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penmageTaking a short break from my diet of Cybils-only literature to read and review a few last books. Because they're due back to the library. I promise I'll be good from now on!
Perfect by Natasha Friend
Isabelle wants to be anywhere but where she is right now. Where she is is in Group--group therapy. Which is where she got sent after her annoying little sister April (otherwise known as Ape Face) caught her throwing up her dinner in the bathroom, and refused to be bribed into silence.
Isabelle may be in Group, but she doesn't think she has a problem. She's only thrown up a few times. Okay, only a lot of times. But it's her way of coping with the sudden death of her father. Grief isn't allowed her in her house--her mother cries behind closed doors, and her little sister just gets brattier. None of them could possibly understand how sad she feels.
And then Ashley Barnum walks in to Group. Pretty, perfect Ashley Barnum--queen of the eight grade. She's everything Isabelle's always wanted to be--and now she's sitting next to her in therapy.
As Isabelle and Ashley become friends, and Isabelle starts to think about her bulimia, her family and her life, she begins to realize that maybe perfect isn't what she always thought it was.
This book starts off feeling like an after-school special. You know the type--a bulimic girl bonds with the most popular girl in school over shared vomiting experiences, and then the two of them push each other further and further into the deepest depths of the eating disorder. I actually think I watched that one in high school on Health Day.
But then it blossoms into something deeper and better. When Isabelle starts saying no to Ashley, and the place their friendship goes after that. Isabelle's relationship with her little sister April, and the very real, noncliche form their mother's (and their own) grief takes. It's a book that feels rough, and a little bit painful, and sometimes a little too honest--in other words, real.
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How to Be Bad by E. Lockhart, Lauren Myracle and Sarah Mylnowski
Jesse, Vicks and Mel are on the road. They’re going to Miami—or more importantly, they’re getting out of Niceville, Florida, where nothing ever happens. They are as different as can be—Vicks, the devil-may-care girl whose boyfriend hasn’t called once in the two weeks since he went off to college. Mel, the rich girl who just wants to be liked, and Jesse, the trailer-dwelling Christianpants who just learned some life-altering bad news.
They have three days, one ancient car, a fifteen-year-old guidebook called Fantastical Florida, and a plan. By the time the trip is over, they’ll have run out on a toll, picked up a hitchhiker, met a cute guy, seen the world’s smallest police station, have a run-in with an alligator (or two) and their friendship will be changed forever.
There is nothing bad about a good road trip book. And this is a very good road trip book. It has all the trappings of a perfect road trip—three very different friends, thrown together for the ride, the crappy car, the road food, the stopovers, the catastrophes, and the memories. Told in alternating voices of the three girls, it’s easy to get lost in this breezy story. My only quibble is that I wanted a little more from all three girls. A little more depth, a little more resolution—especially for Mel—but that’s just because it’s so much fun I wanted more.
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She's So Money by Cherry Cheva
Maya’s life is so busy it’s ridiculous. Between trying to keep her grades high enough for Stanford to offer her a scholarship, working at her parents’ restaurant every night after school and working in the tutoring center, she barely has a moment to herself. But after she makes a disastrous mistake that could bring down the restaurant unless she comes up with a lot of money—and fast—Maya finds herself getting sucked into a plan that’s so evil it just might work.
Together with Camden King, popular guy and all around hottie, Maya starts a for-profit cheating ring. If does homework for enough rich kids, she just may be able to save her family’s restaurant, without her parents ever being the wiser. But as the homework piles on and the stakes get higher, Maya begins to buckle under the pressure. Can she keep up with the piles of homework? Can she make enough money under the table to save her family restaurant—and her butt? And most importantly, will they get caught?
The most immediately appealing thing about this book is Maya’s funny, sassy, voice. She’s a great heroine—smart and geeky, but also sarcastic and sassy. I also loved how Cheva doesn’t demonize the popular crew. Aside from Camden, who obviously gets humanized, the other popular kids are mocked, but not demonized, which is refreshing.
Less refreshing is the entirely stock, one-note nature of Maya’s geek friends and her little brother. They’re all very generic and uninteresting, which is a shame.
