Pixelated
L.S. Murphy
Bloomsbury Spark
Released June 30, 2015
Young Adult
Rating: 3/5
Quotes from the book:
“I’m a moth to a bug zapper. Once I touch him, we’ll burn bright, but I’ll flame out.”
“Maybe breaking my own heart is easier than letting him break it, but I doubt it.”
“I slam into someone who wraps his arms around me, making me feel like the world will be okay with his touch. It could only be Les.”
“I made my choice the minute I met you, Piper.”
“Les kisses me harder, longer, and with all the passion in a Latin ballad.”
Pixelated is a novel that hooks you in from the first line. I was unable to put the book down. It’s fast paced and it makes for the ideal summer beach read.
Piper Marks is forced to move to Clarkston, Iowa her senior year of high school. What Piper loves more than anything is to take pictures. Her mom and her new husband bought out the local newspaper and ask Piper to fill in when their full time photographer quits. Her new job requires her to spend a lot of time taking snapshots of the football games. This leads her to Les Williams, the charismatic yet mysterious and quiet star of the football team. There’s a lot of drama thrown into the mix for good measure as Piper gradually learns how to adjust to this small town life. All the while trying to avoid getting her heartbroken by beautiful Les who has a girlfriend that Piper has never actually seen.
I like how passionate Piper is. The way Murphy writes some of Piper’s thoughts about her surroundings and finding the perfect shot is really beautiful and descriptive. It makes you want to head out to a place with some incredible scenery and start taking your own pictures. I don’t think we see enough female bonding in general. The girls Piper bonds with at her new school are for the most part forgettable besides some of the drama that they later cause. I would have also liked to see her connecting back with her old friends more than she did.
The relationship between Piper and Les is obviously the heart of the book. There’s a slow build up between them but you can’t help but wonder why Piper doesn’t push more to get him to talk about his girlfriend. Everyone around her constantly mentions this girlfriend except for Les, who seems to be into Piper. I think Les is a really great character. According to some of the other kids, he never talks to anybody outside of the guys on the football team so it shocks the whole school when he starts talking to Piper in public. I like how they first form a friendship although the tension is pretty much always there between them. This isn’t my favorite YA couple by any means, but I thought it was still pretty decent.
This is different from other YA books because of the topic of photography. I’m sure there are other books that talk about it but I’ve never read a YA book with another narrator that was so in love with it.
I would recommend this to fans of young adult books who want to read something fast paced during the summer. Of course, you can read it anytime, but I think it’s fitting now in particular. It’s something light and Piper is a great narrator, fans of any young adult books in general should take a liking to it.
L.S. Murphy is a great writer and I look forward to reading her books in the future. Pixelated is an easy read that may have it’s fair share of your typical young adult book moments, but it also is creative and passionate. I really enjoyed the story and the characters in particular. It could be predictable at times and it more or less followed a specific format which I wasn’t a huge fan of, but it was still a decent book.
Questions to answer after you’ve read the book:
Bloomsbury Spark
Released June 30, 2015
Young Adult
Rating: 3/5
Quotes from the book:
“I’m a moth to a bug zapper. Once I touch him, we’ll burn bright, but I’ll flame out.”
“Maybe breaking my own heart is easier than letting him break it, but I doubt it.”
“I slam into someone who wraps his arms around me, making me feel like the world will be okay with his touch. It could only be Les.”
“I made my choice the minute I met you, Piper.”
“Les kisses me harder, longer, and with all the passion in a Latin ballad.”
Pixelated is a novel that hooks you in from the first line. I was unable to put the book down. It’s fast paced and it makes for the ideal summer beach read.
Piper Marks is forced to move to Clarkston, Iowa her senior year of high school. What Piper loves more than anything is to take pictures. Her mom and her new husband bought out the local newspaper and ask Piper to fill in when their full time photographer quits. Her new job requires her to spend a lot of time taking snapshots of the football games. This leads her to Les Williams, the charismatic yet mysterious and quiet star of the football team. There’s a lot of drama thrown into the mix for good measure as Piper gradually learns how to adjust to this small town life. All the while trying to avoid getting her heartbroken by beautiful Les who has a girlfriend that Piper has never actually seen.
I like how passionate Piper is. The way Murphy writes some of Piper’s thoughts about her surroundings and finding the perfect shot is really beautiful and descriptive. It makes you want to head out to a place with some incredible scenery and start taking your own pictures. I don’t think we see enough female bonding in general. The girls Piper bonds with at her new school are for the most part forgettable besides some of the drama that they later cause. I would have also liked to see her connecting back with her old friends more than she did.
The relationship between Piper and Les is obviously the heart of the book. There’s a slow build up between them but you can’t help but wonder why Piper doesn’t push more to get him to talk about his girlfriend. Everyone around her constantly mentions this girlfriend except for Les, who seems to be into Piper. I think Les is a really great character. According to some of the other kids, he never talks to anybody outside of the guys on the football team so it shocks the whole school when he starts talking to Piper in public. I like how they first form a friendship although the tension is pretty much always there between them. This isn’t my favorite YA couple by any means, but I thought it was still pretty decent.
This is different from other YA books because of the topic of photography. I’m sure there are other books that talk about it but I’ve never read a YA book with another narrator that was so in love with it.
I would recommend this to fans of young adult books who want to read something fast paced during the summer. Of course, you can read it anytime, but I think it’s fitting now in particular. It’s something light and Piper is a great narrator, fans of any young adult books in general should take a liking to it.
L.S. Murphy is a great writer and I look forward to reading her books in the future. Pixelated is an easy read that may have it’s fair share of your typical young adult book moments, but it also is creative and passionate. I really enjoyed the story and the characters in particular. It could be predictable at times and it more or less followed a specific format which I wasn’t a huge fan of, but it was still a decent book.
Questions to answer after you’ve read the book:
- What did you think about Les? Were you mad that he wasn’t upfront from the beginning regarding the whole girlfriend situation?
- What were your thoughts on how Piper treated her mom, mom’s new husband, and her own father?
- What did you think about the information Piper discovered about her father?
- Who was your favorite character?
- Are there other YA books that have mentioned photography in this way that you’ve read before?
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