2 out of 4 stars
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Small Town Diva is a short novel written by Shirley M. Polk. The story follows Rilee Carr, a teenager whose biggest dream is to become a famous singer. After her mother dies, she goes to live with her wealthy aunt and uncle in Texas. As Rilee adapts to her new home, she refuses to let anyone get close to her, including Ben, the boy next door. However, when her family goes on vacation to the Bahamas, she discovers that Ben’s family are vacationing there too. While striking up a brief romance with Ben, she attracts a stalker because of her previous publicity as a teen singer. Eventually, she meets her stalker, who is actually a harmless, young reporter named Oliver whom she ends up befriending. Years later, Rilee becomes involved in Ben’s family drama, but the only person who has the answers is Oliver. Additionally, new information regarding her biological father resurfaces. Despite all that is going on in Rilee’s life, can she and Ben rekindle their romance for good?
This story has a unique storyline. There is a lot happening all at once and the plot is very fast-paced. The story is also unpredictable, which I found to be quite enjoyable. In one instance, I thought Rilee’s stalker would be a sinister character (as stalkers usually are), but he ended up being a good friend to her. Furthermore, some parts initially confused me, but I later realized that there was a valid reason for them. One instance was when Ben and his father were acting really strange and I couldn’t understand why until it was revealed that they were actually being impersonated. All of this gave the story depth and contributed to its uniqueness.
Despite this, the story was lacking. Although Rilee’s passion is singing, I don’t know what genre of music she prefers. I know she sings in a church choir, but she was also in a band and sang solos at different gigs. I also don’t know if she writes her own songs and if so, where her inspiration comes from. She also sings at The Grass Hut, a bar in the Bahamas, but I don’t know what type of music is played there. These were important aspects of the story that could have added to Rilee’s character but they were missing.
In addition, there also needed to be more descriptions, especially since parts of the story were set in the exotic islands of the Bahamas. Most places were described quite vaguely. One example was, ‘a beautiful isolated hidden grove of palms, flora, and fauna.’ Seeing as palms are a type of flora, this was redundant. The words, ‘isolated,’ and, ‘hidden,’ also imply the same thing in this context, so this was also redundant. Examples of Bahamian culture such as the food or music could also have been included to make the setting come alive.
One thing did not make sense to me and that was when Rilee was waiting for Oliver to visit her, but he didn’t and the next morning she found a note from him on her doorstep stating that he could not come because he had car trouble. If he had car trouble, who dropped off the note? The book doesn’t say.
Several sentences lacked fullstops and commas, but other than these I saw no other noteworthy errors. I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars for its unique storyline and enjoyable unpredictability. I deducted 2 stars because of the issues I highlighted earlier. I think that this book would appeal to older teenagers and young adults. Romance is a central theme of the book, but since physical affection progresses no further than kissing, it would be appropriate for this age group.
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Small Town Diva
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