Being seen for you are is one of the hardest things that a person can go through at any given time. It's even harder when one parental figure in your life has left, the other has become difficult to connect with, and you're a teenager to boot. Victoria "Vic" Markam, an art enthusiast whose specialty is graffiti, immediately finds herself in the deep end of trouble when, coupled with all of the above, she gets arrested in chapter one.

Vic's voice, the most important as the book is told in first person, was difficult to connect with. While some of the things that she thought were relatable, I felt like on the whole her personality were a reflection of stereotypes of the Goth character rather than a nuanced person. She was also exceedingly judgmental, always making snap assessments of others while also constantly saying how she wanted people to figure out who she was beyond her physical appearance. That was a poor characteristic choice and also another stereotype that I saw in a lot of older books about Goth people. It aged Goth Girl, whatever modern names the author might have dropped like iPhone and Angry Birds.

The secondary characters were not much better. The ones at the community service project (Rachel, Peter, Zach, Russell) blended into the background. Most of what the reader knew about them was the stereotypical description that Vic gave us (princess, jock, & so on). Her hypercritical analysis did nothing to endear me to them. I'm not sure Vic ever learned to look beyond those initial impressions, not really. Oh, there were "lessons learned", of course, where she overheard a conversation with Rachel and Rachel's mother and Zach exhibits some behavior that reveals his character, but there's no depth to this learning. It's like a list of things that had to happen with no development of those points on the list, a real bare bones effort.

Vic's relationship with her mother offered some hope of "oomph" but it too fell flat. The bickering, the lack of communication, the secret keeping, it was all stuff that felt tired. The tug-of-war moments that were put forth seemed like the author was trying to make things better, but I think it just highlighted how predictable and tired the relationship was written. This interpretation of familial difficulties didn't have enough to it that made it interesting. 

Plot wise, there wasn't anything gripping or exciting. It was predictable, straightforward, and had no buildup, no sense of anticipation. The narrative felt like a scripted after school special. Most everyone acted like barely developed dolls that were being pushed around a stage filling out preconceived rolls as opposed to actors bringing those roles to life, making us love them or hate them or yearn to know more about them.

There are better books that outline aspects of Goth Girl's story. If the graffiti aspect made you want to pick it up, for example, You're Welcome, Universe by Whitney Gardner is a superior example of a teen girl experiencing the consequences of her actions when her tagging art gets her into trouble.

It's possible that there will still be an audience that will find this book helpful. I would behoove them, however, to think of it as a stepping stone. It's a primary reader at best, maybe somewhere between middle grade and young adult fiction. Quick, easy, and in all honesty, better set aside for books that have stronger characters and more interesting plots.

The more I see about this book - the preachier it sounds, and the more I can tell its an adult trying to write a teen. I have pretty much lost all interest in reading this.

I am sorry I never got a chance to read this. My phone would not download it. I apologize.

I often wonder how many different stories that there are to tell. Are there an infinite number of issues, settings, characters to write about? Especially in the fantastic world of YA? How can writers come up with something new to say or a new way to say it?

Well it turns out some writers can.

In Melanie Mosher’s YA fiction Goth Girl we meet Victoria Markham and boy does this girl have issues. She has a mum who she is completely disconnected with, doesn’t know her dad and she has just been busted by the police for graffiti-ing all over a viaduct under her alter ego – Goth Girl.

Faced with a six week course for her crime Victoria meets a rag tag bunch of teenagers in for the same crime as she is. Through her time in Saturday incarceration Victoria discovers that her skills as an artist can be used for good. And whilst she realises that the world isn’t exactly perfect but it is still perfectly acceptable to be yourself while you live in it.

Don’t get me wrong, Goth Girl isn’t the greatest YA fiction but it is an easy and quick read that might just change your day.

Goth Girl by Melanie Mosher is available now.

For more information regarding Melanie Mosher (@MelanieMosher1) please visit www.melaniemosher.com.

For more information regarding Nimbus Publishing (@NimbusPub) please visit www.nimbus.ca.

Goth girl. Street artist. Rebellious teen. This is the recipe for a YA book I should have loved.

This is a difficult review to write, because there was quite a bit about the book I liked. Or at least, that I wanted to like. The premise was very unique and quite original. I really, really wanted to like the characters. I was really excited for a look into the world of street art.

Unfortunately, this book fell short for me.

My overall disappointment is the character development. It was very choppy. I felt like there was a lot of telling when it came to all the characters, rather than flushing them out through plot and dialogue. Within the course of one reply, Vic would go from one extreme to another. It made her feel very reactive, when I don't think that was the authors intention. I read quite a few interactions where she went from sad to angry in one sentence. It didn't feel realistic, or developed.

