Customer Reviews

Prey (Lurlene McDaniel)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Bestselling author Lurlene McDaniel has taken a turn from her normally heartbreaking inspirational novels to write something completely different with PREY. This time around, she tackles a once taboo subject head-on -- that of the skewed relationship between a female teacher and her young male student.

Ryan Piccoli is a typical teen. He's fifteen, a freshman in high school, has a close knit group of friends that include Joel and Honey, and a fairly average student. Although his mother died when he was still a toddler, he has a father that, although gone most of the time as part of his job, still tries to connect with him as much as he can. Things are going pretty well; he's hoping for a car for Christmas for his sixteenth birthday, he's both excited and anxious to be starting high school, he's wondering if he'll get a girlfriend. And then the unthinkable happens: he meets Miss Lori Settles, the knew World History teacher.

Miss Settles is an immediate hit at McAllister High School, at least with the male population (you'd probably get a different response from the females). She's young, she's gorgeous, she seems to understand teenagers, and she has the most important attribute that any normal male can ask for -- she's got a body to die for, and she dresses for school each day in a way that will show it to its best advantage. Suddenly, every guy in the building, from students to faculty, wants to find a way to spend time with Miss Settles.

Only Ryan gets to spend time with her in a way that no one else would ever expect. What starts off innocently enough as a request to help his teacher move furniture soon evolves into trips to a coffee shop late at night. And when those trips then turn into visits at her apartment, Ryan figures it's only right, since they obviously are in love with each other. What follows is a sexual affair that, although high in intensity, might end up burning them both in the end.

Ms. McDaniel has written a real page-turner with PREY. Once you start reading, you'll not want to stop until the last word is read. This is a book that has no clear-cut answers and, actually, has no clear sense of who has done right and who has done wrong. Pick up a copy -- you'll be glad you did.

Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"

Lurlene McDaniel does a decent job dealing with the seduction that occurs between a student and a teacher. The emotions were appropriate, the plot moved along just fine...and the end left you with a cliffhanger.
But Barry Lyga's Boy Toy puts this book to shame. If you want to read a gritty story about emotional turmoil associated with student-teacher sexual relationships, this would be my pick - definitely for older teens, whereas McDaniel's book would serve a younger population.

I was interested in this book because as a child I was a big Lurlene McDaniel fan and this was something outside of her usual stories, so I decided to give it a go. As much as I hate to sound rude, I have to admit, I wish I didn't.

The teacher-student issue is something that isn't often mentioned and not something that people particularly like hearing about. I do admire that Lurlene went out of what she usually writes to talk about something more serious and something not commonly talked about.

But the characters! Oh my, the characters. They all bothered me. The book switches between three points of views, Ryan (the main character), Lori (the teacher) and Honey (Ryan's best friend who is hopelessly in love with him). Man, where do I start! Lori hates that men her age look at her like she's a piece of meat to pounce on which was her reason for liking Ryan, because he was innocent but isn't the way she's looking at Ryan the same way men are looking at her? I didn't like her because most of the things she said didn't make sense, because she was possessive over Ryan and she would act like a child to get her way. I mean, seriously? Ryan was one of those characters I wanted to smack every three pages. The way his attitude changed and how he thought he was so much better than everyone else for keeping this secret was just ridiculous. And Honey, she was just obsessed with Ryan. Completely utterly stalkerly obsessed with him.

The plot consisted of Lori's sick thoughts, Ryan's attitude and Honey's next big stalker plan. We never find out really why Lori is the way she is, or why Ryan's really attracted to her besides her body... but at least at some point Honey stops stalking him.

While I do admire that Lurlene did talk about this subject and it was apparent that she researched this subject closely, I still ended up hating the characters. I wish there had been more there between all the characters.

I have been a Lurlene McDaniel fan for a long time. When I first read about this book, I was excited and I knew I couldn't miss out on it. This book is completely different than any of her other books but it is still fantastic. I am speechless. This book is one of a kind and strangely intriguing.

I will start out by saying that I am a huge fan of Lurlene McDaniels' books, and have been so for almost a decade now. When I saw that she'd written a new book (Prey), I hastened to get a copy after learning that this was different from her normal "crying and dying" stories. I was interested and curious to read a story that takes place well outside her comfort zone, and I highly admire that she took such a huge step out of it to write this book.


I read it in a couple hours. It kept me engaged enough to read it through to the end, but the characters didn't seem very realistic, and the dialogue seemed very cut and dry. Ryan, the protagonist (or antagonist, depending on how you look at him), is incredibly annoying. His attitude keeps changing, and a lot of the things he says don't seem like something a typical 16 year-old would say. Honey, though she has a sweet disposition, was also very grating, as she's practically obsessed with Ryan and seems like she's stalking him throughout most of the novel. Lori, I actually felt bad for, since she was abused in her younger years, but I disliked her childish nature, and her hypocrisy (she claims all men her age look at her like they want to pounce on her, and yet she did the same to a 16 year-old). I was really disappointed and frustrated at the end. Neither of them seemed to learn any lessons, as they met up in secret to begin their affair once more (although legally this time, since Ryan is 18 at the end).


Overall, it's an okay story, though definitely not her best work. As I've said before, I highly praise Lurlene for stepping out of her comfort zone to write this. I just don't think it's a very realistic representation of the characters and their actions.

