BOOK REVIEW: Beautiful

BOOK: Beautiful
AUTHOR: Amy Reed
CAKESTER RATING: Awesome Awesome

THOUGHTS

This book is a haunting portrayal of one 7th graders descent into a harrowing world filled with drugs, violence and no one way out. Cassie is new in Seattle and she's looking to be someone different. She gets her chance when she is invited to the "popular" table by her new instant best friend named Alex. As soon as she sits down she asked if she's "straight" meaning does she abstain from drugs. Her answer changes everything.

This book was a tough read. Don't be fooled by the fact that the main character is a 7th grader. This book is suited for older readers both by subject matter and prose. Cassie's narrative is stark and unflinching. There is a dreamy quality to it as she drifts in and out of various drugs and frightening situations. The other characters drift in an out of her consciousness and Cassie notices them just long enough to get through the next hit. However, she becomes strangely close to two of them, her boyfriend and her best friend Alex's half sister. Each of them affect her lives in devastating way.

Just like Cassie, I spent the book looking for signs of hope. Cassie is also looking for a change through the pills and the sex and hiding from most people. She got out of one bad experience just to be trapped in another. The lyrical nature of the story is part of the redeeming beauty and Cassie is obviously very self-aware, very intelligent. There has to be a way out of this mess she's in but it's very hard to see this path for a long time.

The book moves quickly and slowly at different times. Sometimes it's like moving through a dream or better yet a nightmare. It's hard to imagine a reality where kids do these things and parents are this neglectful but it's somebody's life. If you've seen it, this book will remind you a lot of the movie Thirteen. But the toxic friend is even more toxic and there's honestly no redeeming adult character present at all.

The book goes from intense to sad to intense to sad and intense and more intense. It hardly lets up, a ball of tension, so you can feel how hard it must be to live Cassie's life. It's an important perspective for so many different reasons. This is a book that sticks to your brain after you've read the last word. I think the last chapter is the hardest.

Recommended if you're ready for something heavy and haunting and heartbreaking but ultimately there's a undercurrent of strength in Cassie's story that hopefully you can apply to your life.

Really recommended if you love Ellen Hopkins' books!


-- Liana
#TEAMNODUNK

Book Review: 101 Places Not to Visit

Book: 101 Places Not To Visit
Author: Adam Russ
Cakester Rating: Awesome Awesome Awesome


With a tagline that reads “Your Essential Guide to the World’s Most Miserable, Ugly, Boring and Inbred Destinations”, 101 Places Not To Visit is exactly what it says it is. It is a compilation of 101 places in the world that you would not want to visit. Some of these places you would not even think of visiting in the first place such as Mogadishu or Kosovo and some that you would not expect to see on there like London or Orlando, Florida (yes, the home of the world’s most famous mouse is listed).

Divided up by continent, 101 Places is an abrasive and hilarious look at the places that you should probably do your best to avoid or that will make you think twice when you are planning that family vacation. Each entry begins with a opening sentence that drips with sarcasm about that particular city. It has a “star system” that rates Boredom Rating and the Likelihood of Fatal Visit. It also tells you Essential Packing and Most Likely Cause of Death. Here is an excerpt:

Edinburgh

The country that gave the world bagpipes, kilts and the inspiration for Mel Gibson’s first attempt at rewriting history has a capital city as representative of its people as Friends is of the people of New York.

Country: Scotland

Boredom Rating: **
Likelihood of Fatal Visit: *
Essential Packing: Audience participation indemnity card
Most Likely Cause of Death: Audience participation in a production of Macbeth


As was mentioned before, Russ is an equal opportunity offender, leaving no place unscathed. There is absolutely no sugar coating here. The book offers a brief history of each location, which is helpful but due to the nature of the book, it has a more negative skew to it. If you are looking for a more well rounded history of a certain place in this book, I would recommend going to Google. If you are into humor/non-fiction books and even if they aren’t exactly your thing, go out and buy it if you want a good chuckle.

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Tracy #TEAMDUNK

Book Review: Sloppy Firsts

Book: Sloppy Firsts
Author: Megan McCafferty
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Cakester Rating: awesome awesome awesome



This is my first book review, so be kind! I'm not the best technical writer in the world and because of that, my anxiety level increases and it's hard to post my writing. Anyway, to the story!



I can't tell if this is a young adult or an adult novel; I'm going to say that's it's more young adult due that it's based on a high school girl. I enjoyed it either way! I'm a chiclit/YA junkie and this book was a perfect fix!



