Tangled by Carolyn Mackler

Overall Rating: 7 out of 10
Tangled by Carolyn Mackler tells the stories of four teenagers: Jena, Dakota, Skye and Owen. These teen's lives all are connected somehow, or, are literally "tangled" together.
The novel begins in the perspective of Jena, an all-too-ordinary girl who can't help feeling inferior when around Skye, a beautiful actress who just so happens to be a family friend. Unfortunately, Skye and Jena are stuck together at the Paradise resort over Spring Break.
To take her mind off of perfect Skye, Jena occupies herself with Dakota. Dakota charms his way into Jena's life, and although she takes it for something serious, she's really just a rebound girl in Dakota's eyes. The next portion of the story is devoted to Dakota, who is struggling to stay out of trouble after his girl friend dies in a car crash.
Next, we have Skye. Perfect on the outside, but not so perfect on the inside. It becomes obvious that Skye is dealing with depression, bordering suicidal, and when she learns a secret about her dead father, Skye's life spirals out of control.
Last but not least is Owen. Dakota's little brother, babied by his mom, and the somewhat anti-social blogger. However, through his blog, he meets Jena. And the two instantly connect. Owen, stuck at a summer camp, must decide between living his life or playing it safe.
A great aspect of this novel was Mackler's excellent character development. The reader can instantly connect with insecure Jena, confused Dakota, Skye, hiding behind a mask, and Owen, hiding behind a blog. The story is written in first person, through each person's point of view, so readers not only get a glimpse of the character through their actions and dialogue, but also through their thoughts as well. For example, Mackler doesnt come out and tell you that Owen wants to become more daring. In fact, she communicates this thought through a blog post of his. In it, he writes, "A few hours ago, a girl invited me to escape to New York City. She even quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson...When she suggested the great escape, something along the lines of "stop your stupid monotony and do something cool for once" (I'm paraphrasing, sorry Ralph)..." The reader learns tons about Owen in this little excerpt. We learn that the obvious, he likes this girl and wants to go to New York City. But we also see that he can tease himself, is able to tease himself, and has a sort of witty humor. 

Which brings us to our next highlight of Mackler's writing: her humor. It's impossible not to laugh when reading this novel. Mackler brings a different sense of humor with each character. For example, Jena makes you laugh because she is just an ordinary teen girl. Jena says, "It was a typical Wednesday night in Toperka, New York. Spring break was coming up next week, so I had nine minutes of homework, which I did while IMing my best friends, Ellie and Leora, surfing for celebirity gossip, and sending a virtual plate of snickerdoodles to my briother's ReaLife page." Jena then continues, "Then, since I happened to be on ReaLife, I checked out Samir Basu's online profile. And then, since I have no self-control, I opened every photo and drooled waterfalls over his caramel cheekbones and mile-chocolate eyes."
The combination of hilarious writing, easy-to-relate-to characters, and a meaningful and inspiring self-discovery message make for great read. The only downside to this story is that there are a few slow parts in Skye and Owen's chapters.
Those who enjoy Sarah Dessen novels, such as Keeping the Moon or Lock and Key will especially enjoy this novel. I also reccomend it to those who like Girl Overboard by Justina Chen.