Strings Attached by Judy Blundell

Release Date: 5th May, 2011

Publisher: Scholastic

Pages: 313pgs

The Story

Kit Corrigan has always dreamed of being a star. But in order to get there, she needs to break up with Billy, who's going to Korea, and leave her family in Providence, Rhode Island, to move to New York City. There, she finds small roles and a city that's tough to live in. After she meets with Billy's father, Nate, things get a little easier. But Nate is a lawyer who defends mobsters, and soon Kit realizes that she has to do what he asks of her. Kit's life starts to feel beyond her control, especially once she uncovers a mystery that she needs to solve in order to protect the people she loves.

The Review

STRINGS ATTACHED is one of those books where you're not sure whether you liked it or not. At least not as a whole book. Before I go into further details, what captured me first was the cover - a beautiful blue coloured background and a covermodel that was dressed for the book's time period. It was a very eye-catching cover when I first picked up this book and judging by the storyline, what also drew me in was how it reminded me of Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen. But like I said, I'm still on the fence - have an average feeling here - about loving and liking this book. Nonetheless it was still a great book for a one time's sake reading.

There were definitely some elements of the book I liked. I enjoyed the realistic sense of the period and the fact that it didn't overload you with too many historical facts. The author, Judy Blundell, in that sense was very clever in writing this jazzy setting with well-rounded characters. But what I really liked was Kit and even her 'love interest' Billy, whom I felt made the book stand strongly on its own. Kit for example didn't grow as a character the way one would expect but she did grow a lot when it came to making decisions on her relationships and her own life. While I couldn't connect with her as much as I hoped but her personal story was layered out well and you'll still be able to understand who she is as a person. And while I'm on characters . . . let's talk about Billy.

Now he's the character that you love and hate. There are certain points of his personality where you felt for him and his current situation, but he also had qualities that tended to annoy me as a reader. He sometimes had an aggressive and possessive way of handling Kit, but then again, towards the last half of the book he had good reason for this. But I think if the author developed his character a little bit more - you know, in getting to know him better - I would've found him a more appealing character. However despite some minor faults, I felt other things lacked in development rather than the characters themselves. The major thing for me was when the chapters were dated with the months and years. While this is a good approach to a historical book, but when one chapter starts in a certain year and then the next it goes back another year . . . let's just say I started to get confused in which year I was in.

All in all STRINGS ATTACHED was full of likeable characters and an interesting plot line that keeps you there til the end. Despite some pet peeves of the book, I did enjoyed reading about the whole gangster feel and I know you guys will too! So I recommend it to readers of Anna Godbersen and historical YA readers, because I know you'll like it - or perhaps love it!

The Rating

3/5 stars