{Review} Last Cut by Wren Handman

Title: Last Cut
Author: Wren Handman
Format: NetGalley e-book ARC
Publisher: James Lorimer & Company 
Release date: April 1st 2013
Date Read: February 3rd 2013
Rating: ✭

Caitlin Myers's greatest ambition is to be a star, and she can outshine anyone at her school. But then Lianne comes to town and starts to give Caitlin a run for her money, even getting top billing in the school play.

So when Caitlin's offered a bit role as the bikini girl in a low-budget slasher flick, she ignores the warning bells (and her parents), lies about her age, and takes the part.

It's not long before Caitlin finds herself out of her element when it comes to bossy directors and experienced film crews. Her only way out is to fess up about her age, but if she does, she'll have to come clean to her parents, her friends, and her boyfriend about the things she's done

Being that first reviewer on Goodreads is a lot of pressure. Well, at least that's what I feel. It's just kind of scary knowing that you're the first out of every person on Goodreads. I don't mean to sound full of myself but it's kind of like I have the opportunity to make or break an author's book.

While I enjoy writing rants about books I hate, there's always this little part of me that says: "This isn't who you are. These aren't the reviews you write". And it's true. When I write rants, I'm bitchy, crude, and honestly, not very good. 

I'll admit it to everyone: I write rants for the views. My rant of FROM ASHES is one of my most liked and commented on reviews of all time and I like that. Who doesn't like the attention? I certainly cannot say I don't like being popular for a few meager moments.

However, I never feel that my purposely ranty-reviews are my favorite or my best. They're just not as good as my other reviews. My favorite review out of all that I've written is actually a favorable review (five stars and all that). 

So, even though this book is definitely among the books I hate, I will not be ranting in this review - or at least I will not be purposely ranty. I will be expressing my honest opinions, which aren't really favorable.

Now, with that out of the way, let's get on to the actual review.

LAST CUT is a book that I normally would never pick up but it was on NetGalley and it's physically impossible for me not to request everything and anything from that site because well it's free and this is me on a day to day basis:

So, I requested it and got approved because everyone loves me there and promptly forgot about it because I do that - a lot. However, I soon remembered it and picked it up. LAST CUT is an extremely fast book to read since it's smaller than my 7-year-old brother's chapter books. 

My main problem was with the MC, as I'll be covering in the next segment. 

Characters

Caitlin Myer isn't the worst heroine I've ever encountered but she definitely is pretty high on my I-really-hate-you list (and yes, I really have one). Caitlin is a pretty generic heroine - for the most part at least. I could go over her "generic qualities" but I'd rather go with the one worded explanation: Mary-Sue.

What I really hated about her was her tendency to slut shaming. If you don't know this about me, I really really hate slut shaming and her overall hate of girls. Caitlin just seems to hate every female that she meets - including her "friends". Some examples for you:

What does she have that I don't? Other than a tiny waist and gigantic breasts. And she acts soinnocent, like she has no idea that her tank top is three sizes too small.

And the second example: 
"Book?"

"Ender's Game..."

..."Didn't you say that if there wasn't a love triangle in it, you weren't interested?"

"That was two years ago," Hannah says defensively and I shrug. She's probably just trying to seem smart for some guy.

Seriously? This is what the whole book was like. I could go on but honestly? It's physically painful to go over these again. The other characters were lifeless and the only real character in this was Caitlin. The other characters really just were there to pamper Caitlin and tell her how amahzing she is.

Plot and Writing

Plot

The plot is basically a caution tale except it was done horribly. The plot to this is basically Caitlin applies for a job in a movie, gets the job but needed to lie about her age, has to take of her shirt for boob shot, people find out she's sixteen and is kicked from the movie, and the ending? Everyone leaves her. I'm serious. The last scene is her boyfriend walking away after Caitlin's friends had walked away. 


I think Handman was trying to say something with this. Maybe it was "don't lie" or something to that key but in the end? It failed terribly. It didn't teach me anything. It didn't do anything except leave me thinking "Did I really waste half an hour reading this?".

Writing

By the 5%, I was sure this was fan fiction or written by a twelve year old. I'm sorry but the writing was atrocious. I really don't think that Wren Handman had an editor because there were so many grammatical errors and poorly phrased sentences (and don't say that's because this is an ARC, it's not - LAST CUT is a republished book since it was originally published August 13th, 2012).

Likes and Dislikes

Likes:

- N/A

Dislikes:

- Characters
- Plot
- Writing

In conclusion

LAST CUT is a really bad book and I do not recommend it to any one.

Lisbeth is an American  teenager who enjoys killing people on videogames and discussing decapitation in great detail. She's also obsessed with Oceana, but you're not supposed to know that.