on her own. Like why she can't stop thinking about Eli. And what she will do when all the clues about the graffiti point to someone she's close to...
Review: Tagged is fun, sweet, and a tad bit mysterious.
Nothing ever seems to happen in Clearly, until the graffiti art of a gorilla appears, everything changes. Debates break out in classes about whether or not the graffiti is really art, and I found these discussions to be a great interest point.
Kate was a fun, likable, and realistic character. She is just your typical high school girl, looking for her own passion in life. Kate's a good student, and she gets along with her family. I was a bit worried she'd be boring considering how much of a vanilla character she is, but she kept my attention easily. The pacing of the story is quick, making this one an easy book to just sit and read straight through.
I enjoyed the relationships in the novel, whether it was between Kate and Lan, Kate and Eli, et cetera. The story felt very realistic, which is always a plus. It felt like I'd seen a few plot bits before, but I still found myself enjoying the novel immensely.
Highlights: Lan, Kate's best friend, and her struggle being the only Vietnamese student on campus. Lan's got attitude and sass, it really made me enjoy her character more. I also loved the question that is posed throughout the story. As I also stated above, I felt the relationships were really what made this story awesome because it gave it a realistic touch.
Purnhagen created a fun story that's a lighter, enjoyable read, and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next!
Lowlights: I disliked the inclusion of the whole MTV's Sweet Sixteen or whatever (just a personal bias). At times I also disliked how the mystery culprit was not really a mystery. A few chapters in and it's easy to make your own guess, and be right. And then, you never really find out why the gorillas.
Rating: 
Nice review! I'm glad that you liked it. :) When I first heard about the book, I was wondering if it'd be a fluffy read or not. o.o
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you! I'm so happy that I reached 300 followers. It means I'm doing something right, lol!
Hmmm...after reading a few books from the realism genre I am open to trying some more as I really enjoyed them. I think this one isn't quite what I'm looking for. It sounds gentle and light-hearted. I'm interested in the gritty. Great review though.
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed this! I'll be reading my copy soon :)
ReplyDeleteGreat review!! I might not have picked this one up based on the cover, but it sounds like something I would really like!
ReplyDeleteNice review! I was curious about this one, and it sounds like something I might like :)
ReplyDeleteNice review, I agree on the whole why gorillas part? :)
ReplyDeleteGreat review, Lea! I've never heard of this one, but it sounds more promising than other such realism books I've recently tried :)
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard all that much about this one, but from your review it sounds pretty good. Often I find realism can be a bit too heavy for me when I'm in an escapism mood, but I think this one could be fun. Nice review. :)
ReplyDeleteNice review! I've been wondering about this one because of the whole graffiti thing, and I'm glad you liked it! I love solid relationships, though, err, open questions at the end - not so much. I'll have to see about this one... though 4-stars was better than I expected. :)
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