Review: Shade Me

Shade Me by Jennifer Brown
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

The only things this book has going for it are the pretty cover (which, with its combo of black-and-white and neon stripes, reminds me strongly of the ill-fated Arclight series) and its protagonist having synesthesia (a most interesting condition.) Unfortunately, the book, as a side effect of being set in Hollywood, is laden with so many virtually indistinguishable pretty and/or superficial people (and I mean indistinguishable - for a while, I thought Jones was Nikki's brother until I saw some hint about her having dated him at some point, but I could be wrong) that it's extremely hard to get engaged with the story. The comparisons to Veronica Mars aren't that far off, but only in terms of genre (pseudo-neo-noir YA mystery.) Shade Me otherwise feels a ton more 90210 in tone, suffering as it does from a complete lack of Veronica Mars' self-awareness and sense of humor. Not to mention, I'm more than a bit skeeved by the scene where Nikki goes and screws an older guy (come on, Ms. Brown, she's barely legal!) So, after less than 150 pages, I'm DNFing.

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