Author: Taryn Bashford
Publisher: Pan MacMillan Australia
Publication date: 27th December 2017
R.R.P: $18.99
Pages: 375 pages
Harper Hunter doesn't know how it came to this. Her tennis dreams are collapsing: her coach says she doesn't have what it takes to make it in the world of professional tennis. Her new doubles partner is moody, mysterious and angry at the world. What is he hiding? She's in love with Jacob, but he is her sister's boyfriend. Or, he was, Harper could never betray Aria with Jacob... could she? As Harper's heart and dreams pull her in different directions, she has to figure out exactly what she wants. And just how hard she's willing to fight to get it.
My review
Thoughts on the book: May contain a spoiler
The Harper Effect is the debut YA novel from Australian author Taryn Bashford. It's about 16 year old Harper Hunter a tennis player who always seems to bottom out on the first round of any competition that she plays. This leads to her tennis coach letting her go because he doesn't believe she has the potential to become a professional tennis player like Harper wants to be. In the mean time a new coach is found and he suggests she plays doubles but her new doubles partner doesn't seem to like Harper at all and it seems a lost cause. This leads Harper to a crossroads in her life: does she continue to try and reach her dream of becoming a professional tennis player or give up on it all together? But this isn't the only thing that Harper has going on in her life, she has been in love with her neighbour and sister's boyfriend since forever and now that they are split up it seems he feels the same way. Does Harper betray the promise that both sisters made to never date their respective exes and let herself go for the boy she's always dreamed about and lose her sister in the process or loss the boy she's always loved but keep her and her sisters relationship they way it is?
There has been a bit of controversy around this book and the author recently and it does make me a little worried about how my review will be perceived, especially as I'm the first cab of the rank in the blog tour, but here goes. I was thrilled to be chosen to be apart of this blog tour and have the chance to receive an ARC as part of this. The Harper Effect was on my radar and I thought it would be one of my favourites for the year so upon recieving it I quickly divided into it expecting to be blown away. Unfortunately it didn't live quite up to my expectations which was a little disappointing.
First to the things that I really liked. I loved the insight into the whole tennis world, having never actually been around tennis much, I found it really interesting and I now have a much greater appreciation for tennis players and the tennis world. I really loved Harper's new coach Milo too and the tactics that he put into place for them, especially the funny sayings he enlists them to say when they are playing together like child for you (meaning you get the ball) and Milo for me (as in I'm getting this ball). It would have been very funny for other tennis players to hear this on court and not know what was going on. I also liked the friendship that Jacob, Aria and Harper had and their adventures in Purple Time. It sounded like a truly magical time and I would have loved to have been apart of a trio like that.
I didn't like a few aspects of how Harper behaved and how they weren't ever really addressed properly for instance the whole betrayal of her sister. They made a pack when they were little about how they would never get with one of the others exes despite how they might feel and the first chance Harper got she did just that. Basically as soon as she found out that Aria and Jacob has split up she was practically all over Jacob. Yes she has some reservations about it and yes she decided that when they would try it that they would hide it from everyone but that doesn't mean that she was doing the right thing. Then when everyone found out she never openly told Aria what happened or even really apologised for it yet expected everything to go back to normal with her sister. This leads me to the next part I didn't really like was when Harper was getting jealous about Colt with other girls and how he never tells her anything and leading her to getting angry and frustrated. What she was experiencing is basically what Aria was properly feeling about Jacob and Harper yet she doesn't comprehend that it is basically the same thing.
So that's my review for The Harper Effect I might not have liked it that much but that doesn't mean that you won't like it more than me. Thank you so much to Pan MacMillan Australia for allowing me to be a part of the blog tour for The Harper Effect and also for the author for allowing me an advance copy.
Rating: 3/5
Thank you for being a part of my blog tour, Jessica, and I’m so glad you enjoyed the insights into the tennis world. My brother played and coached in that world, and it was fascinating to be on the fringes of it when I was a teen. I never could believe that someone as young as 16 could be so talented at a sport. That’s not to say these amazing 16 year olds weren’t flawed – they were still young in terms of life experiences and made bad choices, and had to learn from those mistakes – just like your average teen. I guess that’s what I hoped would come across in The Harper Effect – Harper is flawed and does make mistakes, and she makes some bad choices, but then I hoped to show her moral transition thanks to the consequences of her choices. Perhaps I should’ve laboured that transition a little more. As a first time author, I’m keen to listen to feedback as there’s always more to learn in order to improve my writing for the next book. So thank you for your valuable feedback which will be going into my notebook for the next novel. Happy New Year!
ReplyDelete