Rolling Dice

But when people have this opinion of you, it's very hard to change it. They've judged you, and they like to label you, and they like you to stay with that label for ever. You've been allocated a place in their society  and that's where they want you to stay.

Again Random House have delivered another Young Adult literary gem. Rolling Dice might not deal with any obvious issues but Reekles expertly tackles and highlights the daily troubles and turmoils of ordinary teenagers, the issues we have to deal with all the time, not just the one-offs. For this reason I fell in love with Rolling Dice as it doesn't pretend to be anything it's not. It is a simple love story set in a normal high school (in America) with normal problems.


Okay, Reekles employs some artistic license but it wouldn't make for a good story if she didn't! I really related to Madison and Dwight and although I also knew Bryce would turn out to be a douche I liked the opportunity he gave for Reekles to allow Madison to affiliate with the populars. It was a predictable plot with the many expected twists, the leading popular girl becoming really bitchy, the various kisses behind people's backs, the convoluted political social situations of American high school cliques.


However the one thing that really stood out in this novel was Reekles amazing precise sum-ups of teenage life - for instance the quote at the top? Who hasn't felt like they were forced into a mould at school and just weren't allowed to change, any change was ignored and you stayed as the geeky fat kid who lived in the library? When really you had lost weight, started playing volleyball and did drama productions? You just weren't allowed to change. And throughout this novel there would be a paragraph where I would just stop and go 'yeah that's completely right'. And some books need to do that, they have to put what you've felt into words and make it real but also allow you to distance yourself from it and realise it isn't just you, nearly always someone feels or has felt the same way.

'I'll just do what I've been waiting to do all night'.
And then he kisses me.
It's a cheesy line, and I roll my eyes at it - but it almost makes me blush, and I wonder if it's true; if he actually has been waiting all night to kiss me. It's kind of a weird feeling, being kissed. But a good kind of weird. I don't know what I'm doing at all, but I just follow Bryce's lead and press my lips back against his.

I'm giving Rolling Dice a deserved 4 out of 5 and will definitely look out for more of Reekles work. Thank you Random House! Rolling Dice can be purchased on Amazon.co.uk for £5.24 (Paperback) and £4.74 (Kindle).

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