Overall, this is a fun, fast, but not overly remarkable teen read.
Perfect by Natasha Friend
Isabelle wants to be anywhere but where she is right now. Where she is is in Group--group therapy. Which is where she got sent after her annoying little sister April (otherwise known as Ape Face) caught her throwing up her dinner in the bathroom, and refused to be bribed into silence.
Isabelle may be in Group, but she doesn't think she has a problem. She's only thrown up a few times. Okay, only a lot of times. But it's her way of coping with the sudden death of her father. Grief isn't allowed her in her house--her mother cries behind closed doors, and her little sister just gets brattier. None of them could possibly understand how sad she feels.
And then Ashley Barnum walks in to Group. Pretty, perfect Ashley Barnum--queen of the eight grade. She's everything Isabelle's always wanted to be--and now she's sitting next to her in therapy.
As Isabelle and Ashley become friends, and Isabelle starts to think about her bulimia, her family and her life, she begins to realize that maybe perfect isn't what she always thought it was.
This book starts off feeling like an after-school special. You know the type--a bulimic girl bonds with the most popular girl in school over shared vomiting experiences, and then the two of them push each other further and further into the deepest depths of the eating disorder. I actually think I watched that one in high school on Health Day.
But then it blossoms into something deeper and better. When Isabelle starts saying no to Ashley, and the place their friendship goes after that. Isabelle's relationship with her little sister April, and the very real, noncliche form their mother's (and their own) grief takes. It's a book that feels rough, and a little bit painful, and sometimes a little too honest--in other words, real.
------------------------------------
How to Be Bad by E. Lockhart, Lauren Myracle and Sarah Mylnowski
Jesse, Vicks and Mel are on the road. They’re going to Miami—or more importantly, they’re getting out of Niceville, Florida, where nothing ever happens. They are as different as can be—Vicks, the devil-may-care girl whose boyfriend hasn’t called once in the two weeks since he went off to college. Mel, the rich girl who just wants to be liked, and Jesse, the trailer-dwelling Christianpants who just learned some life-altering bad news.
They have three days, one ancient car, a fifteen-year-old guidebook called Fantastical Florida, and a plan. By the time the trip is over, they’ll have run out on a toll, picked up a hitchhiker, met a cute guy, seen the world’s smallest police station, have a run-in with an alligator (or two) and their friendship will be changed forever.
There is nothing bad about a good road trip book. And this is a very good road trip book. It has all the trappings of a perfect road trip—three very different friends, thrown together for the ride, the crappy car, the road food, the stopovers, the catastrophes, and the memories. Told in alternating voices of the three girls, it’s easy to get lost in this breezy story. My only quibble is that I wanted a little more from all three girls. A little more depth, a little more resolution—especially for Mel—but that’s just because it’s so much fun I wanted more.
------------------------------------
She's So Money by Cherry Cheva
Maya’s life is so busy it’s ridiculous. Between trying to keep her grades high enough for Stanford to offer her a scholarship, working at her parents’ restaurant every night after school and working in the tutoring center, she barely has a moment to herself. But after she makes a disastrous mistake that could bring down the restaurant unless she comes up with a lot of money—and fast—Maya finds herself getting sucked into a plan that’s so evil it just might work.
Together with Camden King, popular guy and all around hottie, Maya starts a for-profit cheating ring. If does homework for enough rich kids, she just may be able to save her family’s restaurant, without her parents ever being the wiser. But as the homework piles on and the stakes get higher, Maya begins to buckle under the pressure. Can she keep up with the piles of homework? Can she make enough money under the table to save her family restaurant—and her butt? And most importantly, will they get caught?
The most immediately appealing thing about this book is Maya’s funny, sassy, voice. She’s a great heroine—smart and geeky, but also sarcastic and sassy. I also loved how Cheva doesn’t demonize the popular crew. Aside from Camden, who obviously gets humanized, the other popular kids are mocked, but not demonized, which is refreshing.
Less refreshing is the entirely stock, one-note nature of Maya’s geek friends and her little brother. They’re all very generic and uninteresting, which is a shame.
Overall, this is a fun, fast, but not overly remarkable teen read.
