Official Review: Nina and Nano by Jaime Despree

[Wy_Bertram]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Nina and Nano" by Jaime Despree.]

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1 out of 4 stars

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When her mother drags her across the world for a lavish vacation, fifteen-year-old Nina vows not to enjoy the getaway. Learning the trip was funded by her mother's latest lover, a married man, causes their relationship to further deteriorate. And trapped on the beautiful seashore, Nina seeks an escape from the escape.

Emotional and moral complications arise when she meets Nano and begins to develop feelings for him. At the same time, Laura’s abhorrent lifestyle reveals itself to be far worse than Nina ever imagined and fed up, she decides to run away, convincing Nano to go with her. Armed with only two backpacks and their dreams, the pair of aspiring musicians set out to find a life without the complications of the adult world.

Originally, Jaime Despree authored this book in Spanish, and it was nowhere near ready for publishing when he decided to send this to the shelves. The translation was very awkward and hardly accurate at points, and I got the feeling the author might have done this himself, or, God forbid, ran the entire text through Google translate. Entire paragraphs had no coherence, and dialogue was just a minefield. As a result, the narrative suffered, hence this book was very difficult to enjoy or even understand.

On to the story itself which started very slow. The first few chapters revolved entirely around a mother and her fifteen-year-old daughter squabbling about sex and relationships, and that quickly got exhausting. Nina as a character was quite unlikeable and at no point was I truly invested in the outcome of her romantic escapade.

Judging by the author’s vibrant descriptions, however, I feel like Nina and Nano reads so much better in the original edition. For the English version to survive, I strongly recommend investing in a professional translator and editor.

Altogether, my rating of this book comes down to 1 out of 4. One point removed for the disastrous writing, another for the static plot, and the last for sheer unreadability. The author still has a lot of work to do on this one, and I would be interested in seeing a better version of Nina and Nano sometime in the future.

Until then, I recommend this to fans of young adult romance who are interested, but I advise you to proceed with lowered expectations. Younger readers are advised to steer clear as well, as this does contain some mature themes.

Happy reading.

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Nina and Nano
View: on Bookshelves

[Moray_001]

This is a very detailed review.

[AnnOgochukwu]

The storyline of this book sounds promising, but your review clearly indicates that there's a lot of work to be done on this book. I'd like to read an updated version of this book.
Nice review.

[Luluwa79]

Even though the book was a bit difficult to understand, you did great with the review.

[Olabode Joshua]

Kudos to you, Wy_Bertram, for finishing this review. This is the first time I'll be seeing a 1-star review. The book does sound promising though.