This book was actually pretty good. I felt sorry for Lori considering that she had been abused and taken advantage of, yet i felt sorry for ryan the most. This is actually a pretty good book that stands out from the usual crying and dying formula that lurlene mcdaniel usually writes in her books. I totally recommend buying this book. It's worth reading, especially if your a big lurlene mcdaniel fan like I am!

Bestselling author Lurlene McDaniel has taken a turn from her normally heartbreaking inspirational novels to write something completely different with PREY. This time around, she tackles a once taboo subject head-on -- that of the skewed relationship between a female teacher and her young male student.

Ryan Piccoli is a typical teen. He's fifteen, a freshman in high school, has a close knit group of friends that include Joel and Honey, and a fairly average student. Although his mother died when he was still a toddler, he has a father that, although gone most of the time as part of his job, still tries to connect with him as much as he can. Things are going pretty well; he's hoping for a car for Christmas for his sixteenth birthday, he's both excited and anxious to be starting high school, he's wondering if he'll get a girlfriend. And then the unthinkable happens: he meets Miss Lori Settles, the knew World History teacher.

Miss Settles is an immediate hit at McAllister High School, at least with the male population (you'd probably get a different response from the females). She's young, she's gorgeous, she seems to understand teenagers, and she has the most important attribute that any normal male can ask for -- she's got a body to die for, and she dresses for school each day in a way that will show it to its best advantage. Suddenly, every guy in the building, from students to faculty, wants to find a way to spend time with Miss Settles.

Only Ryan gets to spend time with her in a way that no one else would ever expect. What starts off innocently enough as a request to help his teacher move furniture soon evolves into trips to a coffee shop late at night. And when those trips then turn into visits at her apartment, Ryan figures it's only right, since they obviously are in love with each other. What follows is a sexual affair that, although high in intensity, might end up burning them both in the end.

Ms. McDaniel has written a real page-turner with PREY. Once you start reading, you'll not want to stop until the last word is read. This is a book that has no clear-cut answers and, actually, has no clear sense of who has done right and who has done wrong. Pick up a copy -- you'll be glad you did.

Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"

I read this book in a few days, and it held my interest well enough. I really enjoyed the first person perspective of three different characters--I thought that was a unique touch. However, I thought that the writing skills were not very advanced and I often felt as if I were reading a story written by a high school student. It was a simple issue of the usage of language, such as spelling out a conclusion that had already been made very obvious through clues given earlier in the story. Instead of allowing the reader to put these clues together herself, the author spelled it out like a flashing red sign, which multiple times left me cringing. I thought... YES, I GET IT. I'm not stupid. =|

It wasn't a terrible book as it kept me interested enough to finish it. However, after reading the author's note to the reader, two in fact, one at the beginning and one at the end of the book, in which she clearly states her position against any sort of romantic relationship between teachers and students, I have to ask this question: If she wrote the novel to show everyone how "universally villainous" any and all romantic relations between a teacher and student are, then why in the world does she end the book **SPOILER ALERT**...

...by having the teacher and student meet each other in an empty park years later after the teacher gets out of jail? It seemed to support the author's position when the teacher was found out and punished and the student embarrassed in front of his classmates for the rest of high school, but to have them still want each other some three years later and meet up to continue the relationship?

No teacher who merely wanted to get sex from a young student or abuse them would still be thinking about him or her after several years in jail. And no student who was victimized by an older professor would come back for more several years worth of maturity later. The ending to me seemed completely out of sync with what the author claimed was her position on this issue. By way of her novel's ending, she is essentially saying that the two characters in fact had actual feelings for each other, so much so that they persisted after years of separation, embarassment, and prison time, leading them to continue their relationship years later. It just doesn't match up with the author's supposed opinion on the issue. Through her ending she's saying, "This kind of relationship can have substance after all."

I think it should also be noted that while many cases have existed around the world of a teacher taking advantage of a student purely for sexual gratification or even as the result of a perversion on the part of the teacher, this case is NOT universal. I have researched many novels which present this subject as a theme and have noticed that quite often, the romantic teacher-student relationship is presented as inherently unhealthy, a disturbing fetish that belongs in cheap porn, and this view is incredibly unfair.

Although in many cases the student is in fact a victim, this is not by any means a black and white issue. Many teachers and students--both being over the age of 18 and therefore legal adults capable of making their own decisions--engage in relationships based on genuine love for each other. Two people are not devoid of emotions simply because they have a particular title or because society dictates that their relationship is not "the norm." I know several couples who began as teacher and student and are now very happy, successful couples. To suggest that love between a teacher and student is "wrong" is as unjustified as claiming the same of a couple whose age, race, or religion is not identical. It is wise to keep an open mind.

Luckily I dont read from end to beginning!

I thought that the dialogue seemed a bit too "clean cut", but it flowed well. The two main characters, Ryan and Lori - it seems obvious (perhaps too obvious?) in the beginning who is the protagonist and who is the "bad guy", but at the end, things seemed a little murky. People are not what they seem in this story. I liked the multiple viewpoints method that the author used in telling the story - it worked out well for the plot and created numerous surprises. I would have liked more meat and detail, however.

All in all a good read!

Lurlene McDaniel is an awesome writer for young people. She is my daughter's favorite author. The books are about tragic situations that really can happen in real life. The author writes the books so young people know life isn't always wonderful.