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kickpleat's review against another edition
4.0
Another YA novel. Trashy and perfect for being laid up in bed with the flu. So glad I'm not in high school any more...things just seem way tougher.
mel_mazzone's review against another edition
5.0
This book should be required reading in high school. And for all humans. Ever.
twiinklex's review against another edition
3.0
Re-read this book for the second time few days back and unfortunately it has lost its initial charm, which I'm attributing to age. I first read this when I was 14 or 15, I think -- when I still believed in things like rainbows, unicorns and love at first sight. Now 20, I'm much more cynical and noticed many flaws about the story that I didn't before.
I don't think there was enough focus on the photograph, how it spread, the problems it presented to the characters, or the impact it had on their lives. It should have been the main conflict of the book, but instead felt more like a plot device for the relationship between Luke and Audrey. The problem was readily swept under the rug, it wasn't convincing who spread the photograph and why, etc. Thousand Words by Jennifer Brown did a much better job in tackling a similar issue.
As interesting as the relationship between the two main characters was (it was what made me remember the book after so many years that I felt a strong need to re-read it), I guess I just don't feel the same way as I did anymore. Old me fawned over the characters and how cute they were, but present me found them unrealistic and unbelievable. It is however, what I liked most about the book, over all the other shallow and unmemorable characters.
An entertaining read regardless, though I do miss the charm of childhood and first/young love. First reading: 4 stars, second reading: 3 stars.
I don't think there was enough focus on the photograph, how it spread, the problems it presented to the characters, or the impact it had on their lives. It should have been the main conflict of the book, but instead felt more like a plot device for the relationship between Luke and Audrey. The problem was readily swept under the rug, it wasn't convincing who spread the photograph and why, etc. Thousand Words by Jennifer Brown did a much better job in tackling a similar issue.
As interesting as the relationship between the two main characters was (it was what made me remember the book after so many years that I felt a strong need to re-read it), I guess I just don't feel the same way as I did anymore. Old me fawned over the characters and how cute they were, but present me found them unrealistic and unbelievable. It is however, what I liked most about the book, over all the other shallow and unmemorable characters.
An entertaining read regardless, though I do miss the charm of childhood and first/young love. First reading: 4 stars, second reading: 3 stars.
kimjinae's review
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
melrosereads's review against another edition
2.0
I barely remember the story of this book. This is one of the books that I experimented on when I was new with YA and testing the water whichever genre fits me. I'm racking my brain whether I can recollect a scene of the story but I can't. I read several of the review and it was about a girl, a good girl in fact that does everything right until she falls in love with Luke which is a playboy and everything starts there. That's the only thing I can say about this book I read this like 4 years ago everything is foggy or completely gone.
nssyfq's review
2.0
this is one of the first book that i read when i first started to like reading novels. it was fun. it talks about this one introvert naive girl that slowly trying to be more extrovert. Its not boring but its fine i guesss. Its just a really predictable book. Its fun to read but not as excited as reading other book.
kyleg99's review against another edition
3.0
May also be found at Living Is Reading
This is a really difficult book to review. I mean, I liked a lot of aspects about it, and there is no denying that the book has a very relevant and important theme, and I'm in no way denying that. My issue with this book is solely my opinion, and none of my friends who have read this book have had this issue (at least not to the extent that I have), so it could be just my own interpretation.
In fact, I just kind of want to get it out of the way, since I have a lot to say about it.
Female characters in this book: Misunderstood, misjudged, good once you get past their reputations
Male characters in this book: Dirt bags, douches, pervs, assholes, one-dimensional, selfish, controlling, manipulative, rude and just horrible people
Really? I can only think of three people in this book that are NOT the stereotypical male in this book, and one of them was considered to be like that stereotype for about 85% of the book. The other guy - I don't even remember if he even had a line of dialogue, but we're just meant to percieve him as good because the main character and her friends think he's alright. The other is the MC's dad . . . so it's a bit biased anyway.
How come all the female characters get all this hidden depth and the males never get any development past this stereotype that seems to run rampant in a lot of male characters in YA?
I really am bothered by this, since the entire time I was reading this, whenever a guy came into the book, I was just waiting for him to do something where he would fall into one of these traits - and they always did.
Thinking about it afterwards just made me even more frustrated, and I kind of wonder if I should drop this to 3.5, since all the good thoughts I had about this book just seem to be overshadowed by just how much it annoyed the crap out of me. ALL characters deserve sufficient depth and development.
Now, I get that the book was about gender double standards in regard to sexuality and how we express it regarding how a female is considered a slut for having sex, and a man is known as a player or whatever, but that doesn't mean you exclude male characters getting the same time to be as well-written as the female.
