Lock, Stock and Over a Barrel by Melody Carlson

Melody Carlson

Title: Lock, Stock and Over a Barrel (Dear Daphne # 1)

Author: Melody Carlson

Published: June 2013 by B&H Publishing Group

Pages: 304

Find it at: Flipkart / Amazon

My Rating: 4/5!

Blurb from the cover!

With high hopes, Daphne Ballinger lands her dream job at The New York Times. But it's not long until writing about weddings becomes a painful reminder of her own failed romance, and her love of the city slowly sours as well. Is it time to give up the Big Apple for her small hometown of Appleton?

When her eccentric Aunt Dee passes away and leaves a sizeable estate to Daphne, going back home is an easy choice. What isn’t easy is coming to terms with the downright odd clauses written into the will.

Daphne only stands to inherit the estate if she agrees to her aunt's very specific posthumous terms -- personal and professional. And if she fails to comply, the sprawling old Victorian house shall be bequeathed to . . . Aunt Dee’s cats.

And if Daphne thinks that’s odd, wait until she finds out an array of secrets about Aunt Dee's life, and how imperfect circumstances can sometimes lead to God's perfect timing.

My Thoughts!

This book was a very different Melody Carlson that I read, the previous reads being Harsh Pink and Deep Green from the Truecolors series. Though this book doesn't have teenagers as protagonists, all these books are categorized under the label 'Christian', because all of them have this underlying theme relating to God, prayers and living life as a believer in the Almighty. It is subtle, not too overpowering and comes into the picture only towards the end when the protagonist and characters need support. Lock, Stock and Over a Barrel is a contemporary story of a young woman, Daphne Ballinger, living in New York since the past 12 years, writing wedding stories for The New York Times. She belongs to a small town called Appleton, but moved to New York with big dreams, including climbing to the top of the ladder as a journalist. Just that she seems stuck and unable to do much, mostly because of her cautious personality. She'd had her heart broken once while in New York, which makes her overly cautious and an 'avoider'. 

When she learns that her Aunt Dee in Appleton has passed away, she decides to move back into Appleton, especially after learning that she's the heiress to everything her aunt owned. This is when she discovers how little she truly knew about her aunt. Aunt Dee is a mystery with secrets left behind, known only to the lawyer and now, Daphne. She isn't really all she made people believe. She was much more than that, and it is truly fascinating. I mean, as it mostly pertained to literary stuff, I felt really excited about those prospects, about the possibility of stuff like that actually happening. So cool! The writing style is descriptive and simple. Not too simple, but it seems to have a nice flow and ring to it that you get used to the way you're understanding the story without any intermissions in between. I like books that successfully recreate the aura of a place I haven't seen, so that I can easily imagine and 'be there' as if I'm a close observer. This book does all that beautifully! I would almost like to live in a place like Appleton. Such a sweet town! 

I liked all the characters, who seemed to have clear distinctive personalities, so that you can try hazarding guesses about their actions. Fun people! Except for Ryan, Daphne's heart-breaker-ex-lover, who is such a snob! Sometimes I did wish Daphne would stop being so under-confident and be clearer about her feelings. And it was pleasant to see how she grew as a mature person in the book. I didn't find myself rooting for any one guy to be her future love interest, though. They all seemed nice enough, but not the perfect kind of guy I wished she had. True, that's what the book wants to convey, it's not all dreamy-dreams in reality. Sometimes you gotta settle for what's available. Maybe. Then there's this wonderfully mysterious Dear Daphne column, the secret to which I can't divulge here, but I found the questions and answer-giving very enjoyable and meaningful. This book's got some solid meaning! 

Overall, the essence of the book is simple. The life of an ordinary girl who wants to fulfill her dreams, who gets heart-broken, who gets the opportunity to revive her life again, who feels confused because she's human and she's got to deal with many different personalities and trying to figure them out in light of the situation, dealing with secrets and making decisions, being given tremendous responsibilities, wanting to feel loved, then understanding and realizing that life is meant to be lived, whatever the circumstances, it is important to focus on being happy and believing that God would take you there, that everything has its own course, that things take time to settle sometimes, that it's important to have faith. There is no over-dramatization of any sort, even though I felt it seemed a bit underplayed. The blurb focuses on Aunt Dee's secrets and the book gives off a vibe that it'll be oh-so-exciting! For me it was slightly less exciting than I had anticipated, mostly because the 'secrets' thing is not the essence of the book. 'Life isn't perfect but how some people choose to deal with it is what matters', is what the book truly stands for. 

There is an important clause in Aunt Dee's will which just wasn't getting any closer to completion as the book neared the end and I was anxious, because that was something that you can't just deal with in the last few pages! Turns out it has been left for the next book in the series! Which didn't make me particularly happy, but it's okay. The wait would be worth it! ;) I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a light yet meaningful contemporary read, it's easy and fast. Young Adult readers, Adult readers, anyone. There isn't any explicit content as such. 

Thank you B&H publishers for this book! :)

HARSH PINK by Melody Carlson

Author Melody Carlson

Author: Melody Carlson

Publisher: THINK Books (an imprint of NavPress)

Published in: 2007

Find it at: Amazon 

Harsh Pink- Color Me Burned, is the final installment (12th) in the TRUECOLORS series; a story of Reagan Mercer, seventeen, who's the 'new girl' in High School after shifting from Boston with her Mom. She's smart, talented and infused with the eagerness and zeal to get accepted in the new school. It's a book that remarkably presents deep rooted apprehensions in teenagers, the way they perceive things, the difference in mindset among   different girls. Literally a mental roller coaster ride of the feelings and situations faced by Reagan.