It's about a 15/16 year old girl named Jessica Darling. You would think a name like that would mean that she is this sweet, innocent, happy girl, but that's not the case. She is a sarcastic, cynical, witty, independent, athletic, smart, unhappy teenager. I adored her, but it's not that surprising since I tend to enjoy these type of characters in stories. In this story, she is very unhappy for the most part and that's mostly due to her best friend moving away right before she starts sophomore year of high school. She hangs out with this group of friends that she cannot stand one bit and the only reason why she converses with them is that she's lonely. This group of friends is catty, spoiled and ditzy. Basically, nothing like Jess. Her relationships with her family are not the greatest. Her parents and her do not get along very well. Her mom wants her to be social and date and that's not what Jess is and wants and her dad pressures her a lot about running. Jess is a great runner who is involved in the track and cross country team. Jess loves running, but her dad's constant hassle on her performance is waning on her. Everything that bothers Jess is builds up inside of her and she just keeps it to herself or in her journal. For the most part, she does fill her best friend that moved away, Hope, in on some of her frustrations and problems by writing her letters and talking to her on the phone. There are some things she doesn't say to Hope and one of those things is her newly developed relationship with the intelligent/bad-boy Marcus. May I add that I love bad boys. There is something about them that makes me swoon. I can't help but fall for most bad boys in books, tv shows, and movies and Marcus is falls right in that category. The sexual tension that builds between Jess and Marcus is scorching!



The format is mostly of her journal entries and her letters to hope. The journal entries are nice because it gives you an insight on her thoughts and the conversations she has with the people her life. This is the first book out of five (I believe) about the character Jessica Darling. The ending of this story does leave you at a blank which will make you want to read the next in the series. There is literally no ending! It's driving me crazy wondering what the next book will offer. I'm very excited to start reading the next couple of books in the series. If they're anything like this one, I won't be disappointed.

-Megan

#TEAMDUNK

View all my reviews

Book Review: Jazz in Love

Book: Jazz in Love
Author: Neesha Meminger
Cakester Rating: awesome awesome awesome


THOUGHTS 

Jazz is your typical 17-year-old American teen who wants to date, hang out with her friends and try new things. Unfortunately for Jazz, she has strict traditional parents from India who want to make sure she adheres to the traditions and lifestyle they have grown up with. This causes a lot of conflict between them as Jazz fights to make her own decisions about her future.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick enjoyable read about a girl with a lot of personality. Jazz is someone you want to be friends with. She's smart, but she has a quick wit and she's not afraid to speak her mind. She has a wonderful group of friends to urge her on, even when it's not particularly on the right path. Jazz really felt fresh and real on the page. The way she spoke, the things she obsessed over, I could definitely relate to having all of the same feelings.

One major part of the story is that Jazz is Indian and her religion is Sikh. There are a lot of customs and traditions she has to follow and you see her trying to explain them over and over again to her friends. The only one she doesn't have to explain herself to is Jeeves, a childhood friend who's Indian, too. After Jazz's parents learn that she was hugging Jeeves they decide to start the matchmaking process, much to Jazz's dismay. She has her eyes on the hottest guy in school, Tyler R. But he's not on her parents' "guided dating" list.

I really loved the cultural conflicts in the novel. Learning about Jazz's family's background and how that clashed with how she wanted to live her life were key to the story yet never heavy handed. It was important to highlight how Jazz is different from her peers but at the same time she is struggling in some of the same ways they are. Jazz makes some fool-hardy choices and takes some crazy risks. I was surprised as how far she pushed the limits. But it made a riveting story and I could hardly put the book down until I finished it the same day that I picked the book up. (Figuratively speaking, I bought it for my Kindle.)

There's a big plot where Jazz plays matchmaker for her Auntie Kinder that is pretty fantastical and at times a little hard to believe, but fun all the same. I liked how Jazz's life started to mirror the romance novels she loves-- it became pretty fantastical!

This is a really fun, breezy read with a strong undercurrent of self-discovery and understanding. I would love to read more books with heroines like Jazz who might have a different background but still so much to relate to. Besides, I really love learning about growing up in a different culture and this book is definitely one to give you a different perspective.

I really can't emphasize how entertaining this book. It's a quick escape into the life of a very likable girl. I promise, you'll be cheering for her the whole time and the ending will come before you're ready to put it down, even if you really should be getting to bed. In fact, the ending might leave you with a few questions....

Anyway, definitely download this book, curl up in a chair with a cakester (no dunking!) and enjoy.

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Liana #TEAMNODUNK