Exposure Review

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TITLE: Exposure

AUTHOR: Kim Askew & Amy Helmes

PUBLISHER: Merit Press

PUBLICATION DATE: 1/18/2013

PAGES: 233

MY RATING:

MEMORABLE QUOTE: "When I develop pictures in a darkroom, it's almost like painting with light." (p. 21)

INSIDE COVER SUMMARY: Double, double, toil, and trouble! The quest for high-school royalty can turn deadly when teen ambition outstrips reason. Skye Kingston is a shy shutterbug who prefers observing life from behind her camera lens. She doesn't know she's stunning, and comes off the sidelines only when she's forced to by the terrifying events of one treacherous school year in Alaska. A boy named Duncan is dead, and his death may or may not be an accident. Skye's three new best friends are eerily able to foretell the future, and cheerleader Beth might be more than a social climber--she is quite probably a sociopath. Then there's Skye's growing attraction to the school hottie, Craig, The Boy Who Would Be Prom King. But their time is crossed by fate. There's already been one death, and who can say if it's only the first? As Skye falls for Craig, she also slowly realizes that he is caught in the crosshairs of a deadly plot. Can she save Craig and herself from a murderous fate? Exposure is not only a modern take on the classic Macbeth, it's proof that nothing has changed since Shakespeare riffed on the subject nearly half a millennium ago: The quest for power can lead to bloodstained hands.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: Unfortunately, I have never read Macbeth, so I cannot compare this story to that at all. I was looking forward to reading this as I enjoyed Askew and Helmes' first book, Tempestuous. This one sort of similar, but I didn't like it as much. The last third or so of the book is definitely the best part. I feel like the beginning could have used a little bit more involvement, maybe Skye could have done more to try and find out what had happened on that night at the party, but it was very slow moving.

CHARACTERS: I had a hard time connecting with the characters. I feel like Skye, the main character, didn't really do much except for whine to herself inside her head. I just feel like she is very naive, and she doesn't change very much throughout the course of the book. 

COVER: The cover is okay, there's not really much to it. I like the crown, it's cute.

*I received a finished copy of this book from Amazon Vine for my honest review.