Storyline

Reagan gets selected into varsity team for cheerleading, getting herself in Miss Mean and Snooty Kendra's bad books. Reagan has snatched her place in the team and Kendra's set to let everyone know who's the boss. But Reagan is smarter. She knows how to wean herself out of tricky situations and so decides that the best way to keep herself safe would be to befriend Kendra and her gang. She uses Jocelyn, who's new to the High School squad like her, to strike friendship with Kendra. Soon it's all a "Mean girls" setup, each of them using each other for their selfish purposes. Reagan's accepted into their gang, (with slight resentment from Sally, Kendra's best who thinks Reagan's going to steal her place) and it isn't long before Kendra and Sally are playing real mean tricks on Jocelyn to make her leave the squad, so that Kendra can replace her. 

While Reagan feels guilty about backstabbing her friend, she plays along with them, being mean, to stay in Kendra's good books. She knows she can be much better off if she doesn't have people like Kendra or Sally on her back, so she goes selfish and lets them trick Jocelyn into quitting. Meanwhile, it's getting harder to take care of Reagan's Grandmom with Alzheimer's, so her Mom decides to send her to a nursing facility. But Reagan goes against it and says she'll do everything to make sure Nana (her Grandmom) is comfortable, which is another activity that takes up her time. 

Harsh Pink book cover

Andrea Lynch was a 'Geek Girl' who befriended Reagan when she was new to the place, but Reagan didn't want to be seen with someone like her. She wanted to be friends with "A class" people and Andrea seemed a "C minus" to her. As soon as school started, Reagan dumped Andrea and carried on with her new friends. However, she notices that Andrea sticks around with her Grandma (who seems to be fond of her) and thinks it's a trick to get friendly with Reagan. She thinks it's lame, but Andrea actually was working with a Youth Program and she knew that old people need Love and care more than anything else. She tells Reagan that she used to be mean and famous in middle school, but she wasn't happy (much like Reagan feels now), so she decided to commit herself to God and work for humanity.

Reagan makes plans to go out with Kendra to shop for stuff for her party and promises her Mom to be back home (where Nana's alone) well on time to take care of her. But she's having fun and doesn't realize the time and when she gets home, finds Nana on the floor. She had fallen down and broken her pelvic bone and had been staying there for a long time, since no one was home. Nana's transferred to a nursing facility that's terrible (after being treated at the hospital) and Reagan feels guilty because it's all her fault (I really hated that girl then!). She meets Nana everyday for an hour but missed out a whole week after a few days, because of her busy life (Yeah, right!).

It's Sally's eighteenth birthday and though she didn't want to be there, Reagan's present for the sleepover. However, she's worried sick when she sees them drinking hard and forcing her to do the same. She makes an excuse and sneaks out and before she knows, she's crying. She meets Andrea on the way, who offers her a lift home and is all ears as Reagan spills all her feelings out. Andrea seems to understand and tells her to be good and go back to make sure everything's okay. When Reagan returns, she finds Sally in an unconscious state because of alcohol poisoning and calls the paramedics. It's because of her timely action that Sally's life was saved. Reagan finally understood the importance of true friends and goes back to being friends with Andrea, Jocelyn and even Sally. She even embraces Christianity because she now believes in God (thanks to Andrea).

My review

Teenage period spells havoc, literally. Be it emotions, feelings, situations, moods or every simple thing that's completely normal till you're a preteen. Harsh Pink is a good read, especially because it presents the turmoil and the feelings teens go through. What Reagan felt when she was nervous about being at loggerheads with Miss Popular Kendra, how she decides to befriend her, how she feels they might be tricking her, her thoughts and guilt when she thinks she's being part of the backstabbing game towards a friend, or when she's not able to take time out for Nana. I think the descriptions and the way it's been told is fantastic.

However, I personally do not like mean girls and this book was totally about that. Though I was hooked to the book, there were parts when I felt frustrated at the way things were going and somewhat disliked Reagan for behaving selfish, but I guess that's how mean girls actually are. In that case, it gives a pretty cool insight into what transpires between the 'bullies' and 'meanies' at school. Though I was disappointed with the way Reagan's Mom treats her Mother, I liked the way Reagan felt sorry for her and helped Nana out. That's a different issue I wanted to kill Reagan for leaving her alone at home, because of which she had to deal with a painful recovery plus a life in the nursery. Reagan says she'll get Nana back home when she's recovered, but I felt real angry when the book ended just like that! Not a word about the old lady. (I might seem a little too concerned, but I have a sensitive point when it comes to Grandmas). 

Apart from not-a-word-about-Nana thing, the ending gave me some satisfaction. It gives the message that whatever the situation, wherever you go, if you're in a problem, it's the good people who're always there to help you out; true friends whom you might not even like, but they'll act selflessly for you anyway. That it's the love givers who feel contended with your success and help you out when you're in trouble. The 'fakies' and meanies wouldn't give a damn and will use you like a use-and-throw napkin. I liked the way Andrea helps Reagan and Sally transform, though I think it could have used more space to describe this 'transformation' (it spanned just three pages!). 

Overall, a good  read. Recommended for young and late teens- girls who're naturally mean would find their story told in a novel and the good ones would find out how mean people can get, and what apprehensions are buried under the mean, confident exterior of bullies.

There's something that Andrea says, when she's asking Reagan which course she'd decided to take for her life, that's stuck with me because of its deep meaning. Andrea said, "Not making a decision is the same as making one. It's like saying you like how things are going, that you want to keep heading in the same direction. But I think that's a bad choice".