About the Book
-
Author:
- Rachel Vail
- Genre:
- Contemporary
- Voices:
- Cis Girl
- White (Non-Specified)
BFF Charm: Yay!
Talky Talk: Right On
Bonus Factors: The Devil, America’s Next Top Model
Relationship Status: New BFF
The Deal
Allison Avery’s life sucks. Her family’s having serious financial problems, her BFF is a raging beeyotch, her teachers hate her, her two sisters are perfect, even her grandmother thinks she’s “interesting looking” – not pretty – and she sold her cell phone to the devil in exchange for 7 people thinking she’s gorgeous. Um, what? She ends up being friends with the new girl, Roxie, who lives down the street and life gets crazy.
BFF Charm: Yay!
This is the 2nd Avery Sisters book, and follows the middle Avery sister. I loved Allison — she’s cranky and bitter and snarky and totally 15. Her inner monologue and rants against whacked-out-rich suburbia cracked me up, and her insecurity made me want to take her and say, “Dude, srsly, It gets WAAAAY better. All those ppl who say high school is the best years of yr life are just losers in the long run. Trust me.” Plus, poor Allison is stuck between overachiever Quinn and her lucky, pretty little sister Phoebe, who I gave a conditional bff charm to last week for when she grows up a bit (Phoebe’s not annoying like Dawn Summers, but I do like Allison better than Phoebs). Luckily, she has an awesome new bff, Roxie, who kind of does this. And I want to give Roxie a big ol’ bff charm, too, for being AWESOME and not just for helping Allison get through that early high school identity crisis and figure out how to be who she really is, instead of hiding all the time and letting bitch-friend-forever Jade bring her down.
Swoonworthy Scale: 5
So Allison has a total crush on hot jock boy Tyler Moss (can I just say with the exception of Jade and Quinn, this book has normal character names? THANK YOU RACHEL VAIL). Luckily, Tyler’s not yr typical jock like I went to school with – he’s actually funny and sweet and has a killer vocabulary. And he appreciates weird and independent. The flirting between Allison and Tyler is sweet and angsty, and you can feel yr palms start to sweat when they meet up at a party on weekends.
Talky Talk: Right On
So Rachel Vail doesn’t mess around with trying to name drop, or technology drop or talk like some weirdo adult version of teenspeak. She just talks like a normal human being, and a lot like I did at 15. Her characters are smart and witty, but not unbelievably or irritatingly so. It’s not spectacular or sparkling like John Green, doesn’t make me crack up like Meg Cabot, but she writes a comfortable, solid teen voice.
Bonus Factor: The Devil
So the devil shows up in Allison’s bedroom to barter her cell phone for gorgeousness, and makes a few other appearances (he possesses the cell phone, by the way. Um, TOTES embarrassing at times!). He’s a pretty awesome character, actually, and some of my favorite bits were the weird conversations Allison had with him, and how she never tried to hide the fact that she sold her cell phone to the devil (even when it made her parents ground her for being a smart-ass).
Bonus Factor: America’s Next Top Model
I’m starting to think Rachel Vail wrote this series while junking out on reality tv. Lucky was all My Super Sweet 16, and now we have ANTM. What’s next? The Bachelor? Anyway, so Allison skips school to go with Roxie to a modeling audition, and ends up getting a callback. Great, except she doesn’t want to model, hates getting her picture taken and is in ALL KINDS of shizz when her parents find out. Oh, and her dad? I’m revoking that Dad of the Year award I gave him last week. Dude needs to give his middle girl a break. I might give it to the mom, though – depends on how she acts in the last book, Brilliant. But the parents are pretty realistic and good parents, trying not to raise douchebags. Um, that had nothing to do with Top Model. Oh well.
Relationship Status: New BFF
This book is my new bff. I text with it all day under my desk at school, and stay up half the night on the phone. I’m trying to learn all about it, and still feel a thrill of excitement when it saves me a seat on the bus. The charm might wear off as we learn more about each other, and it turns out we have less in common than we think, but I still think we’ll always be friends (it won’t be that girl you talk to on the first day of camp, then regret for the rest of the week because she’s SO not your type, and now you’re stuck with her).
FTC Full Disclosure: I received neither money nor cocktails for writing this review (dammit!). Gorgeous is available now.
