The Program - Suzanne Young

 The Program

Suzanne Young

In Sloane’s world, true feelings are forbidden, teen suicide is an epidemic, and the only solution is The Program.

Sloane knows better than to cry in front of anyone. With suicide now an international epidemic, one outburst could land her in The Program, the only proven course of treatment. Sloane’s parents have already lost one child; Sloane knows they’ll do anything to keep her alive. She also knows that everyone who’s been through The Program returns as a blank slate. Because their depression is gone—but so are their memories.

Under constant surveillance at home and at school, Sloane puts on a brave face and keeps her feelings buried as deep as she can. The only person Sloane can be herself with is James. He’s promised to keep them both safe and out of treatment, and Sloane knows their love is strong enough to withstand anything. But despite the promises they made to each other, it’s getting harder to hide the truth. They are both growing weaker. Depression is setting in. And The Program is coming for them.

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  The idea for The Program is actually a really good idea and I am so glad Suzanne Young decided to make it into a book.  This book isn't a dystopian, it's pretty much the same government that we have today.

  The way the Program helps kids who are thought to be suicidal is by slowly erasing their memories and even though it was sad to see her memories wash away it was really nice to see her get better and to realize how sick she actually was but since we were viewing it  from Sloane's point of view you don't notice how sick she actually was in the beginning.  Even though they erase your memories I do think the Program could be a good thing.

  One unspoken rule in the book is that you can't acknowledge that you know anyone who is in/has been in the Program or anyone who has committed suicide.  It's weird that these kids having to go on with their normal lives like the people in the program or those who killed themselves never existed.  How does knowing someone who is/was suicidal make you more of a risk for suicide?  Depression is not genetic but if you grow up around someone who is depressed you can be more likely to be affected yourself but since the suicide epidemic starts with teenagers it shouldn't really influence anyone unless they had a sibling with depression as a child.  Sloane was not a child when her brother committed suicide.

  I love this book and I love how it was written. The way Young wrote it was exactly how I wanted it to be written. It was actually really sad seeing her memories slowly go down the drain but it was perfect for the book.

  I was kind of surprised that Sloane took the pills when she first got to The Program so willingly. She did a lot of fighting just to be so compliant once she got there so I thought that seemed to be a little out of character.

A lot of people seem to focus on the dark side of the book and I feel like they forget that the Program could actually be a good thing if done right.

Things I liked about the book:
    I really like how she mentions about how is the program helping them or is it pushing them more towards suicide and I think  lot of people, not just teenagers (and not necessarily someone suicidal) can relate to putting on a face to hide how you really feel inside

    I liked the little flashback/story time parts

    While I was reading this I ended up reading a lot more pages than I thought. I would finish reading and then add up my pages and it was like 'I read that many!?'

Things I didn't understand about the book:

     Just because they cry means they're depressed? I guess they don't cry I guess because first it's crying and then it leads to something else but it seems like crying would help since they would be letting their emotions out and not bottling them up until they explode.

     Why is it only teenagers?  Do adults not commit suicide? Or are teenagers the only ones worth saving?

     If it's only teens what happens when you turn graduate and magically become immune to suicide?  Are they magically happy?

    What do the black spirals mean or represent? Shouldn't the Handlers just be looking at school notebooks?

    Are homeschooled kids totally fine? or if they are suicidal do they not have the Program? or is it just up to the parents to admit them into the Program?
 
     Depression is caused by a chemical imbalance rather than the events in your life so wiping memories wouldn't be an instant fix.

Slight Spoilers
How naive are you Sloane you seriously thought they were just relaxing pills?


P.S I really don't like the cover but it's much better than the sequel's cover.

