Book Review: Operation Josh Taylor: Hannah Smart

Book: Operation Josh Taylor: Hannah Smart by Melody Fitzpatrick

Source: Borrowed from Publisher/NetGalley for an honest review

Publication: Available now

Description:

To see teen idol Josh Taylor in concert, Hannah Smart is prepared to face bullies, learn terrible secrets, and discover hidden talents.

When thirteen-year-old Hannah Smart finds out that teen idol Josh Taylor (only the most talented singer in the entire world) is coming to her hometown to kick off his first-ever concert tour, she nearly goes into shock. Even more shocking is the fact that her parents one-hundred-percent refuse to buy her a ticket — if Hannah wants to go, she has to figure out a way on her own.

With the help of her genius best friend, Rachel, Hannah hatches a scheme that will surely get the girls to the concert. But when evil Scarlett Hastings sticks her nasty nose in, messing up their plan, all hope seems lost.

Will Hannah and Rachel ever get to the concert? And will Hannah even want to go when she discovers the horrible secret her parents have been hiding?


Rating: 3 stars

Review:

Operation: Josh Taylor started out as this funny story with two best friends trying to get concert tickets to see their favorite singer Josh Taylor but then near the end turned into a totally different story.

This story focused on 13 years old Hannah Smart and her best friend Rachel Carter as they try to earn money to buy concert tickets for the New Year's Eve kick off of Josh Taylor concert tour. The girls have to earn money since their parents told them they would not be buying the tickets and thought that them earning the money would be a great way to teach them responsibility and the value of a dollar.

The two girls decided to come up with a plan titled Operation: Josh Taylor to make the money. Beside thinking up a couple of ideas, the girls also tried to win a radio contest for front row seat tickets.

Their first idea was to hold a yard sale but that didn't bring in as much money as they hoped thanks to Hannah's poor decision making and business skills. Their second idea to make and sell friendship bracelets called Wishbandz finally worked despite a few obstacles from their nemesis Scarlette Hastings.

Now that they finally have the money what could possibly stand in their way of getting their tickets? Believe it or not, bad weather, the girls came up with another hair brained scheme to camp out at the box office so they could be the first in line to get tickets. But bad weather made it impossible for them to do that and with tickets sold out on the internet how are they going to get to the concert?

Well, that pretty much becomes a moot point because then the story started to jump track and head in a totally different direction. It turned into nothing more than a set up for the second book.

The first 85/90% of the book was really funny and I couldn't help comparing Hannah and Rachel to Lucy and Ethel as they try so hard to come up different ways to earn the money. It wasn't until it got to the last part of the book that the story lost focus and resulted in a disappointing ending. 

I don't think I will be continuing with this series because near the end, Hannah stopped being an interesting and likeable character. I would have preferred if the story/series continued on with Rachel since I found her to be a more enjoyable character.