Genre: YA Contemporary
Published: July 28, 2015 by Scholastic
Length: 240 pages
Source: Scholastic (ARC)
“From critically acclaimed writer Paul Griffin comes a fast-paced young adult novel about five very different teens lost at sea with no one to count on but each other.
Matt and John are best friends working out in Montauk for the summer. When Driana, JoJo and Stef invite the boys to their Hamptons mansion, Matt and John find themselves in a sticky situation where temptation rivals sensibility. The newfound friends head out into the Atlantic after midnight in a stolen boat. None of them come back whole, and not all of them come back.”
This book reminds me one of those boring survival movies that you keep on watching just to see if the ending has some kind of twist. Turns out, there’s no twist and you end up hating the movie even more *sobs*. Adrift just did not work for me. I was hoping for an action packed book filled with adventures, but the characters just made stupid decisions. The characters all sound the same – flat. I’m glad the author didn’t choose to write this book in multiple POV because that would’ve made this book confusing.
Two of the main characters, Matt and John, are best friends but I could not see that at all throughout the story. They acted more like an acquaintance instead of bros. I think out of all the characters, John stood out the most. I like how he’s very straightforward and different from the rest of the characters. He has a quality of a leader and has a dark past. Also, I don’t understand why they would go out in the ocean in the middle of the night with people they’re only acquaintance with. Like DUDE, no. Just, no.
I think the writing style is what made this book boring. The author was doing a lot of TELLING than SHOWING. Often, when characters spoke, the author would end it with “he/she said”. For example, one of the characters would say “Oh I’m so tired”, he said…instead of “Oh I’m so tired”, he panted. It’s all “he said/she said”. I wish he showed us what the character was doing or feeling.
There’s also insta love and I’m just like WHY. You’re stuck in Atlantic Ocean for crying out loud! Instalove actually works for some plots, but this one it just looks ridiculous. I wouldn’t recommend you putting this on top of your TBR books unless you’re looking for a book to help you fall asleep. Jk. I actually read this book in 1 day but that’s because I was dying to finish it so I can start on a new book. Oops.
