The Temptress FourBy Gaby Triana
HarperTeen
Four out of Five Kiwis
"Yo, Kill, All, Fee!" Sounds like an ancient Mayan sha-woman chant or something. But it's actually a group of four tight-knit chicas-- Yoli, Killian, Alma and Fiona. Before they get a tarot reading from the creepy Madame Fortuna (or as Alma would say, Fartuna), they had to say their "mantra," complete with hands piled in the middle of the circle of friends. Sounds cheesy, but that's what best friends do. And most of the time, the cheesiest moments are the most memorable.
The girls have just graduated from high school and are about to embark upon a week long Caribbean cruise on The Temptress. Fiona suggested the reading as a way to suppress thoughts that the girls would split ways after the trip, but the reading garnered even worse news.
"One of you will not come home..."
Gaby Triana, author of Backstage Pass and Cubanita, wonderfully weaved a story of four teenaged girls facing life-altering decisions into an excellent page-tuner, great for summer reading. The descriptions of beaches, beautiful sunsets, cute boys and bountiful cruise ship dinners had me on Priceline.com checking out the cruise deals by the end of the book.
One of the qualities I found engaging in The Temptress Four was the dialogue. It was lively, yet still natural. This may also be because I found so many similarities between the voice of the main character, Fiona, and my own. But she's so relatable, that I believe many other readers could as well. And if you don't, there are three more characters that cover all the bases.
There's Killian, the uber-hot one who gets all the guys; Alma, the dark one with a wicked sense of humor and an uncanny ability to know all; and last but not least, there's Yoli, the supposedly "good girl," who ends up surprising everyone. Even though the characters reminded me of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants lassies, it didn't make the book any less interesting to read.
