A big thank you to Random House Publishing Group and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review Red Heart Tattoo by Lurlene McDaniel!
I’ll be honest and say that I hesitantly requested this book. McDaniel has a knack for teen romances (and many deal with tragedy and difficult topics). Honestly, that is not my typical genre. However, the school bombing storyline is what ultimately drew me in. Let’s face it, this has been happening in our schools. When I was in high school, a bomb was found after a threat was called in (luckily, before detonation). Just this past year, my children’s school was evacuated due to a “device” being found (turned out to be inactive, but it was still scary). My point is – it was relevant to me, so I took the plunge. I am glad I did.
I was instantly drawn into the book. McDaniel starts the story with a bang – pun intended – with the explosion in the very first chapter. Then, the following chapters go back to the events leading up to the explosion. What a fabulous way to capture the reader’s attention!
The story is told from the perspectives of several Edison High students – senior President Morgan, football golden boy Trent (Morgan’s boyfriend), cheerleader Kelli (Morgan’s best friend), and the “bad boy” Roth. We get to know the characters and what they were like before the tragedy, and how they were affected afterwards.
I thought that some of the dialogue was a little cheesy, and the characters were a little bit stereotypical. However, the plotline made up for it, and every time I took a break from reading it, I found myself thinking about it, and wanting to get back to reading to see what happened next. The underlying romance in the story was nice – it wasn’t the main theme of the book – just one of the results of the events that transpired.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to any YA reader. I will be searching out more of McDaniel’s work in the future.