The interactions with her mother felt inauthentic. Her mother felt more like a teenager than an actual parent. There was a scene where her mother disregarded Vic's cooking her dinner so she could go out with friends that felt more like two roommates rather than a mother/daughter relationship. Teenage roommates at that. Her traits of being so embarrassed by Vic's appearance were extremely superficial. Why was the mother embarrassed? Vic describes her mother as once being interested in art, but a bad break up takes away all her interest? Including that of her own daughters talent? Maybe, but I never get to see or feel why. We never see why her mother behaves the way she does.

Her interactions and internal thoughts on people were very judgmental, even though she claimed to hate that about people judging her. All her descriptions were based on superficial judgements. There was an attempt at highlighting Rachel as more complex, but even that attempt fell flat.

Zach was probably the most developed but we still never really get a sense of his depth. They go from exchanging numbers, to texting, to full on emotional involvement within one week; all described within a few paragraphs. I just didn't get the feel of why her emotions were so intense, or how they related to each other. And then they break up just as quickly, again with no real examination or depth.

The other frustration was the street art aspect. We get a glimpse of why Vic loves street art, and what it means to her, but I felt there could have been more. Her motivations are vague, and other than being told she loves it, I just never read a passage that made me see why, or feel why. I'm just told she loves it. She is in community service with others like her, yet again, we don't see why they're there, or what drives them to create.

Street art is about more than tagging your name on a wall. It is about expression and freedom and rebellion. It's about the struggle of an individual against conformity. There was a fantastic opportunity to highlight this struggle both in her chosen medium and in her own preference in attire, but I just never felt any of that came through in the writing. Vic struggles against assumptions regarding her choosing to be Goth, but it's never explored. Her journey to self-discovery is brief and shallow. Failing to examine both of these themes was a huge disappointment.

This felt more like a draft to me than a finished product. Entire sections describing what she did on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday (you get the point), were unnecessary to the plot. Instead of reading those, I wish the interactions were more complex, that the characters felt more real, and that the final AHA! moment for Vic was more impactful. I really wish the exploration of street art versus art in general was given a deeper look, and that the ideas of conformity and self-discovery were more deeply discussed.

This is a YA book, intended for a young audience, so it probably will resonate with younger readers. For me, it didn't have enough to resonate with me. It was a quick, easy read, and I didn't hate it, I just didn't particularly care about the characters or read anything that will stick with me after the book is finished.

I received a copy of this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

3 STARS

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I really enjoyed the premise of this book. It's all about a goth girl named Vic who has to do community service painting a mural after getting caught putting up illegal graffiti. I find books that include unconventional art forms intriguing, and graffiti is no exception. However this book focuses more on art in general, and after the initial graffiti incident, mainly focuses on painting. After getting over my expectation, I did enjoy the discussion about art being a medium to release and express emotions.

Something that annoyed me, was how Vic was so judgmental toward others, yet got mad when others judged her on *her* appearance. At least in the end she acknowledged that she was wrong to do that, but even so the hypocrisy grated on my nerves a bit.

Most of my other complaints about this book have to do with the pacing. This is a very short book and I feel like it should have been longer. There's no smooth transition between scenes or slowly wrapped up story-lines. Instead everything felt very rushed and choppy due to the size of the book. Had certain scenes and characters and relationships been more fleshed out, I would have connected better to the story and enjoyed it more.

The characters, as I mentioned, were a bit too one-dimensional and that made it very hard to enjoy any character interaction Vic had. The love interest Zach, was especially underdeveloped for the amount of emotion Vic feels for him, and I actually found him to be a bit creepy even when I was supposed to like him.

Also, certain twists felt very predictable and unnecessary to me, especially as I don't feel they were given the detail or time they deserved.

And lastly, the ending of this book really bothered me, as any conflict ever presented easily wrapped up within a few pages. I felt that any one of the plot points could have used more time, and that ending all the plot points so suddenly did the book a major disservice.

All in all I liked this book, but feel it could've used some more time to become as awesome as the premise made it seem.

I felt that this book was okay. Didn't hook me right into the story but truly as I kept going it got better. I never felt a connection with any of the characters which is a shame. The writing was just okay - nothing super special for me. I was kind of left wanting a bit more from this one honestly.

Victoria is fifteen, a graffiti artist goth who starts out getting arrested by cops and ordered community service for this being her first offence. She has to partake in a mural community project with a group she doesn't wish to care about, until she meets jock guy Zach.

All she cares about is her art and not displaying her true self to the world, the goth her can't be hurt unlike the deeper, true her after her step dad has left and so she paints her make-up on and dresses all in black everyday despite comments she flips off her hard outer.

Then a secret comes to light and her relationship with her mum gets worse after she finds out something major to do with her real dad and her mums lies come to light when her grandmother shows up.

Things with Zach start out well, however it seems everyone is against them being together despite them growing so close and Vic seeing how much there is to the jock as he tells her about his dad and his home life state.

Overall it was a good book if a bit short but the story flowed and was told well. Victoria is a likable character when you see the depth to her story and that she's not just hard edged with an iron heart and no cares.

Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!