The Straight Road to Kylie (ISBN 1416936009)

A truly awful book:
This is a truly awful book that fails on every level. I bought it after reading the description and believing the writer would have a good knowledge of Kylie Minogue. And that his Kylie fandom would come across strongly throughout the book. But this is not the case. What this writer knows about Kylie Minogue could be written on the back of a postage stamp in one inch letters. The writing style is empty, the characters are shallow and unlikeable - the lead character is someone you already dislike after about 10 pages. These characters and the world they inhabit have no redeeming features. The world can do without them with no great loss. When you write a book about a character's obsession with Kylie Minogue, you need to do more than mention her in passing - you need to convey that passion, obsession throughout the pages of the book. Kylie is an aside in this book - just one of many, many, many shallow interests of the shallow lead character. I do not rate this book with even 1 star. I had to click on a star to complete this review. But the book is truly awful and the writer should be ashamed.

Took me right back to WPHS:
I picked this book up after my parents sent me an article from the newspaper. As a former student of the nonfictional Winter Park High School, I was interested to see what a fellow schoolmate would come up with. While the characters were shallow, the storyline held the book together. The writing style, however, left a lot to be desired. The book does more telling then showing. The characters are fun, but the excessive use of landmarks were a little bit distracting. I knew exactly which Target, Barnes & Noble, and Chick-fil-a they were at in the story. Homecoming at Universal's Citywalk was a reality. The use of all of these names seemed gratuitous, since they added nothing more to the story than advertising. The end ties together neatly, like the happy-teen movies they made fun of at points in the book. To sum up: weak writing, fun story.

Straight or Gay, You'll Love This Book:
Life is fabulous for Jonathan Parish. He's seventeen, out and proud, and ready to party through senior year with his posse of best girlfriends. But the year starts off with the wrong kind of bang when Jonathan -- in an inebriated lapse of judgment -- sleeps with a friend of his...a girl friend! When word gets around that hot-but-previously-unavailable Jonathan might be on the market, the school's It girl approaches him with a proposal: pretend to be her boyfriend, and achieve popularity like he's never known. But popularity isn't what Jonathan wants. And suddenly, going back into the closet becomes Jonathan's only way to get what he's after -- a trip to see Kylie Minogue. (Summary from Amazon) The Straight Road to Kylie is one of the most recent and best gay teen books I've read. Everything about it seemed to capture and represent Jonathan's life perfectly and made it seem real. To be honest, I couldn't relate to the characters in many ways because I'm not eighteen or gay and I definitely don't host parties and rarely even go to them but as I was reading this, I felt like I was there, partying with Jonathan and his friends. The prose and characterizations make it seem that real. I must say that after reading this a few of my opinions have changed, including those on pop goddess, Kylie Minogue, who I now worship.

It's very good, but for peculiar tastes:
So, Jonathan Parish is a gay boy, out and proud. He plans a party with his friends, drinks way too much, and loses his virginity to a girl named Alex. (As in alexis.) This news travels fast in the apparently nonfictional Winter Parks High. And it travels to the most popular girl on campus. Now she wants to date him, but he says yes to one condition; on spring break, she takes him to see his favorite Idol, Kylie minogue. (she's real too, in case you haven't heard of her.) Now that everyone thinks Jonathan is straight, he's dating the most popular girl in school, his friends won't hang out with him because their halloween plans are ruined and he needs to keep the secret safe! I liked the book personally. It has a very unique writing style that would work better as an audiobook. It is written like a gay high-schooler's quote, which will make teens (like myself) love the book, but older people will have a hard time understanding it due to slang. Nico Medina has a lot of fun landscaping Orlando to his memories, and it shows. almost everywhere the cast goes is labeled with a well-known name. (Borders, target, disney world and pac-sun to name a few.) This gets slightly annoying near the end when it's been mentioned quite a bit. It's a great debut book, but his next book might not be as good if it has the same falters. If you want a book not about gay people, check out thee author's newest book, Fat Hoochie Prom Queen. Writing- Very modern, but it'll probably be laughes at in 20 years Cast- The cast is fun, but steriotypical. Gets better halfway through the book when everyone starts to flesh out.

Honestly an AMAZING, fun, and very well-written book!!!!!:
Ok, so yes- I am a HUGE Kylie Minogue fan, and searching for Kylie stuff is what prompted my discovery of this book. Luckily! Major Kylie fan or not, this book is a great read. Nico Medina vividly creates a wild, fun, exciting, emotional, and incredibly realistic senior year for a close group of high school senior friends dealing with school, friendships, crushes, and all the excitements involved therein. Medina does an excellent job of keeping the story flowing naturally and with plenty of exciting, oh-my-god-what-is-going-to-happen moments! I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone looking to enjoy a comical, well-written, fast-paced book. And, on top of that you perchance like Kylie Minogue?? You will LOVE your time spent reading this book- guaranteed! ;)