Book Review: Stealing Parker – Miranda Kenneally

Stealing Parker
Author: Miranda Kenneally
Series: Hundred Oaks #2
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
My Rating:

Summary:

 
First Sentence: Bubblegum Pink is the nail polish of the day.

My Review:

I was roaming Barnes & Noble on Stealing Parker‘s release date, and I saw it on the shelf taunting me, practically screaming you know you want to buy me! I’ve read and loved Catching Jordan, but was iffy about buying it since there were some parts of the book I had problems with. However, I gave in and brought both Catching Jordan and Stealing Parker on that same day. And that was when I made a huge mistake.

Simply put, Stealing Parker wasn’t as good as Catching Jordan and didn’t meet my expectations. (Hey, after reading Catching Jordan, it should be okay for me to have some high expectations of Stealing Parker after loving Catching Jordan!)

I didn’t connect with Parker the way I connected with Jordan. I just didn’t get Parker and why she acts the way she does. She can’t blame everything that happens in her life on someone else – everyone’s lives are full of twists and turns and her life should not be an exception to this rule. You get to choose where your life needs, no one else. Complaining, avoiding, and being hurt doesn’t solve anything, taking charge does. I can not count how many times I just wanted to give Parker a shove and say, “Go for it girl!”

I also had a problem with the whole religion thing in Stealing Parker. Why did Miranda Kenneally suddenly add religion to her books, especially since Catching Jordan was so good and popular without it? I’ve heard her next book, Things I Can’t Forget has religion stuff too. However, I am glad that Miranda Kenneally didn’t try to make us feel any specific way about Christianity. If she did, I wouldn’t have gotten pass half the book.

I had a problem with Brian, the older guy Parker liked. At first, he was a nice, reliable, funny guy. However, as if Miranda Kenneally was desperate for a solution to Parker’s attraction to an older guy problem, she added some not-so-nice twists into Brian’s personality that just didn’t mix with his personality in the first half of the book. All I could think was what? When was Brian actually like this? Am I missing something important here?

The sad part is, when we get to see Jordan and Henry again in Stealing Parker, I couldn’t bring myself to be excited. Stealing Parker just didn’t give me that feeling I had while reading Catching Jordan. In Stealing Parker, I could care less if Jordan and Henry appeared or not.

I will try Things I Can’t Forget. Hopefully, it’ll be better than how Stealing Parker was.