Leanne Lieberman

Sydney lives in a "fog": a fear of: being touched, talking to others, and people, in general . She'd prefer to hide in her closet. Her parents are loving (yay!), her sister is out-going (to a fault at times) and she has a special relationship with her grandfather Zeyda. When her lab partner, Paul, begins to pay attention to her it raises feelings inside of her that frighten her. This is sexual awakening "light"... a useful, personal look at burgeoning adolescent sexuality. It misses the mark, in his reviewer's opinion, by not being graphic enough (show, don't tell, feelings!) and by a serious lack of plot. The side story about her sister's staging of The Vagina Monologues seems discordant.… (meer)

First off, I want to say that I am definitely not the target audience for The Most Dangerous Thing. While I read many YA novels, they are usually geared more toward the upper age range. With The Most Dangerous Thing, I felt that the novel was directed toward the younger grouping, around 12 or 13 because of the manner in which the prose is written and the topics considered. So please appreciate that my rating reflects a reading by someone who is not the target audience.

I enjoyed the relationship between Syd and her zeyda (grandfather). I liked the way they spoke to each other. Their relationship seemed very real, warm, and caring. Likewise, the other relationships felt real as well.

The discussion of being Jewish and preparation for Passover was interesting and could certainly appeal to individuals who weren't familiar as well as those who are.

The reason why I gave this an average rating is because it felt a little slow and meandering. I attributed a lot of this to the fact that the prose seems directed toward a twelve or thirteen year old. To me, this felt like a character study and that perhaps the resolutions were far too subtle while perhaps for a younger person they might seem monumental. So I again think this could be a matter of perception and target audience.

I won an ARC through LibraryThing in exchange for an honest review.… (meer)