Cora Matthews, the principal’s gloomy goth daughter, is not exactly popular Duke Meyer’s type. Still, Duke finds himself inexplicably drawn to her dark eyes and mysterious manner. She makes it clear she doesn’t return his admiration, but when a burst appendix lands Duke in the hospital, he and Cora will be forced to come together by the most unlikely intermediary: her eight-year-old brother, Jaime.
Duke learns Jaime has brain cancer and little chance of long-term survival. He admires the kid’s plucky positivity and wild imagination and offers to write a story about Jaime’s make-believe superheroes. So begins an epic tale—that of Ghostboy, Chameleon, and the Duke of Graffiti—and a deep friendship between Duke and Jaime.
Despite their outward differences, Cora and Duke bond over their affection for Jaime, but unintended betrayal and Jaime’s advancing disease threaten to derail their blossoming romance before it can truly take root.
Ghostboy, Chameleon & the Duke of Graffiti is a gorgeous debut novel that will resonate with the thoughtful fans of John Green’s blockbuster The Fault in Our Stars.
I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review through Netgalley.
Ghostboy, Chameleon & The Duke of Graffiti started with a heart-warming premise, a troubled guy who meets
a kid with problems much bigger than his own. Life lessons, cute moments and
sad ones was pretty much what I had expected from this book, instead I got an
annoying story that only got to piss me off, with only one sad moment that was underwhelmed
by how badly it was played out.
I don’t know what happened, this was supposed to be a good story, how
could it have gone so wrong?
What I thought would become a powerful message about life, love and
friendship was nothing but just another YA love story with a guy who tries to “fix”
a girl, screw the cancer plot or its potential.
The super popular Duke meets Cora, dark, mysterious and with “loads of
make-up” and he’s immediately attracted to her, wandering whatever could be wrong with her that she wears so much make-up that she makes herself ugly.
His family says that she cleaaaarly
must be in terrible emotional pain to want to “mask herself” behind make up,
because they are cleaaaaarly as
idiotic as he is. So remember peeps, the next time you pick up that eye-liner,
lip gloss or blush, just stare at yourself for a minute and try to figure out
exactly what’s your problem that you want to wear paint on your face.
Their entire relationship is based on Duke trying to fix Cora. The most
powerful aspect of this book is killed by the way it’s delivered, we are
constantly told just how sad of a story this is, how all of our problems are
little compared to this big one. One time is fine, though I usually prefer
being shown not told, two is pushing it, three is an over-kill. Saying it in
every freaking chapter is pointless, and completely killed my enjoyment.
In the end, it was a cute title with a powerful premise that ended up as
a big disappointment.
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