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A review by thewallflower00
Kendra by Coe Booth
2.0
In the ghetto, if a boy does anal sex on you, it means he's ready for a relationship.
This feels like "Pride and Prejudice" in the PJ's. It reads like a generic YA romance but with the trappings of so many early 90's "gangsta" movies. Kind of. The main conflict is that Kendra's mother is back after her post-graduate degree, and Kendra's hoping she'll finally take her away from the neighborhood and the strict-ass grandmother who's been raising her for sixteen years.
But the bigger crux of the book is her boy crushes and her sexually acting out as a result of this negligence. Kendra's better than that, but the past is repeating herself as she waffles between the nice guy and the bad boy player, as cliche dictates. Of course, as far as generic YA romance goes, it ends there. Kendra pulls away from sex with the bad boy at the last second, cautious of losing her virginity (for disciplinary and moral reasons). He doesn't force himself or respect her wishes or grow resentful -- he's "going to need something". That devolves into booty calls in the closet after school leading to the butt sex so she can remain "chaste".
And after all that, the fudge packer confesses affectionate feelings for her. And they start going out together. Is this a realistic scenario? Yes. Maturity rides up fast in risky situations. Does it send a good message to American youth? No, it does not. I'm not going to say that a writer can't write what he/she wants, but I'm a believer that books "teach you that dragons can be killed". This moral seems to be, if you give up the rough enough, love is just around the corner.
This feels like "Pride and Prejudice" in the PJ's. It reads like a generic YA romance but with the trappings of so many early 90's "gangsta" movies. Kind of. The main conflict is that Kendra's mother is back after her post-graduate degree, and Kendra's hoping she'll finally take her away from the neighborhood and the strict-ass grandmother who's been raising her for sixteen years.
But the bigger crux of the book is her boy crushes and her sexually acting out as a result of this negligence. Kendra's better than that, but the past is repeating herself as she waffles between the nice guy and the bad boy player, as cliche dictates. Of course, as far as generic YA romance goes, it ends there. Kendra pulls away from sex with the bad boy at the last second, cautious of losing her virginity (for disciplinary and moral reasons). He doesn't force himself or respect her wishes or grow resentful -- he's "going to need something". That devolves into booty calls in the closet after school leading to the butt sex so she can remain "chaste".
And after all that, the fudge packer confesses affectionate feelings for her. And they start going out together. Is this a realistic scenario? Yes. Maturity rides up fast in risky situations. Does it send a good message to American youth? No, it does not. I'm not going to say that a writer can't write what he/she wants, but I'm a believer that books "teach you that dragons can be killed". This moral seems to be, if you give up the rough enough, love is just around the corner.