Goodreads Summary:
Amy is fine living in the shadows of beautiful Lila and uber-cool Cassie, because at least she’s somewhat beautiful and uber-cool by association. But when their dates stand them up for prom, and the girls take matters into their own hands—earning them a night in jail outfitted in satin, stilettos, and Spanx—Amy discovers even a prom spent in handcuffs might be better than the humiliating “rehabilitation techniques” now filling up her summer. Worse, with Lila and Cassie parentally banned, Amy feels like she has nothing—like she is nothing.
Navigating unlikely alliances with her new coworker, two very different boys, and possibly even her parents, Amy struggles to decide if it’s worth being a best friend when it makes you a public enemy. Bringing readers along on an often hilarious and heartwarming journey, Amy finds that maybe getting a life only happens once you think your life is over.
Navigating unlikely alliances with her new coworker, two very different boys, and possibly even her parents, Amy struggles to decide if it’s worth being a best friend when it makes you a public enemy. Bringing readers along on an often hilarious and heartwarming journey, Amy finds that maybe getting a life only happens once you think your life is over.
My Review:
At first, I was kind of disappointed in this book. They get ditched/stood up for the prom and the book's own description says, "jail". So, I was picturing something more like this:
Amy...I think a lot of us have gone through times in our teen years when we felt like Amy. Just kind of feeling that you don't fit in, that people don't see you as you are. That if they did see you, they wouldn't like you. Feeling unhappy with life without being able to put your finger on the "Why", the cause of the unhappiness. Burstein did a good job of being able to make Amy sympathetic through all of her struggles and not whiny and annoying. Which is good because Amy (until her self-created problem at the beginning of the book), has mostly typical teenage problems. The kind of middle class American kid type problems that can sometimes make you just loathe a character. Instead, because of the great writing, those typical problems made it easy to relate to Amy as the book takes us through Amy's life while she works through them. And, I was so relieved that the author didn't ruin the book with a bad ending. I've found that when reading realistic YA novels that if the ending isn't good/plausible/consistent, etc. that it just ruins the whole book.
Overall rating: 3 1/2 stars
Genre Rating: 4 school lockers
Lisa Burstein interviews RT Convention goers about their best and worst prom experiences:
Lisa Burstein's Twitter
Anyone brave enough to share their best and worst prom stories?
