Review Detail

This is going to be a quick review; I’m going to cut myself off before I begin ranting again. I’ve been doing that a lot lately and, to be fair, I did read The Lifeguard after weeks (yes, weeks – plural) of disappointing reads. But still.

The Lifeguard has a hot, beachy cover that suggests at a summer setting, and a sizzling romance. With a lifeguard. And it’s kind of right. The Lifeguard does take place during the summer, and there is romance between Sienna – the main character – and the lifeguard, Pilot. We have a lonely girl, a mysterious guy, a beach, and some paranormal elements. But I just feel that these elements weren’t combined as smoothly as they could’ve been.

Sienna’s family problems could’ve been interesting, but instead, it worked against the story and only annoyed me as she just kept whining and whining “Why me?” as if the whole world was working against her. Over and over again. Every chapter. Seemingly every page. Gah.

The paranormal elements seemed to be awfully convenient, and appeared just in time to save someone from danger. But we’re never really properly told how one gets these abilities, or how exactly it all works out. It just pops in, then disappears when everyone’s okay. No explanation. And I don’t really get the whole problem with the haunted house and the ghosts, either. I mean, why don’t they do something about it – try to chase away the ghosts? Wouldn’t you be at least a little scared if there were really ghosts in your house?

And, of course, there’s the superficial obsession Sienna feels for Pilot. Sienna’s immediately attracted to Pilot because he looks hot. Golden skin, blonde hair, and a great physical build. She follows him around, and gets jealous of girls whom she think he’s going out with, even when she doesn’t have the right to do so. But Pilot, on the other hand, is reserved. Maybe the author did it to build mystery around him – I don’t know – but he felt too cool and aloof, and it didn’t seem like he felt anything for Sienna at all. He seemed more connected with his sister-like friend, whom he was caught in way too many very compromising situations with for me to really believe that their relationship was a “just friends” one.

The plot was rather scattered between a vague paranormal-ish plot (the healing ability) and a high-school, beachy romance. But the two plots didn’t really seem to fit together, and Sienna’s obsession with Pilot seemed to take the front seat in all this. I think I would’ve enjoyed it more if the author just chose one – the contemporary or the paranormal – side of the book to write, as at times it seemed as if I was reading two books crammed into the space of one.

Overall, The Lifeguard just wasn’t the book for me.