Pages:405

4 to 16 Characters - Kelly Hourihan

4 to 16 Characters

Kelly Hourihan

Fifteen-year-old Jane Shilling’s best friends don’t know her real name. In fact, they don’t know anything about her at all. Jane’s life has collapsed in the last few years; following the death of her mother, her father turned to drinking, and Jane is reeling from the double blow. To escape, Jane devises a number of online personas, each with a distinct personality, life history, and set of friends. But things become trickier when she finds herself drawing close to some of her online friends, and winds up struggling with the question of how to maintain a real friendship while masquerading as a fake person. With the help of Gary, a socially awkward classmate and competitive Skeeball player who is Jane’s only offline friend, and Nora, her therapist, Jane begins to sift through her issues. The only catch is that that involves taking a long, hard look at what her life’s like when the computer is shut off, and that’s a reality she’s been fighting for years.

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First off I bet people who are not in fandoms had a lot of googling to do!  While I have never had her as much... passion for any of my favorite shows/movies/books as Jane does I can relate with her internet life (not the personas though).  You can still see similarities with Jane and her personas but at the same time they are still very distinctive and I really liked how every one of her personas reflected a small piece of her.   You can really see the difference between Jane talking to her therapist out loud and chatting with her online instead of just sitting across the desk from each other staring at each other. She would ignore her in real life while they were chatting online but would giggle out loud and seemed more open and friendly online.  I really liked watching her come out of her shell with Gary and I think why he was able to get so close to her is because when he would talk to her he was in her element so she felt more comfortable,  The down side of this book is there would be times there would be an email or something from someone to someone and I would be really confused on who they were.  I lose interest in the long chat sessions/conversations, and during some of the chats she would ask someone if they were there but if you looked at the time stamps it had only been like a minute!

If you go to the author's website there's a really cool fan work contest going on.

I was provided an E-galley from netgalley.com
Pages: 314

Stitch - Samantha Durante (Stitch Trilogy #1)

Stitch

Samantha Durante

Still struggling to find her footing after the sudden death of her parents, the last thing college freshman Alessa has the strength to deal with is the inexplicable visceral pull drawing her to a handsome ghostly presence. In between grappling with exams and sorority soirees - and disturbing recurring dreams of being captive in a futuristic prison hell - Alessa is determined to unravel the mystery of the apparition who leaves her breathless. But the terrifying secret she uncovers will find her groping desperately through her nightmares for answers.

Because what Alessa hasn't figured out yet is that she's not really a student, the object of her obsession is no ghost, and her sneaking suspicions that something sinister is lurking behind the walls of her university's idyllic campus are only just scratching the surface...

The opening installment in a twist-laden trilogy, Stitch spans the genres of paranormal romance and dystopian sci-fi to explore the challenges of a society in transition, where morality, vision, and pragmatism collide leaving the average citizen to suffer the results.

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I would love to just hand someone this book and have them read it because the genres it's listed under totally give it away (don't read the tags on this post if you want to be surprised) I'm not a big fan of the cover for some reason that I can't put my finger on.

At first I thought this book was kind of boring but as time went on it started to get more exciting and I really started to enjoy it and all of these little details earlier in this book just clicked and really added to the story.

It's hard to review this book without giving it away! Let's just say it's a genre mash up full of amazing-ness.  Will I be reading the sequel? YES!

Pages: 314

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare (The Infernal Devices #1)

Clockwork Angel

Cassandra Clare

The year is 1878. Tessa Gray descends into London’s dark supernatural underworld in search of her missing brother. She soon discovers that her only allies are the demon-slaying Shadowhunters—including Will and Jem, the mysterious boys she is attracted to. Soon they find themselves up against the Pandemonium Club, a secret organization of vampires, demons, warlocks, and humans. Equipped with a magical army of unstoppable clockwork creatures, the Club is out to rule the British Empire, and only Tessa and her allies can stop them....

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I love this cover! Just everything about it fits the book perfectly.

What i loved most about this book is how unpredictable it is.  You would think it would go one way and it would go in the complete opposite direction or you had no idea at all where it was going to go!

I wish the author would have picked a better word for the nephilim tattoos than 'marks' I just thing she could have done better and come up with something more creative than that.

It almost seems like multiple stories crammed into one book but instead of it being crazy and unorganized it just works.

