It's going to be hard for me to review Black Painted Fingernails because a) I've had reviewer's block which means b) I read this over a month ago, but also because c) It was a very "meh" book for me. I didn't hate it but I didn't love it - it was just OK.James does everything right. Despite being an adult at uni, he's still very much a mummy's boy. He does what his parents want him to do and never puts a foot wrong. Until a random, wild girl named Sophie ambushes her way into his car (and, predictably, his heart) on a roadtrip into the country. James abandons his plans, his direction and all contact with his parents as Sophie takes him on the ride of his life. But she's hiding a secret, of course.So... having summarised the plot, I can't think of much more to say about this book. There's nothing wrong with it, but there's nothing particularly great either. It's a quick read but a little boring in parts - especially the chapters told from the POV of James' parents, whose empty nest syndrome didn't particularly interest me. James himself was quite bland and Sophie's "dark" secret and wild personality felt underdeveloped. I just didn't connect with the characters in any significant way. I did enjoy the depiction of the landscape and country towns. But my favourite part of the book was the title. It made me want to paint my nails. I think that says it all, really.

Black Fainted Fingernails would have been ordinary save for two moments that I found positively honest. The story itself swings from James , on his way to becoming a teacher, to Sophie, on her way home, to Michael, who wants nothing more than to have his son break out, just be, and finally, to Angela, who’s having the hardest of times in letting her son go. Road Trip. As usual there’s the meeting of new AND a slow progression towards getting to know who you’re with. Here, every single one of them discovers a little of what’s in them and of what’s in the people with them. And this is where those “two moments” come in: that James is so unsure about what he wants but dead certain about what he DOES NOT want, is so me. Seriously, truly… that’s me in a handful of words. The Passenger. How Sophie inserts herself in to his life was too strange too creepy easy, but it was James’ failure to act that had me questioning him: too kind, too helpful… No way, me thought, but her being with him, rubbed off in way because eventually he did show he could be snarky and quick too. But what he said later on, that she was being provocative for the sake of it, was another moment where he showed himself capable of being insightful. It was a moment of him calling it like it was: pure honesty. Family This was where things turned ordinary and predictable for me. His is one with a mother was hoping for one thing, and a father imagining others. But there’s a re-discovery here too. Again, that re-discovery seemed a bit “too happily ever after” for me, but it was sweet nonetheless/ Hers is a source of heartache. I have come to expect a measure of sad in books from Aussie YA, and this does not fail to deliver. The why of her leaving and the why of her coming home unfold slowly… and got me paying attention, and shocked. Her eventual reaction, had me slightly surprised my head: Her decision was not an easy one to make.There’s a moment or two in this that hit it for me…3/5

Black Painted Fingernails by Australian author Steven Herrick was a quick one to two day read, encompassing one’s struggle to be who we want to be and do what we want to do despite the pressures inflicted from others. If you’re having trouble finding your purpose in life, then this is a story for you. Many teens can relate easily to the characters that are introduced in this novel.James and Sophie are well developed characters coming from two very different lives and families. James’ mother is very over-protective and can’t go very long without thinking or wondering about her son’s wellbeing. The signs of an over-protective mother with her only child. James’ father, a surgeon, is the opposite to his wife. He is laid-back and decides that it is James’ right to do what he wants with his life, persuading his wife to have this same outlook. Whereas with Sophie, her parents divorced and never knowing her mother, has grown up with a father and brothers. She escapes under ideal circumstances, crossing path with James on his trip to the country for his teacher-training.In this novel we are seeing alternating chapters between characters and point-of-views. James is seen through first person and his travel to teacher-training, and then with Sophie. There are chapters in third person of Sophie’s past for why she escaped from her small town and family. And then we have present third person chapters of James’ mother and father and how they’re coping with having their only son away. At first it was confusing, but then later on I thought that it slightly worked having given Steven Herrick some degree of freedom to work with this story and give more detail, character-work and backstory to Sophie’s and James’ lives and how they contrast one another.I do believe Steven Herrick did a great job at adapting this concept of struggling teens in a setting that’s close to home, with circumstances that are relatable to both teen and parental readers, but not to the point that it was executed extremely well. I enjoyed the story but it doesn’t stick out to me as a read that was memorable. At times I was interested and then other times I was just flicking pages. At times I was engaged and then other times I was not. Maybe I lost a touch lately for contemporary because I need something hard-core and twisted to keep me engaged.First paragraph:‘I’m stuck in cross-city traffic, smelling petrol fumes and watching the man in the car beside me sing along with his iPod. He closes his eyes opera-style and lets rip. His double chin wobbles as he strains for the high note.’Favourite quotes/lines:‘"Maybe what stays alive...is what we carry inside us."'