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Elegantly Wasted (2012)

by C. Elizabeth Vescio(Favorite Author)

4.37 of 5 Votes: 5

languge

English

genre

Poetry

publisher

Luna Station Press

review 1: This was an interesting, edgy read. I like that the author has become successful on ebooks without a major publishing deal (book is only $3.99 on Amazon), although major publishing house editing might have helped some of the awkward phrasing. Despite the grammatical distractions, I really liked the book. It is hard to categorize--part violent and suspenseful thriller, part psychological character study, part comedy. In any case, it was hard to put down and I look forward to the author's next book in the series.
review 2: First and foremost, hurray for new adult contemporary that isn't formulaic as hell!! I love that Frankie doesn't go to college, get piss drunk in an effort to get over her tragically frat-ified high school virginity thief, fall in love with som... moree dark, mysterious, brooding hunk, and get engaged before she earns her MRS degree. I think those are fun reads, don't get me wrong, but when I found out what New Adult "meant," I imagined something beyond American Pie Presents: Beta House. Vescio blows that out of the water--both literally and figuratively. She also accomplishes the not-so-easy task of making a female serial killer a heroine. And a likable one at that. Frankie is just authentic enough for me to suspend my disbelief that a sheltered chick right out of high school could be trained as a contract killer. She's flawed and tangible and funny as hell. And despite the fact that she spends the majority of the book doing VERY bad things, I found myself rooting for her. I felt at times like the pace and structure could have been better executed, but I think that's because Vescio works very hard to avoid infodumping and backstory in a tale that needs a lot of background to be told well. She accomplished this through the use of a lot of flashbacks, which for me got a little confusing at first. This sequencing boggle cleared itself up well before the end, however, and once I got to the heart of the story I couldn't put it down. The love story is definitely not the focus in Elegantly Wasted, though there are some romantical elements to girlie-sigh over. (Can contract killers girlie-sigh? Hmm...) I, personally, wanted more Spark, and from the teaser for Book 2 at the back, it looks like we'll be seeing more of him in the sequel coming this fall so yay! The only other factor I struggled with was a feeling at times that I was drowning in pop culture references, though I suspect that's just as much me as it is the book. I haven't had cable since college (and we won't talk about how long ago that was now) and I'd never heard a Justin Bieber song until 2011 (I worked hard at that .) So I felt like I was on the outside of some inside jokes at times, but not too often. Short story long, pick this one up. less

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