Flannery by Lisa Moore
Review by Lauren
source: copy from publisher; all opinions are my own
Official Summary: Sixteen-year-old Flannery Malone has it bad. She’s been in love with Tyrone O’Rourke since the days she still believed in Santa Claus. But Tyrone has grown from a dorky kid into an outlaw graffiti artist, the rebel-with-a-cause of Flannery’s dreams, literally too cool for school.
Which is a problem, since he and Flannery are partners for the entrepreneurship class that she needs to graduate. And Tyrone’s vanishing act may have darker causes than she realizes.
Tyrone isn’t Flannery’s only problem. Her mother, Miranda, can’t pay the heating bills, let alone buy Flannery’s biology book. Her little brother, Felix, is careening out of control. And her best-friend-since-forever, Amber, has fallen for a guy who is making her forget all about the things she’s always cared most about — Flannery included — leading Amber down a dark and dangerous path of her own.
When Flannery decides to make a love potion for her entrepreneurship project, rumors that it actually works go viral, and she suddenly has a hot commodity on her hands. But a series of shattering events makes her realize that real-life love is far more potent — and potentially damaging — than any fairy-tale prescription.
Review: I was emailed back in May about possibly reading and reviewing this novel, and I was immediately intrigued by the summary so I agreed to check it out! This was a fairly quick read and it’s one that I highly enjoyed and would definitely recommend. Flannery is a fairly easy girl to connect with. She’s the oldest daughter of Miranda (who she only calls Mom when she’s mad at her) who is raising her and her brother, Felix, alone. Because Felix is still young, he often gets more of the attention than Flannery, though this doesn’t bother her too often She doesn’t want to begrudge her brother any enjoyment in his life since she knows they have it hard. Being a single mom, Miranda doesn’t always have a lot of food in the house, and weeks into the new school year, she still can’t afford to buy Flannery her biology textbook.
The overall story of Flannery is about a project she’s working on for her Entrepreneurship class. She is paired up with Tyrone, who she used to be friends with when she was younger and has had a crush on for about as long. Tyrone comes up with the idea of creating a love potion to market and sell for their class project, but from there, he’s rarely around and isn’t much help to Flannery. Despite this, she still cares for him a lot, and she does the work, putting his name next to hers instead of telling their teacher she’s really working alone. I can see her dilemma in some ways. She’s mostly letting her crush get in the way of the project, but at the same, if I really cared about someone, I’d have a hard time telling the teacher they weren’t doing anything and getting them in trouble.
Surrounding this love potion that may or may not work, is the rest of Flannery’s life, with a teen’s usual ups and downs. She has family issues, and tests of friendship when her best friend gets a boyfriend and begins to act differently, no longer wanting to hang around Flannery. Part of me wanted to shake Flannery and tell her to get adult help with her friend. Not because of them fighting or growing apart, but because of how Amber is now acting and all the things Flannery is starting to hear about Amber and her new boyfriend. It’s obvious almost from the start that it’s not a good or healthy relationship, but I suppose when you’re also a teen and on the outside, you just feel pushed aside and you fail to notice some of what the other person is growing through.
Flannery is a realistic novel overall, even with the love potion that might really work. It’s a fun little addition, but really, the magic comes from within.
This works for the Unique Formatting Book Challenge because none of the dialogue is in quotes, like “He said,” blah blah blah. It’s more:
She told me you were okay, Flannery said. (made up dialogue, but I wanted to give an example). It seems a bit confusing, but it’s not!
I'm so glad you enjoyed this one! I picked up a copy a couple of weeks ago but I was wary because I haven't seen to many reviews about it. It sounds like a ton of quirky fun!
I loved your last line about the magic coming from within the story! Lovely review Lauren!
Flannery is so me I'll surely enjoy this novel! It sounds so realistic!
Haniya
booknauthors.blogspot.com
Aww, this seems really cute and I've been drawn to the cover ever since I first saw it a few weeks ago. I will definitely be adding this to my TBR–great review!
Sounds like a great read, and I'm intrigued by the formatting 🙂
When writers get rid of the conventions it's always confusing. Read Faulkner sometime. No comparison intended, except on the idea of changing it up and hoping the reader catches up.
Congrats to Lisa.
It sounds fun and quirky!
It's nice to have a story like that, I didn't know about this one but it's intriguing!
Ooh this sounds fun! Almost like a modern day fairytale!
xx
This sounds like great fun Lauren although slightly odd that it has no quotation marks but that's probably one of those stylistic things you soon get used to.
I really like the lack of quotation in books. As a reader, it keeps me on my toes and more observant too. It sounds like a great little read Lauren and I really love that cover too. Simplistic and super cute. So glad you enjoyed this one and will keep an eye out for it the next time I'm book shopping <3 wonderful review.
I have read amazing review for this book on another book blog too so I think it must be an awesome read! Plus this sounds like a great summer read! 🙂
Haniya
booknauthors.blogspot.com
Oh this sounds like a great book for my teen! I like the premise that ultimately you are the magic maker. Thanks for sharing your review!
Cute!
Karen @For What It's Worth
This sounds like a great coming of age story – but her life does really suck. I hope it had a happy ending because Flannery sure could use one 😉 Great review!
I like the premise with the love potion and the crush. I also like the name Flannery.
What a cool cover! I think the synopsis sounds good and I really enjoyed your review. Sounds like a fun book and I am curious about the love potion. 🙂
~Jess
It sounds like a fun read, but I probably would've passed because of the cover. Glad you enjoyed it!