Main Character: John “Beatle” Lennon
Love Interest: Destiny McCartney
Series: n/a
Author: Website|Facebook|Twitter|Good Reads
Imagine your name is John Lennon, but everyone calls you Beatle.
And then you meet your dream girl, and her name is Destiny McCartney.
But you meet her on Friday the 13th-and you’re very superstitious. Not to mention that you’re already dating the perfect girl, who happens to be your twin sister’s best friend…
Beatle can’t imagine ever leaving his girlfriend, Cilla, who supported him after the stroke that changed his life and left him with a limp. Still, he knows that the only thing worse than staying with the wrong person is missing the chance to be with the right one.
I am somewhat torn over this book. On one level I thoroughly enjoyed it because the writing is witty and engaging but on the other, there’s infidelity. I had just finished reading another book that had infidelity in it before I read this one so when Beatle met Destiny and went out with her and kissed while he had a girlfriend, I was a bit ticked off. I didn’t like Beatle. And yet he’s a really likeable guy. I don’t know if this would have bothered me differently if I hadn’t read that other book and had that fresh in my mind.
First some background on Beatle. He’s a twin. Only his twin sister, Winsome, was born almost two months after him. When his mother was pregnant with him and his non-identical twin sister she was in a car crash and Beatle came early. But his sister got to stay snug as a bug in a rug and was born healthy on their due date. Being a twin is a theme throughout this book, and a cute one.
Also, Beatle’s mom is a Beatle’s fan, so his real name is John Lennon. And he’s superstitious although he tries to pretend he’s not. So it’s February, Friday the 13th and Beatle wants to go home early. Except he sees a really interesting girl at the bus stop and chats her up. And he falls for her, big time. And there’s witty conversation and they have a giggle when they realize her name last name is McCartney and Destiny says her friends would think it’s a sign. Destiny is anti-signs. She’s heard enough destiny jokes over the years to be a bit cynical. But her friends are into signs. And it’s all kind of funny because Destiny writes the horoscopes for the local paper.
So these two quirky characters are surrounded by other quirky characters and it’s cute the way they all interact and the coincidences that bring them all together.
All in all, the story about Beatle and Destiny was a really good one. And the writing! Again, very enjoyable. I am in love with this author’s writing.
She was wearing a tight T-shirt with the word “Lamb” written across it in gothic writing. Her army fatigues slung from hip to hip like a hammock he’d like to crawl into on a lazy summer afternoon. She had that mouth of hers on her face.
And this:
So you can imagine his surprise when, after Photography, he found his very own fingers secretly scrolling through his address book until Destiny’s number came up on the screen. And then-the impertinence of his very own body-his thumb pressed the ‘dial’ button.
And his arm put the phone up to his very own ear and waited while the number rang.
It was only a matter of time before she was going to damn well ansewr.
The question was: What was his mouth going to do about it?
And the humour. Quite a few laugh out loud moments that had my family looking at me like I was crazy. Also, cool points for the setting. BmD takes place in Melbourne, Australia. I really enjoyed that. It was different enough but also not too different. Quirky even? LOL
Now onto Beatle’s infidelity. *sigh* He meets Destiny, they kiss, they run into each other the next day (Valentine’s day) and they have this awesome date. And while he’s doing this he doesn’t think about his wonderful girlfriend Cilla at all. Until after. And what I didn’t like about Beatle was that he’d rather avoid the issue, act like an ass in an effort to get her to break up with him. WHY do guys do this? Why are they so afraid of being seen as the bad guy when them acting like an asshole to get the girl to break up with them makes them the bad guy anyway?? So kudos to Gabrielle Williams for writing a character that really does act like a teen boy. LOL I guess I would have rather him come clean to Cilla and Destiny instead. But if he’d have done that we wouldn’t have had the good book that I really did enjoy. And a lot of what happens in this story hinges on what Beatle does to avoid the two girls in his life from knowing about each other.
All right then – in the end I’m giving Beatle meets Destiny a solid B. I really enjoyed all the characters (even Beatle because he’s so real), the dialog, the writing and the story. This was a fun quirky book and I really did like the way it ended. It was funny and made sense. I definitely recommend this book. Go read it!
Book cover and blurb credit: http://barnesandnoble.com
p.s. The author really should get her own website. 🙁
This sounds so cool! I wanted to read it for the Aussie YA challenge but I never got around doing it, mostly because it’s just out on hardback, and I’m broke.
😀
Still, thanks for the review, I’ll just have to wait a little for the pb.
I was lucky enough to get this one from the library, Alex. I hope you can get it soon. The whole cast of characters was cute and quirky and the stuff leading up to the ending was just a riot.
Our library has this…I’m on a waitlist, but I hope to read this soon!! Thanks for the review Ames – I would have never looked at this otherwise.
Dev-Good stuff!! I hope you get it soon.
It’s going on my list, thanks so much for the review sweets!