Sarah Miller (2)

What would you do with the ability to delve into the mind of your boyfriend? See his every thought…feel his every desire. What lengths would you go to in order to keep the status quo? Perhaps more importantly, how would you react to burning signs of betrayal? In this follow-up to Miller’s Inside the Mind of Gideon Rayburn the locus of Molly’s uncanny mind powers shift from her now ex-boyfriend to his new love interest in a twist that turns her world on end. Ridden with teenage drama, racy references to sexual activity, and a plethora of social/pop-culture issues (e.g. drugs, anorexia), this young adult novel has all the makings of an episode of Gossip Girl. The nearly 300 pages of text are divided into twenty-seven chapters that lure the reader from one end to the next beginning with strategically revealed dramatic details and twisting events. Owing to the level of maturity of the concepts addressed through explicit and often highly descriptive language, this story is likely not appropriate for pre-teens, who—despite being capable of comprehending the physical text—may struggle with the meaning and underlying premises.… (mehr)

Being in Gid's head by the way ...it's different from being able to read his mind. I can read his mind, but I think of that as something you can turn on and off. I am inside his head every waking minute of our lives. Molly McGarry seems to have it all - she's smart, she attends the prestigious Midvale Academy prep school and she's finally got the guy of her dreams, Gideon Rayburn. But now everything's changing. Molly and Gid got together in a very unusual way, when Molly mysteriously entered Gid's mind, and so could 'guess' what he was thinking and exactly what he wanted. This gave Molly one-upmanship over Cullen and Nicholas, Gid's debauched and rebellious room-mates, who pressure Gid and prefer him single. By some bizarre twist of fate, Molly suddenly leaves Gid's mind and enters the mind of Pilar Benitez-Jones, possibly the hottest girl in the world, and definitely not someone whose head she wants to be inside. Pilar flirts with Gid. A lot. And she appears to be the shallowest and most spoilt rich girl on campus. No longer inside the head of her crush, Molly feels her life is spiralling out of control. Gradually Molly realises that being inside Pilar's head has its advantages as she tries to influence Pilar for her own schemes and to salvage her grades - with ensuing chaos.… (mehr)

Molly has been in her boyfriend Gideon's head for 6 months. They love each other but Molly has never told him about her gift. A girl from their school whose name is Pillar is the prettiest girl most guys have ever seen. Molly doesn't like the attention she gives Gideon because she can see in his head that he finds her extremely good looking. One night, Molly and Gideon are together and Molly sees Gideon imagining Pillar in a bikini. Heartbroken, she ends their relationship with no explanation to her now ex-boyfriend. A couple of days later, Molly goes home to visit her family during her week off and talks to a so-called doctor online about her gift. After much effort, she manages to get out of Gideon's head; Unfortunately, she finds herself in Pillar's head instead. When their break's over and they all go back to school, Molly joins an intellectual group who competes against other schools. She reconnects with her roommate and tries to seperate Pillar and Gideon, who have started dating. Molly and the group she's part of find themselves having to compete against an incredibly smart school. They recruit Pillar as one of their members because they know that the guys on that team will be too baffled to compete when they see her. In the end, Molly and the team become champions (because of Pillar) and Pillar lets go of Gideon because she knows he still loves Molly. Gideon and Molly get back together, and that's how the novel ends.

I found that this novel was interesting but very predictable. The fact that it's a teen novel is a little disappointing to me because it's full of swears, sex and drugs. I believe it should be in the Adult section because even though the novel represents the teens of today, it could encourage them to believe that it's normal to do the things Molly, Gideon and other characters in the novel do. I'm rating it 3 stars out of 5 because of the reason I just listed and also because predictability is very annoying.… (mehr)

It's interesting to read "Carter Finally Gets It" and "Inside the Mind of Gideon Rayburn" within the same time span. Both novels attempt to get inside the mind of a teenage boy and find out what makes him tick. I imagine this is a valid concern for many teenage girls, trying to figure out what makes certain guys tick and why we act that we do. And while each novel concludes that guys are driven by one thing, it's interesting to see how differently each novel approaches that driving factor.

With "Gideon" the feeling I got was that guys are motivated only by one thing--sex. And that's it. The insight into the guy's mind is that teenage boys think about sex A LOT. They think about the ways they could possibly have sex, where they could have sex and who they would like to have sex with. And that drives just about everything they do in trying to win over and impress girls.

Honestly, the story doesn't go much deeper than that and, in the end, it becomes a bit repetitive by the halfway mark of the book. What will keep you reading is the curiosity factor over which of the characters is the first-person narrator with the all access pass to Gideon's mind. There were times I felt like skipping ahead to find out, but I kept thinking I might miss some pivotal moment or some character development. Alas, that never quite happens.

On the other hand, you've got "Carter Finally Gets It," a story about high school freshman Will Carter and his journey though his first year of high school. Carter and his fellow male friends are clearly motivated by lust for their fellow females, but most of them would clearly have no idea what to do with a willing female should they get one. In fact, Carter and his crew really have no clue as to who they really are and instead put on airs and try to be the stud they all think the should be. The results are humorous and realistic. Carter starts off the book in a romance with his home ec partner from the previous year who has blossomed a bit. Helped by his older sister's advice, Carter is able to at first woo her but allows his early small successes such as holding her hand, kissing her and getting to first base to cloud his judgment and boost his ego. Before you know it, Carter is trying to have his cake and eat it too instead of just being the guy that he liked being and that most people liked him being.

It all catches up to him in a realistic way and then the rest of the novel finds Carter finally "getting it" and figuring out who he is. Yes, by the novel's end Carter is still a hormonally imbalance waiting to happen, but there's been some growth and learning by Carter along the way. There's also been a couple of nice laughs that are grounded in the character. As I said in my review of "Swim the Fly," the tone is similar to the early "American Pie" movies where you had some crude humor but it was balanced by some heart. That's the case with "Carter" and while the book isn't necessarily perfect, it's still an interesting and enjoyable enough read.… (mehr)