Would I recommend it? Most definitely!  Am I going to read the sequel?  I don't think so, not any time soon anyway. 

Pages: 479

Double Crossed: A Spies and Thieves Story - Ally Carter

Double Crossed: A Spies and Thieves Story

Ally Carter

Macey McHenry—Glamorous society girl or spy-in-training?

W.W. Hale V—Heir to an American dynasty or master thief?

There are two sides to every coin. Whether these two can work together is a tossup.

Born into privilege, Macey and Hale are experts at mingling with the upper class. But even if they’ve never raised an eyebrow at the glitz, neither teenager has ever felt at home with the glamour.

When Macey and Hale meet at a society gala, the party takes a dangerous turn. Suddenly they’re at the center of a hostage situation, and it’s up to them to stop the thugs from becoming hostile. Will Macey’s spy skills and Hale’s con-man ways be enough to outsmart a ruthless gang? Or will they have to seek out the ultimate inside girl to help?

The worlds of Heist Society and the Gallagher Girls collide in Ally Carter’s fast-paced, high-stakes and tantalizing new story. Get a behind the scenes glimpse as Ally delivers an irresistible thriller that is full of her signature style and savvy twists.

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IT WAS A GLORIOUS DAY WHEN THIS WAS ANNOUNCED.  I had been waiting on this ever since Heist Society was announced because it was meant to be.  I LOVE how she used Hale and Macey and not because those two have the most chance of meeting but because they are not the main characters (but Kat does have a small part in the book) Abby is even in the book!  I thought the name was really cute because it's a crossover between the two series.  I like how she did the little time stamp pages (i'm pretty sure these have a name but I don't know it) like in Heist Society.  When I starting reading I thought 'Huh, this looks a lot longer than I remember' and then once I got to the end I remembered that half of it is the Heist Society preview.   I never noticed the necklace the girl is wearing on the cover of the book is the one that's being heisted (is that a word?) in the book.  And the best part is it's free!

Pages: 60

Classified Information (Gallagher Girl 4.5) Out of Sight, Out of Time - Ally Carter (Gallagher Girl 5)

This is a double review so the first book is

Classified Information

Ally Carter

Only Ally knows the secrets that lie within the world of the Gallagher Girls.

And the biggest secret of all? In Out of Sight, Out of Time, the fifth installment in the Gallagher Girls series, Cammie “The Chameleon” Morgan has awoken in an alpine convent with one very important thing missing — her memory. So what happened to Cammie over the summer? Did her friends manage to find her before it was too late?

Click here to access a classified short story from Ally Carter, broken into ten parts. We’re releasing a new part each week, so keep coming back to get the full scoop, for Gallagher Girls eyes only!

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If you don't know Ally Carter made a website after GG 4 that was updated every week (I think) leading up to GG 5 and it changes POV every 'chapter' and I don't have too much to say about it but I thought it was really cool.   All you have to do is make an account to be able to read it.

Pages: We will just say 10 since there's 10 entries.

Out of Sight, Out of Time

Ally Carter

The last thing Cammie Morgan remembers is leaving the Gallagher Academy to protect her friends and family from the Circle of Cavan-an ancient terrorist organization that has been hunting her for over a year. But when Cammie wakes up in an alpine convent and discovers that months have passed, she must face the fact that her memory is now a black hole. The only traces left of Cammie's summer vacation are the bruises on her body and the dirt under her nails, and all she wants is to go home.

Once she returns to school, however, Cammie realizes that even the Gallagher Academy now holds more questions than answers. Cammie, her friends, and mysterious spy-guy Zach must face their most difficult challenge yet as they travel to the other side of the world, hoping to piece together the clues that Cammie left behind. It's a race against time. The Circle is hot on their trail and willing stop at nothing to prevent Cammie from remembering what she did last summer.

