"Girl On The Ferris Wheel" is a young adult contemporary novel centered around two tenth graders - Eliana and Dmitri. These two characters are very different from each other, but over the course of the story, readers see an example of how sometimes, opposites can attract. I really liked the main characters and loved watching their relationship develop throughout the book, While I wasn't as captivated by it as I hoped I would be, I still found it to be an enjoyable read.

Pros
Male Romance Narrator: This story is not merely told from the female perspective, as is often the case with romance. Dmitri gets a perspective, too, and his voice is really fun. More importantly, Dmitri is written by a male writer, which is necessary not just for romance but also in YA in general. Male YA authors are hard to come by, especially in contemporary romance.

Living With Depression: This book does a good job of representing a life with clinical depression. Depression is different for everyone, of course, and so Eliana will not match everyone's experience. Her experience, however, is nuanced and fair. There need to be more books, in YA and in general, that feature characters who are neuro-divergent--especially books that include meet-cute-style romance. Life can and does exist for those struggling with their mental health, and it is nice to read a book where even a girl who wrestles with her depression can experience first love and deep friendship.

Fandom Representation: This book speaks to so many different fandoms on so many levels. Eliana is a Harry Potter fan, of course, and she is also a Doctor Who fan. She makes constant references to these fandoms, from iconic film scenes to niche trivia. Any Potterhead or Whovian will be excited to see this representation on the page, but these fandoms aren't the only ones given a shout-out. Eliana and Dmitri are both film buffs, so films are constantly being referenced, from Hitchcock classics to B-movie horror to modern dystopian flicks.


Cons
Heavy-Handed Premonitions: This book contains a lot of love-story metaphors and clichéd phrases, especially in the opening pages, and this felt a little over the top. From naming Dmitri's band "Unexpected Turbulence" to having a fortune-telling Greek granny who predicts love on Dmitri's horizon, it all feels a little too prescribed--though I do love Dmitri's Yia Yia in every other sense. The predictability factor here is pretty high, and overall, this heavy-handed imagery just makes the book feel a little bit too juvenile, like it was right on the border of Middle Grade instead of solidly YA.

Cringe-Worthy "Relatability": One of the benefits of first person narration is allowing the character to speak directly. This can make the character more or less "relatable," depending on the author's goal. Here, however, the "relatability" factor was often times just awkward. I mean, whenever a narrator uses the word "fartblossom," it's a cringe from me. I found Eliana's narration especially cringe-y, though Dmitri's can definitely feel that way, too. Overall, it feels like these authors were trying too hard to sound casual, hip, and young, and it just doesn't work. If secondhand embarrassment is a problem for you, this book may just cause an aneurysm.

Texting Foibles: This book, as all contemporary YA should, includes a fair amount of texting. This is necessary. Texting is a prime form of communication, after all. However, these text conversations read a little stilted and unnatural. Of course, rendering a book text message like a real text message would just be messy. Nobody wants to read a real text message in a book, just like nobody wants to read a real conversation, all the ums and ahs included. But the texting conversations included here just felt off. Maybe it was just the fact that everyone was signing off at the end with a "talk to you soon" or a "goodnight"/"goodbye." Though natural in face-to-face communication, it felt unnecessary and strange to end this way in text. Or maybe that's just me.


Rating
⭐⭐⭐
3/10

Fans of the complicated simplicity of early love in Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park should check out this new first love story. Those who appreciated the OCD representation in John Green's Turtles All the Way Down should check out this balanced view of love and depression as well.

This book held a lot of promise and is probably great for younger teens. Unfortunately I had to stop reading it after about the third Harry Potter reference. I don’t fault the author entirely, due to the publication date it may have been too late to edit them out.

