G257 E-Reading Book Review of Changes by Gillian Felix

Name of Book: Changes

Author: Gillian Felix

ISBN/ASIN: B00EADYMCA

Publisher:  Createspace

Part of a Series: Family Portrait

Type of book: Soap Opera, wealth, fame, being naive, siblings, family, Young adult, New Adult, 2000s, California, mystery

Year it was published: 2013

Summary:

Adriana Banovic’s 15th birthday sucked! She got fired after eight years of playing Shayanne Montgomery on the #1 soap in the country, found out that her family was on the verge of bankruptcy and worst of all, forced to return to Westwood Academy. Her only saving grace was a chance glance at dreamy mystery boy Haze Lyndon. Armed with only his picture and a determination to find him—even if it means turning Los Angeles over on its ass.

In this young adult novel, you’ll meet Robin Banovic, Adriana’s father; financially challenged, dealing with the death of a family member and his brother’s disappearance. You’ll meet Savannah DaCosta aka Savi, mother/manager; Savi enjoys the life her rock star daughter Leighann has provided. When Leighann makes a choice to end her career, Savi sees it as a personal attack. You’ll meet college boy Haze Lyndon; New to Los Angeles, Haze soon realizes how quickly money changes hands in the City of Angels. Will he return to questionable ways to survive or go back to the safety of his family in Wisconsin?

Characters:

The book doesn't really focus a lot on the characters, and they are sort of more told than show variety. Adriana is best described as mercurial as well as defiant and determined; then there are her parents who sound ideal, mother wanting to have a good relationship with her, and her father who is determined to go his own way but then is called back to his roots. There is Leighann who is naive and often dreams of being normal as well as Adriana's brother, Kevin and Zax. Kevin's life is sort of like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, while Zax is a good boy.

Theme:

I think its purely written for entertainment rather than to teach lessons.

Plot:

On my e-reader, which is a Sony, it was about 84 pages which is pretty short and not enough to go into details on the promised soap opera feel; yet it is essential to read it if you want to read The Banovic Siblings. Just like The Banovic Siblings, the book changes points of views without a warning as well as it lacks character depth. Yet the writing is on the addictive side which makes it a bit of a guilty pleasure novel, and I hated that it was so short. Its also written in third person narrative from what seems to be everyone's point of view, although the domineering characters would include Adriana as well as her parents.

Author Information:

(from goodreads.com)

url https://www.goodreads.com/GillianFx
born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
gender female
website http://www.plaintalkbm.com
twitter username Gillianfx
genre Contemporary, Ebooks, Young Adult
member since December 2012

Gillian Felix has been writing since she was old enough to hold a pencil. She enjoys creating characters that could be your next-door neighbor, but would you want them as your neighbor is another story.

Originally from the island republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Miss Felix moved to the United States in 1998. Since then she has been involved in the entertainment industry for over ten years. Her experience ranges from script supervisor to production manager on many independent features. She is trained in the Meisner and Stanislavski technique of acting, which she credits as an asset to her character development and writing.

Miss Felix is also an entrepreneur and advocate for children's and women's rights.

Opinion:

I've read this after reading the sequel which is titled The Banovic Siblings, and the story is more of a first chapter or a prologue which explains a lot of what happened prior to The Banovic Siblings, as well as give tantalizing details of the events prior to the book. Its an interesting read as well as short, sort of a prelude and a promise to what should be a roller coaster tale of betrayal, drama, love triangles, secrets and so forth. I have to admit that I liked The Banovic Siblings better than this book, but still it did answer a lot of questions as well as give background information to the characters.

Quick Notes: I would like to thank the author for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this book. 

4 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)