ARC Review: Emancipated by M.G. Reyes

Title: Emancipated (???) 
Author: M.G. Reyes
Genre: Contemporary
Source: Edelweiss
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Publication Date: May 26th, 2015
Add it to Goodreads / Pre-order it on Amazon

Summary:

The good girl, the bad boy, the diva, the hustler, the rock star, and the nerd. Six teens legally liberated from parental control for six different reasons, all with one thing in common: something to hide.Now they’re sharing a house in Venice Beach, acting like a family, and living their lies. No parents. No limits. No alibis. One witnessed a crime, another might be a murderer—and one’s been spying on them all. As they cling to a fantasy of freedom and slowly let down their guards, the past creeps up on them. And when one of them gets arrested, everyone’s carefully constructed facade comes crumbling down.

I really enjoyed this book, I was able to start and finish it in only a few hours and it held my attention. Emancipated to me was a fun read, it was something I really enjoyed and characters that were interesting and a dream that every teenage has had at least once in their life. 

Emancipated is told in alternating POVs of Grace, Maya, Candace, Lucy, Paolo, John-Micheal and Lucy who all have their own reasons for being emancipated. What I liked most about having so many main characters was how they each had they own voice and their own story. Lucy was kicked out, Maya's parents deported, John-Micheal's dad died, Paolo's parents moved to Mexico and Grace and Candace to free themselves from Grace's mom. Which some of the reasons for them being emancipated annoy me because there were other ways to deal with the issue, but oh well. It is what it is. 

Emancipated reminded me of a spring break story, no parents, or families. Especially how it is written. The story takes place over about a year times and each chapter is dated. But there are whole days/weeks that are skipped! The main things really being highlighted was partying, smoking, Candace's acting and the band. It felt more like spring break than an actually life situation. 

But there are also all these little sub issues going on. Grace is writing to death row inmates, and meeting with one on a monthly basis, Maya is spying on her house mates, John-Micheal is dealing with his father's death, Lucy on what she wants to be in life. At times I felt like that was so much going on. Especially Paolo and Lucy. Paolo reminds me of one of those country club boys that wears plaid shirts, and sweater vests. He is described as looking boyish and than as a total man whore. Lucy told him several times to his face that she had no any interest other than being friends. But he still pursued her. Then he had this obsession with her. Needless to say, I didn't like Paolo. But wanting to know what was going to happen with all these smaller issues had me flipping the pages faster.   

When I finished Emancipated I actually rated it five stars. I enjoyed it. But than as I thought about it more and more my dislike for it grew. Now I didn't hate this book. I did really enjoy it but there were a lot of issues I had with it. (Does that make sense?) So I lowered my rating down to three stars instead. I am not sure if this will be a series. It is left off with a bit of cliff hanger to I hope so because I want to know what is going to happen. 

RATING: