Author: Robin Benway
Year of Publication: 2008
Genre: Young Adult
Pages: 313
First Line: "The day I broke up with my boyfriend Evan was the day he wrote the song."
Summary: Everybody's singing, "Audrey, Wait!" Audrey Cuttler's life hasnt' been the same since that song, "Audrey, Wait!" hit the airwaves. All she wants to do is go to concerts, hang out with her friends, and maybe score a date with the cute boy whow orks with her at the Scooper Dooper.
Bur now, her ex-boyfriend's song about their breakup is at the top of the charts and she's suddenly famous! The paparazzi wont' leave her alone, the tabloids are trying to make her into some kind of rock goddess, and the Internet is documenting her every move!
(Source: Back of book)
Review: This book wasn't too bad. Cute and original, I liked the characters, (especially Victoria) and the plot. The writing style wasn't too bad but the ending was abrupt and kind of silly. It seems a little more realistic than what would happen in other fiction, though, so I'll giev it that. I love the idea though and it was done pretty well. I wouldn't mind reading a few other books with a similar plot. Definitely recommend.
Worst part: The ending. Well, how things were resolved.
Best part: The plot was super original. Never seen anything quite like it.
Grade: B
Author: Melissa Schorr
Year of Publication: 2006
Genre: Young Adult
Pages: 344
First Line: "There is no way I'm dancing with Howard Goldstein."
Summary: Rachel Lowenstein can't help it. She's got a massive crush on a goy: Luke Christiansen, the gorgeous star of the basketball team at St. Joseph's Prep. But as the name implies, he's not exactly in Rachel's tribe.... She just knows her parents would never approve. Then Rachel's grandmother issues a stern edict--"Don't go with the goyim!"--sealing Rachel's fate and presenting her with a major dilemma.
Everyon'e got an opinion--from her annoying neighbor,Howard, to her newly social-climbing best friend. Should Rachel follow her heart and turn her back on her faith? Or should she heed her family's advice and try to find a nice Jewish boy?
(Source: Back of book)
Review: Ehhh. It was cute, but...really...not fantastic. I won't say it was a waste of time--it wasn't THAT bad of a book. But I'm not sure I would recommend it, either. It's one of those books that would be great to use if you were writing a paper on teens and religion in fiction and you wanted to write the thesis on how teens stress about what their parents thing about dating someone out of their group or whatever. The main problem with this book is (SPOILER FOLLOWING:) she jumped to conclusions and didn't even find out for sure what her parents would think and that was super annoying. Also, she was super superficial (haha, no pun intended, or, wordplay, rather) and decided she didn't like the boy because he...kissed...badly. Now, I know stuff about how kissing is part of your body testing chemicals and stuff (I dunno where I read that but it's somewhere) and getting a feel to see if it really would work, but the girl is only 15. Seriously. Kissing shouldn't be ALL that important at this point. (/END SPOILER) Besides that, it ended quite abruptly and I found the character not particularly likable (I didn't hate her, though. Just disliked.) Aaaand. I'd only recommend it if you are really stuck on what to read next and like stuff about stupid girls.
Worst part: See the spoiler part above.
Best part: Ehhh...some of the characters, like Wayne, were pretty good. I would have liked to see more of him, actually.
Grade: D
Other Books by This Author: I don't believe there are any others.
Other Books by This Author: No others.