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?
Hey c: I saw that you commented on my review for Goddess Interrupted, and I wanted to respond c: (New follower by the way - I'm sorry I didn't follow before, I truly thought I did x___x I love your blog & reviews because of the style of them & videos :D)
ReplyDeleteAnyways, onto my response. I don't think The Goddess Test series is one that you would enjoy. I've been looking at your reviews, and I find that you focus on the emotions of characters, personalities, roles they play, world building, other factors, etc. When I read The Goddess Test last year, I had drastically different tastes in books. I read mostly for romance, or even maybe had skimmed through the book. Now I find that Kate is simply unlikeable, weak, and completely dependent on others. Moreover (I'm not sure if this is a factor that you particularly worry about, but personally, I do), a lot of the information about Greek mythology is messed up. The Gods are completely misinterpreted. There are also many double standards and stupid, stupid, stupid decisions that made me dislike Kate even more. And finally, I found that the plot was mainly fluff, and I was often bored because of the lack of excitement.
So yeah, I personally wouldn't recommend this book to you. The role Kate plays in the book isn't even that strong - it seems the only purpose for her is to make Henry exist - not to help him rule or anything else. Sorry for the long rant - but that's how I feel.
As for your review of Pretty Amy, I liked the fact that you include visuals! It really helps c: I'm still a teenager, so I probably should read this book - I'll relate to Amy. Thanks for the review and a good laugh from the video.
Again, sorry for the long comment. But thanks for the review, again!
Thanks, great comment. Don't mind long comments at all. I appreciate your thoughts on this series. I find that once I start a series, I have to finish it. Or at least try to. So, I've slogged through a bunch of mediocre and bad books to work my way through a series. I just have to know what happens to the characters, I guess. I like fluff as much as the next person- I like it a lot under the right circumstances. But, your reaction to the book makes it seem like this series is kind of third-rate fluff. So, thanks!!! It's a planned trilogy, right? So you just saved me from reading 3 books.
DeleteThe Greek Mythology...Well, yes, I think the inaccuracies would bother me. The relation between Greek myths and the pre-Socratic philosophers was one of my special interests in college- did projects and even learned some Ancient Greek so I could do my own translations. So, I'm attracted to books about or based on Greek myths and yet when the author does it wrong I'll have a strongly negative reaction to it.
Thanks again. I think this is the first time my TBR list has gone down in a long time.
I'm actually also a fan of (good written) fluff. However, as you said, this series is probably third-rate fluff. I didn't actually feel chemistry between Kate and Henry, partly because Henry seems like a whiny brat.
DeleteAs for the inaccuracies... there are A LOT. Even someone who doesn't have extensive knowledge of Greek mythology can tell that there was something wrong. This kind of a spoiler, but it incorporates Christian ideals. Christian. Onto the gods. /shakeshead.