{"id":4657,"date":"2018-05-12T09:00:46","date_gmt":"2018-05-12T16:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/?p=4657"},"modified":"2018-05-11T17:30:46","modified_gmt":"2018-05-12T00:30:46","slug":"the-art-of-feeling-teen-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2018\/the-art-of-feeling-teen-review\/","title":{"rendered":"The Art of Feeling — Teen Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

review by\u00a0Kira Toal, age 16<\/p>\n

The Art of Feeling<\/strong><\/em> by\u00a0Laura Tims <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Summary: <\/span>
\n<\/span> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>The Art of Feeling<\/i><\/b> is a YA romance\/drama by Laura Tims about pain, emotional and physical, and the different effects it has on two foils: a girl with chronic pain, and a boy with congenital analgesia.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Characters: <\/span>
\n<\/span> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The book\u2019s protagonist is a young girl named Samantha Herring who, just prior to the book\u2019s beginning, survived a car accident that left her with a devastating leg injury, killed her mother, and left her spiraling into depression. The Tragic Heroine trope utilized throughout the book, though unoriginal, was very well handled. Sam is a witty and scrappy protagonist, and she handles her dismal circumstances with grit. She makes a few stupid decisions throughout the book, which serve as very obvious plot devices; but, aside from a few inconsistencies, Tims\u2019 competence as a writer really shines in Sam\u2019s character development. Sam was truly a breath of fresh air after some of the other YA romance\/drama novels I have reviewed this year. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\n<\/span> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The deuteragonist is a boy named Eliot, whom the book describes as \u201ca reckless loner with a carefree attitude.\u201d His inability to feel pain is certainly a crutch for his character, as he didn\u2019t have nearly the personality nor development that Sam had. All in all though, he was a fairly engaging character, and he also felt strikingly authentic, which, again, is not a character trait that one often encounters in the YA romance world of Mr. Perfect, Popular Jock, and Mr. Angsty, Werewolf Bad Boy. <\/span>
\n<\/span> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0My only real issue with this book in terms of characters came in the form of the book\u2019s main antagonist, which I can\u2019t say too much about without major spoilers, but who I can say felt horribly exaggerated and cartoon-like. \u00a0<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Plot:<\/span>
\n<\/span> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The book\u2019s plot took some strange turns, and it often felt as though Tims was trying to cram too much into the story. The book focuses far too heavily on the mystery surrounding Sam\u2019s mother\u2019s death. At certain points, I was under the impression that Tims forgot what <\/span>The Art of Feeling<\/i><\/b> was about and tried to turn it into some kind of bizarre crime\/mystery novel. The result is messy and significantly detracts from the real star of the book: the character dynamics. <\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Writing Style:<\/span>
\n<\/span> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I don\u2019t have a strong opinion on Tims\u2019 writing style (which I suppose is actually an opinion in itself). Her writing style was generic, but not offensively so. It did not compel me nor did it detract too significantly from the book. <\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Relationships: <\/span>
\n<\/span> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The dynamic between Sam and Eliot was this book\u2019s saving grace. <\/span>The Art of Feeling<\/i><\/b> emphasizes the friendship between the two instead of shoving romance down your throat (even now I\u2019m still not sure if the characters were actually in love despite the book being advertised as romance), and can consequently be enjoyed even by people like myself who generally don\u2019t reach for romance novels. And although, as said before, Tims\u2019 writing style wasn\u2019t excellent, she absolutely nailed the banter between the two. I found myself actually chuckling at a few of their lines, which was surprising considering the book\u2019s themes of death and pain. <\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Conclusion: <\/span>
\n<\/span> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>The Art of Feeling<\/i><\/b> had a great premise but a somewhat poorly executed plot; it had some excellent characters and some that felt corny beyond belief. I would have given this book a 2.5 had it not been for the excellently-handled relationship between the two main characters, which kept me charmed until the end of the story. 4 stars.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Find this book in our catalog: The Art of Feeling<\/a><\/p>\n

Catalog Number: On Call<\/p>\n

326 pages<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

review by\u00a0Kira Toal, age 16 The Art of Feeling by\u00a0Laura Tims Summary: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Art of Feeling is a YA romance\/drama by Laura Tims about pain, emotional and physical, and the different effects it has on two foils: a girl with chronic pain, and a boy with congenital analgesia. Characters: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":4658,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[120,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-teen-reviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2018\/05\/the-art-of-feeling.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ZwbD-1d7","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5062,"url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2019\/lovely-dark-and-deep-teen-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":4657,"position":0},"title":"Lovely, Dark, and Deep — Teen Review","author":"Teen Blogger","date":"May 4, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Review by Jasmine Sov, 13 Lovely, Dark, and Deep\u00a0By\u00a0Justina Chen Lovely, Dark, and Deep is the tale of Viola Wynne Li, a girl who\u2019s hosted bake sales for about a thousand different causes. 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