All You Get Is Me by Yvonne Prinz

All You Get Is Me by Yvonne Prinz

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Things were complicated enough for Roar, even before her father decided to yank her out of the city and go organic. Suddenly, she’s a farm girl, albeit a reluctant one, selling figs at the farmers’ market and developing her photographs in a ramshackle shed. Caught between a troublemaking sidekick named Storm, a brooding, easy-on-the-eyes L.A. boy, and a father on a human rights crusade that challenges the fabric of the farm community, Roar is going to have to tackle it all—even with dirt under her fingernails and her hair pulled back with a rubber band meant for asparagus.

My Take: I was surprised at how much I liked this book. The book has an agenda. Aurora is a witness to a fatal car accident which is caused by a suburbanite - a woman with fake boobs who is part of a development eating up the farmland - killing an illegal immigrant. To add tear-power to the story, the illegal immigrant has a heart-broken husband and a baby who survives the accident. Aurora's dad happens to be a human rights lawyer and wants justice. Just when you think the story can't get any cornier, enter the suburbanite's handsome teenage son just to sully the waters.

So we have a book with an agenda which I abhor, characters who seem to lack depth (fake boobs and all and evil developer) and teenage behavior that, as a mother, I do not condone. So why did I like it? I don't know!

Deconstruct: Some of the characters develop different dimensions. They become much more likeable and the court case ends the way it would in real life. The dialogue was fun (cue Storm), the protagonist and the protagonists' love interest (who is NOT brooding, thank goodness) developed a relationship over time spent together. It was rather sweet and reminded me a little of my own teenage summer romances. The teenager buried deep related to the relationships and the insecurities.

Just to clarify, the mother in me did not find a lot of behavior I am against. Overall, Aurora is a model teenager. There's just that one thing, one time. Is it sex, drugs, rock and roll? I'll tell you if you ask me. I won't ruin it here.