Review: Very LeFreak

Very LeFreak

by Rachel Cohn

Jan 2010 

Review: Where do I start with the latest offering from Rachel Cohn, author of Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, Gingerbread and Dash & Lily's Book of Dares. With a back catalogue of popular novels all bright and appealing, you'd expect Very LeFreak to be an easy teen read with just a little something that makes it pop more than your average book.

You'd also be wrong to think the alluring cover, summary or title might be a sign to pick this book up anyway. I did and am now regretting the long week I spent trying to complete this novel after ignoring all the bad reviews.

Very aka Veronica is a technology addict so deeply invested in her iPhone, laptop and any other device she can get her hands on that her friends push her to dry out of this habit at a modern-day rehab centre (I'm not sure if anything like this exists but if they do, LOL!).

At ESCAPE (Emergency Services for Computer-Addicted Persons), Veronica has many issues to face besides her internet addiction including but not limited to her mother's untimely death, her obsession with a boy she met online named El Virus and her refusal to abide by any of the college rules. She works through it all with counselor Keisha who I found to be the shining light of the novel, if only the book was made up solely of these discussions, I'd be happy.

I really couldn't believe what I was reading when this novel was on it's way to wrapping up, how could such an obvious plot twist resolve everything else magically. It was almost like the author went down this track just to have an edge of uber-popularity when really it brought down the book for me and I'm sure many others.

Once completing this train-wreck of a novel, I hopped over to the author's acknowledgment on the next page to find somewhat of an explanation to all my issues with Very LeFreak, most of the written work had been completed way back in 1996 before cell phones were even popularized and so obviously this work had been badly adapted into something decent enough to bide our time until Rachel Cohn's next official release.

With a whole lot more editing and maybe a few changes to the plot line, this novel could've been something great. I'll be sure to put more trust into my fellow blogger's reviews especially for this authors 2012 series.

THREE OUT OF FIVE STARS