Blog Tour: What Matters Most: - Diary of a Teenage Girl (Maya #3)

If you haven't read books 1 and 2 in the Maya Diaries, then put down the book and step away. You will be hopelessly confused. I managed to muddle through, but there was something on nearly every page that had me scratching my head and hoping for some background. While it was nice not to have Carlson fall into the (very annoying) recap-itis that so many series authors have, it would've been pleasant to know, for example, that Maya is half African-American. I went nearly the entire book before this was finally made clear - there were no descriptions of her in the first 3/4 of the book - and even the remainder didn't have a description so much as a statement that the other girl (who you knew was African-American) "looked like her". (Plus, given Maya's ethnicity, you'd think the publisher could've chosen a cover model that would make this more clear.) And this is one of tidbits that falls into "would be nice but doesn't really matter" - there were plenty of other things that I suspect fall into the "really would have added to the readability of the book."

What Matters Most follows Maya through the first three months of school in what she decides will be her senior year of high school. There are a lot of plot lines that start up but get dropped - and many of them are on the back of the book (example: the back of the book talks about the cheerleader making her life miserable. And sure, there are two incidents...and then they become, if not friends, certainly not at odds. No real drama even getting from point A to B. So why the melodramatic intro on the back cover?) The decision making process hinted at on the back cover is also resolved very easily - in fact, I'd be hard pressed to point to the part of the book that had some sort of climax leading to resolution. There were several places where there was a hint of tension to come but within two pages that balloon had popped and you were left dragging from page to page hoping that you would, at some point, reach the end. Maybe having read books 1 and 2 would help...but I can't see it fixing everything.

As it's a "Diary of a Teenage Girl" the audience is clearly younger than me...but I can't think it'd be a middle or high school audience. Possibly 5th and 6th grade - but certainly no younger (because of themes) or older (because of drek quotient).

I wasn't impressed, and as normally I really enjoy Carlson's work, that was disappointing. But I'll be sticking to her adult fiction from here on out.

Find more information here.

This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.