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To start off this is probably my least favorite cover.  I just don't like the colors (I think it may be the red) and her boots.  I actually got emotional while reading about how Cammie thought she was losing her friends because I know exactly what that's like (i'm sure a lot of us do) but I still think Zach and Bex still seem suspiciously close. Ally Carter will not let Cammie get seriously injured (Every time there is a chance for serious or fatal injuries someone else takes the hit!) and in the next book I really just want her to get shot or something not because I want to see Cammie hurt but because I think it's her time considering how many people have gotten themselves seriously injured for her.  When I first read this book I could have sworn the covenant parts were way longer (now it was just like three chapters if that)  I wish Ally Carter would have taken a more personal and in depth view on Cammie's feelings (like after the gun incident) because I felt like there could have been a lot more said.  The whole music thing was really bothering me and I didn't think we would find out why she would randomly start hearing/singing/humming music but once we found out HOLY GUACAMOLE that was genius.  

A lot happens and if you compare the early parts of the book with the last its like 'wow a lot happened' and they almost seem like different books and some scenes were short and some people might think it moved too quick or didn't go into enough detail but I didn't think so.  I still don't feel any differently about Zach (but I didn't dislike him as much) and I was just putting up with him the whole book.

I Have so many questions about this book that I don't' think will be answered like

how did Cammie first get into the safe deposit box?
HOW DID SHE GET INTO THE RIVER TO WASH UP AT THE CONVENT!?
They said that Cammie did the gun thing to herself but HOW?

Pages: 294

IS ANYONE ELSE FLIPPITY FLAPPING EXCITED FOR THE LAST BOOK!?  I have the hardcover pre-ordered from Barnes and Noble so I should be getting that in the mail in just over a week (and I will have the extra little epilogue too!).
Until next time
Baylee

Only the Good Spy Young - Ally Carter (Gallagher Girl #4)

Only the Good Spy Young

Ally Carter

When Cammie Morgan enrolled at the Gallagher Academy, she knew she was preparing for the dangerous life of a spy. What she didn’t know was that the serious, real-life danger would start during her junior year of high school. But that’s exactly what happened two months ago when Cammie faced off against an ancient terrorist organization dead set on kidnapping her.

Now the danger follows her everywhere, and even Cammie “The Chameleon” can’t hide. When a terrifying encounter in London reveals that one of her most-trusted allies is actually a rogue double-agent, Cammie no longer knows if she can trust her classmates, her teachers—or even her own heart.

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This is probably my favorite cover out of all of the books because I love the colors (it looks brown in the picture but it is actually gray) and the trench coat.  It started of reeeaally slow (much slower than I remember) and felt like a bunch of filler up until the last... 15 or so chapters.   I don't think Townsend and  Headmistress Morgan's talk after the CoveOp trip to the amusement park shouldn't have happened out in the open where the students could hear everything but I understand how upset Cammie's mom would be when she found out about it and how she would really want to tear into Townsend once they got back and on the topic of Agent Townsend he really pushed my buttons up until the second to last chapter (it might have been third to last) and I really didn't trust him the whole book but what he did for Cammie (and 'Mr. S') was so nice and it really changed my opinion of him but that didn't make up for him using Cammie as bait.  It has been hinted around at Mr. Solomon and Ms. Morgan having feelings for each other (like him taking her to the party in Roseville in book two and them holding hands in this book) but I don't think that's the case, they might have some feelings for each other but I think it's more of friendship from back when Cammie's dad was alive and how he was probably there for her after he died.

Spoiler

We finally got a glimpse into Zach's world but the fact that Blackthorne is a school for assassins was such a plot twist! but my question is Zach says that the detention center is their cover so were all of the boys actually needing to go to a detention center or would Blackthorne make up stuff so boys would have to go there?   

Pages: 265

Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover - Ally Carter (Gallagher Girls #3)

Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover

Ally Carter

When Cammie “The Chameleon” Morgan visits her roommate Macey in Boston, she thinks she’s in for an exciting end to her summer break. After all, she’s there to watch Macey’s father accept the nomination for vice president of the United States. But when you go to the world’s best school (for spies), “exciting” and “deadly” are never far apart. Cammie and Macey soon find themselves trapped in a kidnappers’ plot, with only their espionage skills to save them.

