OnlineBookClub.org

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Gray Zone" by Veronica R. Tabares.]

Gray Zone by Veronica R. Tabares is a young adult novel that deals with the theme of bullying in the modern age. This novels follows the life of a high schooler named Autumn who ends up having to change schools after a prank involving a website goes dangerously wrong. Soon after she starts a new school, her best friend also ends up attending that school, but their relationship gets complicated and not everything turns out the way it should.

I gave this book 2 out of 4 stars. This novel had some good parts and I found myself highlighting some of the well thought-out and well-written sentences but mostly I felt like the author, Veronica R. Tabares, wanted to create a profound story, but fell short. The characters in this book were very stereotypical; the shy girl that wants to become outspoken and the loud and confident friend. Even the bullies were either the popular girls or the physically big and scary guy. The reason I did not give this novel a higher score is because, although the plot is interesting and adequately written, I do not think it was unique enough. Also, sadly, there were times that I felt like this story was testing my patience because not much happens until the very end and when serious things do happen it seems like the characters do not think it is that big of a deal. The author was also a little repetitive in the beginning.

One thing I had trouble wrapping my head around is that the characters in this book are supposed to be in high school but some of the dialogue they use and the things they do seem like they might be in middle or even elementary school. So it was difficult for me to visual grown teenagers instead of tweens.

The last thing that bummed me out is that just as the story starts to pick up, the novel ends abruptly. I desperately think there should be a sequel to finish off the story because the ending to this book was very unsatisfying.

Overall, I enjoyed reading some parts of Gray Zone by Veronica R. Tabares but the young adult genre is a very competitive genre where most novels do not stand out and the ones that do, need to have an original plot with excellent writing. So while this is a good book to pick up if you need to pass some time, I do not think this story will have that much of a lasting impression.

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Gray Zone
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Like Sarah_Khan's review? Post a comment saying so!

Thank you for the honest review. The premise sounded interesting. It's unfortunate that the characters were not age appropriate and their reactions felt hollow.

bluemel4 wrote:The premise sounded interesting. It's unfortunate that the characters were not age appropriate and their reactions felt hollow.

Yeah, the novel had its good parts but unfortunately, I still think more editing needs to be done.

That was a very honest review. The premise sounds promising enough. Too bad, though, about the flaws, especially the characters in high school but sounding younger than they actually are. Great job on the review.

Thank you and yeah this book does have potential.