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Monday, July 14, 2014

Notes From The Blender by Trish Cook and Brendan Halpin

Title: Notes From The Blender
Author: Trish Cook and Brendan Halpin

Release Date: 24th May 2011

My Rating: 3/5

Blurb:
Declan loves four things: Scandinavian death metal, violent video games, Internet porn, and Neilly Foster. He spends most of his classroom time wondering what it might be like to talk to her, date her, maybe even brush against her chest in the hallway.

Neilly is naturally beautiful and a fixture at all the best parties (to which Declan is never invited). But in one horrible day, she gets dumped by her boyfriend, is betrayed by her former BFF, and walks in on her mom with some stranger.

Turns out the stranger is Declan's dad. And he's marrying Neilly's mom. Soon. Which means Dec and Neilly will be siblings.

In a hilarious, smart, and seductive romp, Trish Cook and Brendan Halpin take us on a journey with Dec and Neilly as they discover the true meaning of family.

In A Nutshell:
Notes from the Blender is a realistic novel about forgiveness, lust, betrayal and embarrassment. It contains conflicting personalities, a full spectrum of emotions and explores the changing landscape of a family. 

My Review:
The blurb kind of says it all. Told in the alternating perspectives of Declan and Neilly, Notes From the Blender explores the rollercoaster ride that happens when two families join together, made that much harder considering Dec and Neilly didn’t even know their parents were dating!

It’s a whole lot of ‘new family’ for Neilly with a second stepbrother also on the cards as her dad is set to walk down the aisle with his business partner, Roger. As for Declan, he battles internally and lashes out at his dad at the thought of his mother being replaced, who died when Dec was nine.

Aside from the fact that Declan’s dad and Neilly’s mum sprung the whole relationship and marriage thing on the kids without any warning, I think they are terrific parents. I really like the interactions not just between each of them and their biological offspring, but also their future stepson/daughter.

Dec and Neilly’s interactions throughout the story are not entirely predictable which makes for a nice change. There is also the valuable life lesson about not judging people before getting to know them which occurs not just between Neilly and Dec, but other characters as well.

Notes from the Blender is a realistic novel about forgiveness, lust, betrayal and embarrassment. It contains conflicting personalities, a full spectrum of emotions and explores the changing landscape of a family.

1 comment:

  1. The idea that Declan and Neilly didn't know their parents were dating at all (not even knowing that their parents were looking for a new partner?) is hard to swallow. But the meshing of the families sounds interesting and funny.

    ReplyDelete

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