As her junior year begins, Cammie can’t shake the memory of what happened in Boston, and even the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women doesn’t feel like the safe haven it once did. Shocking secrets and old flames seem to lurk around every one of the mansion’s corners as Cammie and her friends struggle to answer the questions, Who is after Macey? And how can the Gallagher Girls keep her safe?

Soon Cammie is joining Bex and Liz as Macey’s private security team on the campaign trail. The girls must use their spy training at every turn as the stakes are raised, and Cammie gets closer and closer to the shocking truth….

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I think this is the most important book in the series so far and I like how it focuses more on friendship and the spy side of Cammie's life and not her love life like the past two books have.   One thing I didn't realize back when I was younger and read this book that I realize now and appreciate is Macey and Cammie's friendship.  I love Bex and Liz but Cammie and Macey's relationship seems much more special and unique than with Bex and Liz. Cammie was the first one to help Macey study and catch up in the last book and she is the one who was able to bond with her over the summer.  Cammie really seems to understand, relate, and care for Macey just a tad more than the other two.   I really liked how whatever the girls were learning in class connected with the story and filled in a few missing pieces.    I liked how the plot focused more on Macey than Cammie and goodness WHAT A PLOT TWIST! That ending was crazy.

Pages: 272

Happy reading!                                                                                                                                                                                  Baylee

Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy - Ally Carter (Gallagher Girls #2)

 Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy

Ally Carter

Cammie Morgan is back, and it's clear that her life hasn't calmed down since the events of I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You. At first, giddy anticipation is in the air. Gallagher Academy, Cammie's elite spy school, is hosting a visit from a covert training center for boys. Soon after the boys' arrival, though, everything goes dangerously awry when a series of security breaches are discovered at the academy. Worse yet, teenage agent-in-training Cammie is being blamed for the penetration. With the school's top-secret status at risk, the Gallagher Girls have to work quickly to save their beloved school.

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Yay we have made it to the second book! 

It was just as well written as the first book and there are so many questions about small details in the book that I have and really want answered.   It was interesting to see how the first time I read it I liked Zach but now I didn't!  He was so irritating and I hated not know if he was actually being honest or not!  Just like it annoyed Cammie so job well done Ally Carter.   Early on in the book they fly to the National Mall for a class assignment and I just really wanted to smack Cammie because it was so obvious what was going on but everyone makes mistakes, even Gallagher Girls.   I really liked how the big action scene is at the end (just like the first book) because I find myself losing interest when books have the climax like 3/4 of the way in and the rest just seems like filler.

Overall it's a fun and light read and I would really recommend reading it if you read the first one.

SUPER DUPER SPOILER AHEAD!!!!

I was SO dissapointed/irritated that Dr. Steve stealing the disk was fake!  I really wanted it to be true because that plotline would be awesome (Having a traitor) and I wanted the girls to save the day and not just pass a test.  So does that mean all of the code blacks were fake? What would Mr. Solomon have done if one of the girls had killed one of the guards? I know that's not really how they do it (they like to knock them out) but if push comes to shove you know the girls know hundreds of ways to kill a man (just with their bare hands)

Pages: 236

Happy reading!

Baylee

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You - Ally Carter (Gallagher Girls #1)

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You

Ally Carter

Cammie Morgan is a student at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, a fairly typical all-girls school-that is, if every school taught advanced martial arts in PE and the latest in chemical warfare in science, and students received extra credit for breaking CIA codes in computer class. The Gallagher Academy might claim to be a school for geniuses but it's really a school for spies. Even though Cammie is fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man in seven different ways, she has no idea what to do when she meets an ordinary boy who thinks she's an ordinary girl. Sure, she can tap his phone, hack into his computer, or track him through town with the skill of a real "pavement artist"-but can she maneuver a relationship with someone who can never know the truth about her? 

Cammie Morgan may be an elite spy-in-training, but in her sophomore year, she's on her most dangerous mission-falling in love.

