Review: Take a Bow by Elizabeth Eulberg

Take a Bow by Elizabeth Eulberg

published on April 1st, 2012 by Scholastic
Young Adult | Contemporary | Romance

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EMME has long lived in her best friend Sophie’s shadow. She writes songs, and Sophie sings them. It’s always been like this, and feels like it always will be.

SOPHIE will stop at nothing to be a star. Even if it means using her best friend and picking up a trophy boyfriend, Carter.

CARTER is a victim of a particular Hollywood curse: He’s a former child star. Now all he wants is a normal life. But being normal is about as hard for him as being famous.

ETHAN has his own issues — a darkness in his head that he just can’t shake. He’s managed to sabotage every relationship he’s even been in. Emme’s the only girl he’s ever really respected… but he’s not sure what to do about that.

Emme, Sophie, Carter, and Ethan are all students at a performing arts high school, where talent is the normal and fame is the goal. But sometimes, being in the spotlight isn’t as important as the people you’re sharing it with.

I don’t give out 4 stars easily. It takes a lot to impress me with a book (mostly because I’m picky and I know what I want). However, I went into Take a Bow with high expectations due to some extraordinary reviews, and I’ll admit I was genuinely impressed with what Elizabeth Eulberg managed to pull off.

Take a Bow follows 4 very different people through their journey at the School of Creative and Performing Arts in New York. This prestigious school is not your typical high school – it’s essentially for those who have creative gifts and talents. From singers and musicians to actors and painters, this is where the creative shine. Each of the 4 characters we follow have different reasons they’re at this school, different talents, and strikingly different personalities; and throughout the story we follow them as they learn about some very important lessons about love, friendship, and following your dreams.

For those of you who don’t know, I’m an actress. Theatre is my passion. Being up on stage gives me an adrenaline rush like nothing else. Because of this, I was able to connect to Take a Bow in a way that some readers might not have been able to.

I really liked Eulberg’s writing in this. It wasn’t necessarily overly eloquent or descriptive, but it was sweet and really fit the characters. It legitimately sounded like a teenager was narrating, and I really appreciated that.

If you read the description for this story, it mentions the story is narrated with four POVs. Now, while this may sound intimidating at first (and for good reason!), I’d like to say that I really felt this style was well-done. Normally when reading a book with multiple POVs the concern is that sometimes all the different POVs blends together. Not with Take a Bow. Each POV has a distinct and personable feel to it, and you can immediately tell who is narrating without even needing to check the chapter headers.

As for the characters, I really liked the development Eulberg put into each of them. They’re all distinct and unique and have their own personalities and motives.

• Emme is – essentially – the main character of the story. She’s been composing songs for her best friend Sophie for as long as she can remember, letting Sophie sing them; and she’s content being out of the spotlight. But now? She realizes she may just have a hidden talent ready to shine.
• Sophie is a talented singer whose goal is to become famous. But what if that plan doesn’t quite work out? Who would she be then?
• Carter is a former child actor with a secret: he doesn’t like acting anymore. He wants to be an artist. But is he able to put people’s expectations of him aside to follow his dream?
• Ethan has liked Emme ever since he first met her. But is there any way he could get her to see he’s more than just a fellow band member?

All in all, Elizabeth Eulberg has concocted a spellbinding novel, and I found myself absolutely loving every aspect of it. If you’re a fan of contemporary and/or performing arts novels, this is definitely something to check out.

Have you read from Elizabeth Eulberg before? Do you want to?

About Zoe

Zoe is a critical reviewer. When she’s not reviewing, you can find her performing in plays / musicals, doing gymnastics, or designing websites.

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