Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Why Are We Being Silent?


Expected Publication: July 24th, 2012
Circle of Silence (WiHi # 2)
By: Carol M. Tanzman
Harlequin Teen
ISBN-13: 9780373210626

THE BIGGEST STORY OF MY LIFE COULD BE HOW IT ENDS It's my turn to run a "Campus News" crew, and I've put together a team that can break stories wide open. And Washington Irving High has a truly great one to cover, if only we can find a lead.

A secret society has formed in our school. It announced its presence with pranks: underwear on the flagpole, a toilet in the hallway, cryptic notes. A circle of silence keeps the society a mystery. No one knows its members, agenda or initiation secrets-until a student lands in the hospital under "strange" circumstances.

I "will" blow this story wide open and stop others from being hurt...or worse. And while my ex, Jagger, might want to help, I don't trust him yet. (And, no, not because of our past together. That is "not" important to this story.)

But whether you find me, Valerie Gaines, reporting in front of the camera, or a victim in the top story of the newscast...be sure to watch "Campus News" at 9:00 a.m. this Friday.

"This addicting, thrilling mystery hits upon many of our worst fears."-"Booklist "on "dancergirl"


Review

   Valerie Gaines is finally getting the chance to run one of the crews at Campus News, for her high school.  Val takes reporting very seriously, so when a mysterious person or group calling themself 'MP' starts to play pranks (undwear on the flagpole, a toilet in the hall, a box for new member applications) she definitely wants to be the one to crack the case.  Especially after the one of the new initiates lands in the hospital with serious injuries and refuses to talk to anyone about what really happened.  So Val needs to find a way to settle things with her ex-boyfriend Jagger (who is on her news team), figure out what secrets her little sister is hiding from her and shut down MP once and for all.  But will everyone still be alive when the dust settles?  When I requested this book on Netgalley, I didn't realize that it was a companion novel/part of a series.  Banking on the fact that the publisher is HarlequinTeen, I was expecting a little more romance and a little less mystery.  Plus all of the reporting and references to the news team began to get on my nerves near the middle of the book.  Didn't Valerie have a life outside of school at all?  The whole entagled situation with Jagger was only ever half-ass explained and I never felt satisfied with the way it played out near the end of the book.  The whole revelation of who was in MP (one of the people was REALLY close to Val) was so cliched and the resolution so after school-special that it made me want to vomit.  Badly.  Overall, it was a decently intriguing book but I wouldn't highly recommend it unless your main requirement for a book is a lot of filler plot, dialogue that has no place, a pointless and never filled out romatic subplot and a dissatisfying mystery.  Definitely NOT the book for me at all.

VERDICT:  2/5  Stars

*I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book's expected publication is July 24th, 2012.*

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