I have to say this book did grab my attention at first as I thought the plot sounded like a good YA novel and I do love carnivals. Inside the pages were a different story as we meet two characters who are complete opposites except for the fact that they both love film. We have Dmitri who is a drummer in a band and is outgoing and then when have Eliana who is quiet and studious and only has one friend Janine whom we learn is like an Amazonian Goddess. Dmitri's family is Greek which I loved as Greek families always present a closeness in books and Eliana's dad is a stay-at-home dad after his video/DVD shop went out of business and now he spends most of his time down in the basement watching movies. I did struggle a bit with this book as I hated the character of Eliana as she had so much self-doubt in herself and it got to a point where it became too much as she couldn't imagine someone like Dmitri liking her and it got to the point where I was like "freaking hell, wake up Eliana - can't you see he is trying". Girl on the Ferris Wheel is a coming-of-age story between two high school students who are trying to navigate family, life, high school, and hormones. This book also focuses on the fact that we don't normally see as in lots that we read are opposites attracting and they live HEA but Girl on the Ferris Wheel shows the dark side of what happens when your opposites only get you so far in the relationship? What happens when you run out of things that both of you might enjoy or talk about? Can opposites live a HEA or are they just kidding themselves?

I want to start this review off by saying that when it comes to this book I think the reason it didn’t work for me is that it read more on the lower side of YA. I do think that a lot of teens will be able to relate to this book.

I really wanted to enjoy this book after reading a book by one of the authors earlier this year. The cover is also a bonus!

The book has an interesting format as it is split into different seasons. Throughout each season there are two point-of-views, one for Eliana and one for Dmitri. In a book about falling in love, it’s always nice to see the split point-of-view because it helps to see each side of the relationship.

Both of the main characters are learning what it’s like to be in relationship for the first time. It’s not easy, especially when you are young. I don’t think that the drama was over the top and could see each instance playing out in real life.

Eliana struggles with her mental health and that does a play a role in some of the issues they have. I do think that the authors covered the topic fairly well and didn’t use it as a way to create more drama between them.

Another thing I liked was the setting. As a girl who grew up in Minnesota, it was cool to read about locations that I have been to.

One of the reasons I couldn’t get into the book was the writing itself. Some of it just felt clunky and it didn’t feel like the YAs I usually read. I also mentioned above it just felt like it was on the lower end of the YA spectrum. This is just personal preference.

Overall, it was an okay book for me but I know that in the hands of other readers it will be a great book.

This definitely reads as a younger YA novel in the way it is written and the approach to characters and dialogue. I think that the execution of the book was solid for the audience it is written for and younger readers will enjoy the romance and the plotline.

TW: depression; anxiety; mention of suicide; death of a loved one

This book may have been something I possibly could have liked in middle school or early high school, but for me now, it seems a bit juvenile. I don’t think the plot or things that the characters did were very exaggerated because I remember high school, people did some wild things in my high school, so I understood where the authors were coming from, I just don’t think I was the intended audience for the book and it just didn’t mesh with me. The characters were mediocre, I didn’t feel strongly towards any of them positively or negatively (except Yia Yia, loved that woman). I did find that one of the similarities between Eliana and me was that she hated being smothered or constantly being checked up on. At least for me, I like nice gestures and being checked on from time to time, but when it’s every single moment of every single day, it can be extremely suffocating, so I totally get where she was coming from in that aspect. The writing style was solid, I had no complaints about that either. I went into this book thinking it would just be a really sweet and simple high school love story, but it was far from simply being that. There’s a lot of talk about Greek and Jewish traditions since the main characters are from these backgrounds, I really liked that aspect of it. There’s also I think a decently realistic representation of depression? I feel like that’s a bit hard to comment on though because every person who has or has had depression deals with it differently, and when I used to have depression, I didn’t act in a similar fashion to the MC, but depression is subjective per person, so I feel like the authors did paint a realistic picture of what mental illness can be like. Overall, I genuinely think this book is a solid read, maybe for a younger audience in high school, or late middle school. There were some really cut moments that made me smile, so even though it wasn’t entirely for me, I would still recommend it to others to try!

Characters: 5/10
Atmosphere: 6/10
Writing Style: 6/10
Plot: 5/10
Intrigue: 5/10
Logic: 5/10
Enjoyment: 5/10

Rating: 5.3 or 3 stars