Blog Tour: Crush Control By: Jennifer Jabaley

Title: Crush Control
Author: Jennifer Jabley
PAPERBACK
Amount of Pages: 318
Publisher: Razorbill
Release Date: June 9, 2011
Geared Towards: Teens
From: Blog Tour

"I had a sudden feeling that everything I wanted in moving back to Worthington was about to come true. Like all I had to do was dream-and all my wishes would be granted, just like that."

Summary (From B.O.B):

Willow hypnotized Max

to be her friend forever

...which is why she
never expected to fall for him.

When Willow Grey was nine, her mom dropped the bomb of ultimate betrayl: they would be moving from their small town in Georgia to glitzy Las Vegas. Willow was devastated to have to leave her best friend, Max, behind. So she decided to take control of the situation: she told Max to relax, to let his eyelids droop, and then she said: Max Montgomery, for as long as we live, you and I will be best friends...

Now, at seventeen, Willow and her mom move back to their hometown, and Willow is determined to pick up where she and Max left off. But even though he's still her best friend, his heart now belongs to someone else-and Willow realizes what she feels for him is so much more than just friendship. For the second time in her life, Willow finds herself using hypnosis to get what she wants. But what starts off as a harmless experiment soon spirals into chaos, and Willow is forced to wonder:

Is the heart really something you can control-with mind control?

Wdebo's Review: When I first began this book I had no idea what to expect, I have never read a book by Jennifer Jabely so I wasn't really sure about her writting style and the last YA novel I read that delt with hypnotism, Human.4, actually scared me and made me decide to never be hypnotized. However, Crush Control dealt wonderfully with the funny, over-the-top consequences of using hypnotism and added a lovely, healthy-sized dallop of romance into the mix.

I enjoyed reading this novel, it was a perfect summer read, romance filled, light (no thinking required. A high school graduate must!), funny and cute. Though it wasn't my favorite book ever or that I've read this year, it still ranks up there, I liked it from the beginning when it started it with one of those cheesy Once-upon-a-time-there-was-a-boy-and-girl starts and as it lead to some memorably funny hot-guy-leg-dog-humping action in the next chapter and ended with a cliche but adorablely statisfying ending for a die-hard romantic like me. I enjoyed the story itself, I mean seriously, it filled a desire of mine to mind controlling my crush to like me.

The writing was very enticing, simple and addicting, it added nicely to the storyline and I really enjoyed Willow's voice, it was quite...soothing.

The thing I wasn't too happy about was that Max and Willow did not have enough interaction when she and Quinton were together. I thought it would have made for nice I-like-you-but-I-can't-tell-you tension =]

Willow is a good character, though she infuriates me at times with her...ugh...stupidity, but overall she was a good main character, Georgia, her best friend fit that quirky, eccentric best friend mold, but I liked her. Well, looking back now all of the characters in the book were pretty stereotypical, but then again, what realistic YA book isn't? Anywho, I liked all of the characters, they all had their loveable points, especially Max, haha, then again, that is typically of me to like the hot main guy/best friend.

Though I wasn't the biggest fan of Quinton, the guy Willow hypnotizes to like her, he seemed like a blah character to me, I wasn't very attracted to him. And for some strange reason, I had pictured him as Garrett Ecstasy, even though they are nothing alike. And even though Garrett is quite attractive he just so happens to be gay and just so happens to posess a, I don't know how to say it, but a "stereotypical gay voice", really not sure how I can put that kind of idea into words, that's the best I can do, so the entire time Quinton was talking he seemed to have Garrett's voice and, yeah, it was weird.

Cafe Cover Chat: I like this cover, the swirly lines make me feel like I'm getting hypnotized...zzz.... (B+)

All in all, a great light, romantic book, a perfect candidate for a fun summer read.

Grade: B+

Wdebo :)