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The first official Read-a-thon post! I'm so excited! This has been amazing so far (and it's only the first week!) and I can't wait until we get to the other books!

I fell in love with this book all over again!  I forgot how much I enjoyed it the first (and second... and third) time.  There is a reason this has been my favorite book since Middle school (I think that's when I read it but goodness that seems so long ago)

I can never put into words how much I enjoyed every second of this book! There weren't any boring or slow parts and each part really fit in and there wasn't really any filler. The book is supposed to be Cammie's first covert operations report and it feels as if it actually was written by a fifteen year old! I Just love Carter's writing style and sense of humor and she really seems to connect with girls.  I love the little glimpse we get into the life of a spy like 'When you're on a plane home from Istanbul and you have a nuclear warhead in a hatbox the last thing you want to do it write a report about it' it seems like the paperwork would be the hardest/most irritating part! but doesn't everybody hate paperwork?   All of the characters are very relatable and I found I could relate to every one of them in some way, even the little side characters like Tina Walters and Anna Fetterman (Tina's probably my favorite! or maybe Anna... I can never decide).  It seemed like Josh and I have the same mom! But my mother doesn't make 18 different kind of banana bread and make me sample them all.  It was definitely interesting to see how my opinions and views have changed since I first read it so many years ago and I think I appreciate and enjoy the book more now then I did back then!   I think this would be a great book for an adult who doesn't read too much YA but wants to dabble a little bit and I really enjoyed experiencing Cammie's first crush and her first date (and kiss!) with her and I think other older readers will enjoy that too.

I just love this book so much!

Pages: 284

Happy reading!

Baylee

Playing Nice - Rebekah Crane

Playing Nice

Rebekah Crane

Martina "Marty" Hart is really nice. At least, that's what people think. 

It's Marty's junior year at Minster High. Minster's a small town where making great grades, smiling pretty, helping old people, running the new-student Welcoming Committee, and putting up decorations for all the dances--including the totally awful Hot Shot fall hunting celebration--gets you ... what? Marty's not sure. Instead of dreaming about a sororities-and-frats future at nearby University of Michigan, she's restless, searching for a way out of the box her controlling mother and best frenemy Sarah have locked her in. When Lil--don't call her Lily!--Hatfield transfers to Minster, Marty gets her chance. Lil's different. She smokes, wears black, listens to angry punk records, and lives in a weird trailer with her mother. Lil has secrets--secrets that make her a target for all the gossiping and online bullying Minster can muster. But so does Marty. And Marty sees something different in Lil. Something honest. 

Something real. 

PLAYING NICE is the achingly true story of a girl who's been following the rules for so long she's forgotten who she was when she started. It's about falling in love with the wrong people and not seeing the right ones, about the moments in life when you step out of line, take a chance ... and begin to break free.

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First off I love the cover!  The font and the use of colors really makes this book stand out on a bookshelf.

There were a lot of things that irked me about this book and it seems like Crane never went to high school or knew anyone who went to high school.  For example:

1. Band kids do NOT wear their uniforms to school
2. There seemed to be all of these stupid 'rules' in this town/school that make no sense for example "Once you date someone in Minster, you're off-limits for the rest of your high school career.... It's unwritten dating law."   You're kidding me right?
3. She seems to think kids can't text in class whenever they want.

Some of the situations in the book are believable particularly the whole teenage 'Who am I?' crisis but others... eh not so much.  There was one particular thing Marty's mom said I think people could really relate too about how you could love somebody but not always like them.  I also found Marty's view on her and her best friend's relationship changing extremely relatable!  I have been through that myself and I am sure plenty of others have too.

I really thought Marty was an idiot for following Lil outside to sit with her while she smoked and then she was paranoid about people smelling it on her, well Honey if you didn't want anyone to smell it you shouldn't have been sitting next to someone who is smoking illegally.

"And then Matt winks at me. A deliberate, slow, super-sexy wink that makes his hair fall in his face." This just makes me go "What?"  I really wish someone would do this for me as an example because in my mind it just looks weird and how does just eye lid movement make your hair fall in your face?

