Review : The Fine Art Of Truth Or Dare by Melissa Jensen

Summary (from Goodreads)

Ella is nearly invisible at the Willing School, and that’s just fine by her. She’s got her friends—the fabulous Frankie and their sweet cohort Sadie. She’s got her art—and her idol, the unappreciated 19th-century painter Edward Willing. Still, it’s hard being a nobody and having a crush on the biggest somebody in the school: Alex Bainbridge. Especially when he is your French tutor, and lessons have started becoming, well, certainly more interesting than French ever has been before. But can the invisible girl actually end up with a happily ever after with the golden boy, when no one even knows they’re dating? And is Ella going to dare to be that girl?

Personal Thoughts

I know a lot of people have been waiting for the release of this book because of it's comparison to Anna And The French Kiss. Being, a huge fan of Anna, I was also among the people really excited to read The Fine Art Of Truth Or Dare. However, I didn't see the connection between the two books.

We are introduced to Ella, an Italian girl living in the US with her entire family who run a restaurant. Ella goes to Willing high school, to which she in fact won a scholarship. She is also a huge fan of Edward Willing and his painting. He is in fact her "first love" and she has these imaginary conversations with him because he's died a long time ago. Ella was a likable protagonist. She was easy to relate to and there were many aspects about her character that I really liked.  For instance, she was always sweet, caring and nice to her friends Frankie and Sadie. I really liked the importance that she gave to her friendship with them. I also loved that she loved her family, who I'll admit seemed so much like a real family should be! Ella was a very strong girl. The thing is she wasn't perfect. An accident involving hot water when she was little had left a scar running from her neck to her chest. People keep making fun of her and call her Freddy Krueger, which was really mean I think. Yet, she didn't let all that affect who she was. She didn't let the scar define her personality. Sure, she had some issues such as refusing to show the scar in public, but it was completely understandable. I found her to be a very strong girl emotionally. I have a scar too and I don't like to show it, so I felt like I related to her a lot.   

Initially, we only get small glimpses of Alex's character. When he begins to tutor Ella, we learn about his personality in depth. I thought Alex was really cute and caring. I loved how he really wanted to understand and get to know Ella. I also love how he accepts Ella for who she is. I really admired him for that. Overall, Alex was one of the most adorable love interest I've ever come across.

The romance in this book was not instantaneous. It was very very slow. Nevertheless, I liked it. With it's slow pace, Alex and Ella got to know each other. I found their relationship to be cute and mostly genuine. I really liked them together.

The secondary characters were my favorite aspect of this book. I loved Ella's interaction with all of them and yes, Ella interacted with all of them. I especially loved the friendship between Ella, Frankie and Sadie. It seemed so realistic and so beautiful. When I read the scenes between them I kept telling myself that this was what true friendship was. Ella's relationship with her family members was also very strong. Frankie was blunt, honest, care-free and undeniably a very good friend. He was most definitely my favorite character in the book. She was mostly close to her Nonna, her grandma and her father. Her grandmother was so witty! I loved her!  Edward Willing, though dead, plays a very important role in this book. He's the one who helps Ella be more confident towards the end of the book. Ella's conversation with him were so delightful. I really enjoyed them even if they were only imaginary ones. Only character I didn't like was Amanda. She was the evil, vicious girl who hated Ella for some reason that is not explained in the book.

This book is about love, friendship, family, facing you fears and loving yourself for who you are. I think these themes are wonderful and should be portrayed more often in YA books.
Also, Melissa Jensen writes very well and she keeps the book very lively. I loved all the references to art.

Overall, The Fine Art Of Truth Or Dare was a sweet, enjoyable and light read that I don't hesitate to recommend to lovers of YA books.

Rating

Cover : 5/5

Plot : 4/5

Characters : 4/5

Writing : 4/5