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.

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