Teenage Favourites of the Past: Making Out series by Katherine Applegate

I thought it would be fun to look back on and revisit some of the book series that I was obsessed with when I was a teenager. The books that I collected and read often featured the things that I was interested in at the time (cue ballet, horses and boys) and looking back, I can see how they tracked the different stages I went through growing up. I still have many of these books on my shelves now, although sadly, some have disappeared over the years to make way for others.

 

The first series that I'm going to feature is the Making Out series by Katherine Applegate which was published in 1995 onwards. Now when these first came out, they published one book a month. I can remember going into my local bookshop at the start of every month (and often sending my Mum) to buy the latest release. I was absolutely obsessed with these! There were 28 books in the series and I'm lucky enough to still have the complete set, which one of these days I will reread in full. I actually only recently discovered that Katherine Applegate only wrote the first 8 books in the series and the rest were written by a ghost-writer. I didn't notice any difference in writing style at all at the time.  

 

 

The series followed the lives of a group of teenagers living on Chatham Island off the coast of Maine. They are in their last year of high school before they begin College and take the ferry to school each day. I loved the setting of the books and from then on, I always pictured myself living within a close-knit community on a small island. It seemed so idyllic at the time.

 

The main character was called Zoey and much of the series centred around her on and off again relationship with a boy called Lucas. They were hands down my favourite couple and I rooted for them from the very beginning. Zoey was the epitome of everything that I thought I wanted to be. She was smart, funny, beautiful, obsessed with writing down quotes about life and love and kind to everyone around her. She seemed to have it all, although she does go through some pretty big stuff in the series.

 

There's also Nina who is Zoey's best friend. She always has a smart and witty retort ready and although she seems pretty tough on the outside, she's really quite insecure and vulnerable when you get past her defences. Nina has a thing for Zoey's brother Ben, although he's initially dating Claire, Nina's older sister.

 

You might be detecting a trend here! Everyone dates everyone else at one point or another. But hey, it's a small island!

 

 

Claire is super obsessed with the weather and can often be found on her widow's walk. She comes across as quite the Ice Queen and I can remember not always liking her very much.

 

Boy wise, as well as Ben who's blind and super hot bad boy Lucas, there's also local boy Jake. He and Zoey are a couple at the beginning of the series but it was always obvious to me that she should end up with Lucas instead.

 

Later on in the series, new characters are introduced including Kate, Aisha, Aaron and Christopher. Oh and bad girl Lara who I definitely did not like at all but had four books dedicated to her.   

 

The series actually dealt with some quite hard-hitting topics such as death, divorce, drug and alcohol abuse and the ups and downs of first love. It wasn't always happy sailing on Chatham Island.

 

This was (and actually still is) one of my favourite young-adult series. I believe the books have all gone out of print now but if you can get hold of it, then I would still heartily recommend it.  

 

Here's the complete list of books in the series:  

  1. Zoey Fools Around
2. Jake Finds Out
3. Nina Won't Tell
4. Ben's In Love
5. Claire Gets Caught
6. What Zoey Saw
7. Lucas Gets Hurt
8. Aisha Goes Wild
9. Zoey Plays Games
10. Nina Shapes Up
11. Ben Takes a Chance
12. Claire Can't Lose
13. Don't Tell Zoey
14. Aaron Lets Go
15. Who Loves Kate?
16. Lara Gets Even
17. Two-Timing Aisha
18. Zoey Speaks Out
19. Kate Finds Love
20. Never Trust Lara
21. Trouble with Aaron
22. Always Loving Zoey
23. Lara Gets Lucky
24. Now Zoey's Alone
25. Don't Forget Lara
26. Zoey's Broken Heart
27. Falling for Claire
28. Zoey Comes Home

 

Have you read the series? If so, I'd love to know what you thought of it? Who was your favourite character?

Review: Eve and Adam - Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate

Eve and Adam by Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate, published by Electric Monkey on 1st October 2012

Goodreads synopsis:
Sixteen-year-old Evening Spiker lives an affluent life in San Francisco with her mother, EmmaRose, a successful geneticist and owner of Spiker Biotech. Sure, Evening misses her father who died mysteriously, but she’s never really questioned it. Much like how she’s never stopped to think how off it is that she’s never been sick. That is, until she’s struck by a car and is exposed to extensive injuries. Injuries that seem to be healing faster than physically possible.

While recuperating in Spiker Biotech’s lush facilities, she meets Solo Plissken, a very attractive, if off-putting boy her age who spent his life at Spiker Biotech. Like Evening, he’s never questioned anything... until now. Solo drops hints to Evening that something isn’t right, and Emma-Rose may be behind it. Evening puts this out of her mind and begins her summer internship project: To simulate the creation of the perfect boy. With the help of Solo, Evening uncovers secrets so big they could change the world completely.

Review:
'Eve and Adam' is written by husband and wife team Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate.  As well as being a huge fan of Grant's Gone series, I have to admit that I was obsessed with the Making Out series by Applegate when I was about 13 or 14.  I still have the complete set and one day I will get around to giving them all a re-read.  Understandably I was therefore pretty excited about this title which combines the writing talent of both authors in one book. 

The premise was intriguing and spiked my interest as soon as I read the synopsis. Eve is involved in a terrible car accident which leaves her with severe injuries.  While recovering in her mother's research facility she discovers some disturbing secrets about her mother and the genetic experiments that she has been carrying out.  She also meets a mysterious boy called Solo who lives at the facility and who wants to expose the truths that Eve is only just discovering for herself.  The story was a little slow in the beginning but got much better in the second half of the book and as the plot began to unravel and things got turned on their head.

I really enjoyed the part of the story dealing with Eve's creation of Adam.  This blends in elements of science and genetic modification as well as the possibility of being able to create another human being to your own specifications.  In theory this sounds incredible!  I would love to be able to make someone who has the exact looks and personality that I've chosen.  In reality, Adam doesn't turn out quite as Eve was expecting.

My main criticism of the book was that the characters fell quite flat and I felt so much time was put into the science side of things that the character development suffered.  Personally, I also wasn't feeling the romance which begins to develop between Eve and Solo or even the friendship between Eve and her best friend Aislin.  They were too one-dimensional and I didn't particularly click with any of them.

While 'Eve and Adam' may not have had that 'wow' factor which I was expecting, it was still an enjoyable read based around a great concept.  I definitely want to read the next in the series 'Adam and Eve' when it is published next year.

I'm giving away a paperback copy of 'Eve and Adam' to one lucky winner.  This is open internationally but you must be a follower of my blog to enter.  Just fill out the form below.  Good luck!

Giveaway rules.

• There will be one winner.
• Open to UK and international entrants.
• Please fill out the form completely - including email address
• You must be a follower of my blog
• Deadline for entries will be on 7th December 2012
• Winner(s) will be drawn by random.org
• Winner(s) will be contacted via e-mail, and will be given 48 hours to response. Otherwise, a new winner will be drawn.
• Any details will be deleted after use and will not be passed on to any third party.