Tangled - Carolyn Mackler

Tangled is about four teenagers, Jena, Skye, Dakota, and Owen, who are whisked away to Paradise for a vacation with their parents. Jena and Skye's mothers are best friends which means that Jena and Skye are always thrown together. Skye is an aspiring actress and is very intimidating to Jena, which causes Jena to feel insecure and babble a lot. On the other hand, Dakota and Owen are brothers and their mom decided that a vacation was a good idea to get Dakota's mind off things back home. Jena and Dakota meet one night and from then on, all four teens have a major impact on each other resulting in life changing events.

When Tangled first came out, I wasn't sure what it was going to be about but I knew I had read Mackler's The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Thing and really enjoyed it so I thought I would give this a try. Then when I saw the cover for this book, I just fell in love with it so I went out and bought it. I've had this book sitting on my bookshelf for months now and finally got around to picking it up and I read it pretty quickly.

I liked and disliked this book for one main reason so I guess I'll start with my likes. I really enjoyed how it gave each character a voice and showed the impact each person had on another. I felt like I was able to get to know all four characters better than I might normally have if it had been written from just one person's point of view. I thought it was nice to see what each character was going through and I really thought that each of their voices were unique and really made you remember who you were reading about. I loved that they were all intertwined with each other and each had their own problems and you got to see what got them to that point.

That said, even though I loved being able to get to know each character first hand, I wish that I would have been able to get more one on one time with each of them. I think my favorite character was Owen and I really would have liked to get an expansion of how his character grew. I saw a lot of possibility with him but his ending seemed kind of abrupt. Everyone else got a mention in Owen's ending about where they were, what and how they were doing but Owen's story just ended. I also kind of wish we would have gotten another section with them all having come back together in the same place to see just what kind of impact they had on each other..especially with Jena and Dakota.

I also felt that Skye's story fell a bit flat. I wasn't as invested in her as a character as I was with everyone else and couldn't wait to get through her portion of the book. I do think it's a shame though because her pain could have really wrenched your heart and make you feel for her.