Diplomatic Immunity by Brodi Ashton
To be published on September 6, 2016 by Balzer + Bray
Source: eARC for review
Synopsis from Goodreads: Raucous parties, privileged attitudes, underage drinking, and diplomatic immunity...it’s all part of student life on Embassy Row.
Piper Baird has always dreamed of becoming a journalist. So when she scores a scholarship to exclusive Chiswick Academy in Washington, DC, she knows it’s her big opportunity.
Chiswick offers the country’s most competitive prize for teen journalists—the Bennington scholarship—and winning will ensure her acceptance to one of the best schools in the country.
Piper isn’t at Chiswick for two days before she witnesses the intense competition in the journalism program—and the extreme privilege of the young and wealthy elite who attend her school. And Piper knows access to these untouchable students just might give her the edge she’ll need to blow the lid off life at the school in a scathing and unforgettable exposé worthy of the Bennington.
The key to the whole story lies with Rafael Amador, the son of the Spanish ambassador—and the boy at the center of the most explosive secrets and scandals on Embassy Row. Rafael is big trouble—and when he drops into her bedroom window one night, asking for help, it’s Piper’s chance to get the full scoop.
But as they spend time together, Piper discovers that despite his dark streak, Rafael is smart, kind, funny, and gorgeous—and she might have real feelings for him. How can she break the story of a lifetime if it could destroy the boy she just might love?
Review of Diplomatic Immunity by Brodi Ashton
I really liked Brodi Ashton's Everneath trilogy - yes, it was chockful of adolescent angst and had a bothersome love triangle, but it also had a compelling narrative voice and a lot of humor.Sadly, I was a little underwhelmed. I felt like the premise had a lot of promise that was never fully realized.
Piper Barnes dreams of being an award-winning student journalist and is thrilled to receive a scholarship to Chiswick, a fancy DC prep school that educates the children of diplomats and politicians.
Then suddenly two guys are crazy about her, awkwardness and all. It's not the wrenching sort of love triangle Ashton wrote in her paranormal series, but I felt like one of the guys was just sort of thrown in there for no good reason.
Piper's family situation was interesting to me (they are very low income and her brother is on the autism spectrum) and I wished those issues - the class differences between Piper and her classmates and perhaps the way her brother's medical issues contributed to the family's financial troubles - had been explored more.
But mostly, I wanted more plot - more intrigue and scandal.
The book - and its title - do bring up an intriguing angle: that some of the students at her school are diplomats' kids and have diplomatic immunity.
Piper puts together her story and then gets worried about exposing her classmates' secrets and seems to think that publishing the story anonymously is a good idea (Uh... okay. But how can she win the award if no one knows who wrote the article? She just never seemed to think things through.)
I guess I felt a bit let down by what I hoped the book would deliver versus what it actually did. Cover and title aside, this is NOT a political thriller in any way, shape or form (to be fair, the synopsis above is pretty accurate) but more like a rich boy-poor girl romance with a DC setting and an anticlimactic ending.
I will definitely try another Brodi Ashton book, but this one was a bit of a miss for me.
aahh that sucks. and the overall sound of this book doesn't really seem like my type of read - I mean whiny heroine + love triangle + the entire idea of digging up and writing a reputation breaking story? Nope. Great review though, Jen! :)
ReplyDeleteThe triangle wasn't a huge deal, but it also didn't seem necessary to me. And, yeah, I was sort of disappointed that all the intrigue revolved around kids with fake IDs drinking, etc. I was hoping for political intrigue of some sort!
DeleteUgh! I so don't want to read this. The synopsis had me interested, but after reading your review, I'll pass. I can see this book pissing me off already.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the heads up, I was actually expecting a political thriller. Had high hopes for this one, the cover is gorgeous ( I love the font and color schemes!) and I also enjoyed Everneath but meh, this sounds like it's just full of drama.
ReplyDeleteI'm enjoying The Fixer series, which is what brought this book into my orbit. I thought this would have more of a political aspect to it. I think I'll still give it a go and see how I like it. Thanks for the review.
ReplyDeleteSeems like this was decent but that there were some aspects of this that were simply really unappealing. Like the love triangle that didn't entirely seem necessary and a plot that left something to be desired. A shame :(
ReplyDeleteOh no! my bestie didn't love this book, either. Now I'm a bit scared to read because I love Brodi... Well, maybe I like it a bit more.
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