The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch

Gut Instinct Rating - 5

Characters - 4

Believability for type and topics - 5

Similarity to other books - 5

Writing Style - 4

Excitement Factor - 2

Story Line - 4

Title Relevance - 5

Cover art - 5

To read or not to read? Read if you dare - at least that's what I keep reading.

Movie? None...unless it's a secret...

Goodreads users gave this book a 4.04. I think it was more deserving of a 4.33.

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Published on October 1, 2007

Pages: 351

Publishing Company: Little, Brown & Company

Number of books by author: 14 (Book 1 of 3)

Genre: Mystery, Fantasy, Fiction, Adventure, Young Adult (Although I would categorize it as a children's book)

So, let me start by saying I enjoyed this book. Let me also follow up with, there's not anything special about it either. This book reminded me of the Harry Potter/Babysitter's Club/Goosebumps of our children's era. For children who are starting to transition from children's books to young adult books, this is a perfect book. It had a Disney-esque feel about it, however, in that it could be easily read by an adult and enjoyed.

What I loved most about this book is the author. Yeah! The author has a starring role in this book. He becomes a character. Based on his anonymity and his childish charm, I'd say this guy is as honest and deceptive in the real world as he is on paper. We start off by getting an introduction from PB (the author's initials). He tells us this book is dangerous, secretive, that we can use our imagination's to make it our own (even leaving space for us to write our own chapter), and best of all, he's real. It's as if we are taking part in the editing of our own book. I would've assumed this to be written by a man, even before I dug up his photo on goodreads, despite the book being written from a young girl's perspective. He became my favorite character and why I didn't get too bored.

But, aside from all those funny feelings, even a chuckle throughout, this book was rather boring. Maybe I'm too serious, too adult, for my mind to run wild through this book - I'm not sure. The characters, given the circumstances laid out at the beginning of this journey, are easily relate-able, but even with all the reasons we can't know, I wanted more about the characters. Maybe their emotions? Maybe more backstory to what was really happening in their minds. Maybe this is unveiled in the second book? I don't know, but I felt some sort of disconnect. I didn't empathize with any of them. Maybe that was the writing style, maybe it was the point. Either way, I felt like I needed more of these characters.

I can't really summarize the book, because it needs to be read. Even though I'm not supposed to tell you to read it, I am. This is the perfect light read for a light day. Not something you read if you want something more, or meaningful, emotive even. This is just something you read, and you enjoy it.