Book Review: The Taming by Eric Walters & Teresa Toten

Publish Date: January 24 2012
Publisher: DoubleDay Canada
Pages: 229
ISBN: 978-0-385-67658-8
Series: None
Source: Online book club

RandomHouse Synopsis: (because Goodreads in down!)

It is the power of love, or a love of power?

Katie likes to believe she’s invisible. It seems so much safer than being exposed as who she is: shy, poor, and vulnerable. So getting up in front of audience as the lead in her school’s production of The Taming of the Shrew should be complete torture. But as Katie tells it, something totally unexpected happened when she stepped on stage: “My head exploded. I loved it. Acting hit me like a sucker punch and I loved, loved, loved it! Invisible Katie became visible Katherina.”
Evan is, as they say, another story. He knows just what it takes to get noticed, and he uses every one of the skills he’s perfected from years of being the new kid at yet another new school. Rich, smart, and ridiculously charming, he’s like nothing and no one Katie has ever encountered. How then could someone like him possibly be interested in someone like her? But before she knows it they are inseparable. Over the dizzying course of their relationship, Katie must confront the fact that the power of love can conceal darker truths.

My Review:
Starting The Taming, I thought I was in for some teenage high school love story. The cover, and the synopsis set me up with those expectations. Katie, is a young girl who has done so much to become invisible in high school, to NOT become one of those "popular" girls. To her, she is as invisible as you can get. Until she becomes the lead in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and she sees that she loves the stage, she was meant for it. People start noticing her. No longer is Katie invisible.
Evan, the new guy from a prep school, who let me be honest here sounded like a great guy! He has the clothes, the car, the money and along with that, the nonchalant attitude; I mean he throws his car keys to the first kid he meets in school, saying "hey, take it! It's got a full tank!". Everybody notices Evan, he has that for him. But there is so much more to Evan than we're lead to believe.
Evan meets Katie, and things spark between them, and now more than ever, Katie is as noticeable. For Katie, this is all new. The lead in the play, the noticing and more importantly, the boyfriend. She has spent so much time with just herself and her two odd, quirky but very good friends and now all of a sudden she has this guy who can't get enough of her, is willing to take her on dates (and pay himself). He's buying her clothes that he thinks will suit her, telling her what her favourite flowers are and so on. Katie is in heaven. Then things start happening, and without giving too much away, from past situations, Katie blames herself for these events. This is where the book took the turn I was not expecting. Secrets are revealed and more secrets are kept and The Taming becomes a haunting story. So many times I wanted to yell through the pages at Katie or Evan (or their parents!) and try to help them. I felt so bad for Katie, and honestly, as the book went on I felt for Evan too. The things they had / have to endure separately with their family was heart breaking.
Walters and Toten collaborated with this book. Walters writing the POV of Evan and Toten writing the POV of Katie. I think it was really well done, their story tied really well with The Taming of the Shrew and flowed nicely. I have never read a book from either of these authors, but have heard wonderful things about Eric Walters. And after reading his writing in this, it may not be the last. The emotion and thought put behind each character was obvious. The character development was clearly there and the plot moved along smoothly with the said unexpected twist. My overall thoughts on the book? Well, apart from throwing me completely for a loop, it was addicting. I felt that if I kept reading, I could help them and because of that, I read it without hesitation. I enjoyed The Taming, and the way Katie changed drastically and became aware made it that much better.