I hate to say one of the most popular things used in my notes was 'Really!?'

Now lets address the main protagonist Marty!

I did not like her.  She seemed to have an obsession with sex and her virginity.  Some of the thoughts she has about a rocker boy who she has a crush on was just a little too much at times (and keep in mind I am young so this isn't coming from some middle-aged woman) and I was thinking 'What is this?  50 Shades of Teenagers?'.  She keeps referring to her 'rotten and stinky virgin vagina'  (not an exact quote) and I was getting really irritated/tired of it it.  Here is a quote from the book "I'm surprised at how steady my voice sounds and the fact that his leg is touching mine isn't sending my mind into a crazy montage of sex scenes"  reeeally!?.  You know how in some books with angst-y teens they always go on and on about something or how people fish for compliments and it gets really annoying? This was Marty's version of that. 

I understand teenagers have angst and disagreements with their parents but at certain parts of the book Marty was downright disrespectful, immature and overreacting.

She says at one point "It makes me want to tear off my skin and crawl into someone else's. Someone like Lil, who says what she wants, who can sleep with any body and not care and smoke cigarette after cigarette out in the open for the whole town to see.  Who can say you smell like a virgin and I want to get laid and 'Shot through the heart is a terrible theme because no one cares about Bon Jovi anymore!'"  why would you want to be somebody like that?

But what's up with her obsession to become friends with Lil?  Does she not understand that some people might not like her?  Does she think she's that amazing and perfect?   The answer to that is yes.  Through out the book you notice that she's not nice she's actually pretty rude immature and conceited.  She doesn't do things to be nice or helpful she does them for self gain and benefit. 

She seemed to judge and assume things about EVERYONE whether it was Lil when they first met or her mother.  At one part of the book she thinks "I touch my black jelly bracelet.  I was overreacting about Meghan. Matt's busy with guitar and school.  His pothead mom probably doesn't have a computer" did she ever think that Matt's mom feels the same way Lil and her mom do when it comes to stereotypes and people assuming things?

She has these ridiculous rules about dating boys!  For example  "But he's a jock, and I just can't date a jock. I hate the smell of sweat."   Has she never heard of showers? She also went to a party as one boy's date just so she could talk to another guy she even thinks "I'm not supposed to leave with Alex I'm supposed to be with Matt."  Who does that?

I got really tired of her always 'Because it's the nice thing to do' or 'Because that's what a nice person does' now when you just read it it doesn't seem that bad but it's all about context.  You shouldn't have to think about or remind yourself to be a nice person if you really are a nice person.   I also thought the fact that she used curse words was a little out of character for a character who has such high expectations from her parents and is just all around supposed to be perfect and nice.

She has no idea what humility is.

At the beginning of the book I thought I could really relate to Marty but I learned really fast that that was not the case.

I'm glad that Marty finds out who she really is inside and she does grow up some in the last chapter or two but she still has A LOT of growing up to do.  I was glad that she finally understood her mom at the end.

Now it's Lil's turn.

I did like that she seemed to be the voice of reason at certain parts but I found her pretty cliche a lot of the time.
That is all.

The book features quite a bit of poetry written by 'Marty' and I will be honest after the first few poems I started skipping over them.  I understand she write poetry but do we really have read everything she writes?  I found it unnecessary but I'm sure someone out there liked it.

I feel like the only person who would enjoy with book would have to be 13 years old but I wouldn't recommend it for anyone under 16.  I wouldn't consider this a coming of age novel because I don't think this shows Marty or Lil's transition to adulthood. Marty still has A LOT of maturing and growing up to do.   I ended up reading it just to see what happened not because I wanted to (thank goodness it's short!).

Pages:  270

P.S  I actually had to stop about half way through writing this review because It brought up all of my frustrated feelings I had while reading the book!

P.P.S  There is a huge spoiler for West Side Story in this book that I was not pleased about.