Yet this book . . . I really do connect with Audrey's troubles. I mean, nothing that happened to her in actuality happened to me, but the sense of judgement that stayed behind for something that nobody understood did happen to me.
Last year, in January, I punched a kid in the face because he was treating me like shit. I didn't plan it, I didn't hunt this kid down. I thought of him as a friend, even though he didn't treat me right, and he came up to me, said something that he knew offended me, and then instinct just sort of took over.
Only one kid actually saw what happened, and they reported me.
Everybody wanted to know why, but I refused to tell anybody everything since I tried telling somebody and they didn't believe me. Basically, I just had somebody on Friday say that I was a "bad person" because of what I did, and they were a "good person."
It was really bad over the next couple of weeks, since the kid told his sob story to anyone that would listen, especially whenever I was around, so I was made out to be a monster for something that nobody even understood.
So yeah . . . I get in a sense how Audrey feels about being judged for something that nobody has any real idea about.
The characters though . . . like I said, male characters are generalized without any sufficent depth, I barely remember a lot of the side characters, and even some main characters. I remember liking a lot of them, but they didn't have distinct personalities for me to separate them.
The romance with Audrey and Luke was alright. It isn't written to be this epic love story, so for what it is it makes sense.
Overall, this book is just alright.
Okay, screw it. I'm dropping this to 3 stars, since as the days go by, my memories of it grow bitter.
In conclusion, great themes and ideas presented . . . lackluster execution at best.
This is a really difficult book to review. I mean, I liked a lot of aspects about it, and there is no denying that the book has a very relevant and important theme, and I'm in no way denying that. My issue with this book is solely my opinion, and none of my friends who have read this book have had this issue (at least not to the extent that I have), so it could be just my own interpretation.
In fact, I just kind of want to get it out of the way, since I have a lot to say about it.
Female characters in this book: Misunderstood, misjudged, good once you get past their reputations
Male characters in this book: Dirt bags, douches, pervs, assholes, one-dimensional, selfish, controlling, manipulative, rude and just horrible people
Really? I can only think of three people in this book that are NOT the stereotypical male in this book, and one of them was considered to be like that stereotype for about 85% of the book. The other guy - I don't even remember if he even had a line of dialogue, but we're just meant to percieve him as good because the main character and her friends think he's alright. The other is the MC's dad . . . so it's a bit biased anyway.
How come all the female characters get all this hidden depth and the males never get any development past this stereotype that seems to run rampant in a lot of male characters in YA?
I really am bothered by this, since the entire time I was reading this, whenever a guy came into the book, I was just waiting for him to do something where he would fall into one of these traits - and they always did.
Thinking about it afterwards just made me even more frustrated, and I kind of wonder if I should drop this to 3.5, since all the good thoughts I had about this book just seem to be overshadowed by just how much it annoyed the crap out of me. ALL characters deserve sufficient depth and development.
Now, I get that the book was about gender double standards in regard to sexuality and how we express it regarding how a female is considered a slut for having sex, and a man is known as a player or whatever, but that doesn't mean you exclude male characters getting the same time to be as well-written as the female.
Yet this book . . . I really do connect with Audrey's troubles. I mean, nothing that happened to her in actuality happened to me, but the sense of judgement that stayed behind for something that nobody understood did happen to me.
Last year, in January, I punched a kid in the face because he was treating me like shit. I didn't plan it, I didn't hunt this kid down. I thought of him as a friend, even though he didn't treat me right, and he came up to me, said something that he knew offended me, and then instinct just sort of took over.
Only one kid actually saw what happened, and they reported me.
Everybody wanted to know why, but I refused to tell anybody everything since I tried telling somebody and they didn't believe me. Basically, I just had somebody on Friday say that I was a "bad person" because of what I did, and they were a "good person."
It was really bad over the next couple of weeks, since the kid told his sob story to anyone that would listen, especially whenever I was around, so I was made out to be a monster for something that nobody even understood.
So yeah . . . I get in a sense how Audrey feels about being judged for something that nobody has any real idea about.
The characters though . . . like I said, male characters are generalized without any sufficent depth, I barely remember a lot of the side characters, and even some main characters. I remember liking a lot of them, but they didn't have distinct personalities for me to separate them.
The romance with Audrey and Luke was alright. It isn't written to be this epic love story, so for what it is it makes sense.
Overall, this book is just alright.
Okay, screw it. I'm dropping this to 3 stars, since as the days go by, my memories of it grow bitter.
In conclusion, great themes and ideas presented . . . lackluster execution at best.
readsbykayla's review against another edition
4.0
I read this back in like 2008 or 2009 and I really enjoyed it. It's been a while since then, but I remember it telling a very poignant story about cyberbullying, gaslighting, and blackmail. I've been considering doing a reread!
katieann01's review against another edition
5.0
This book teaches such a valuable lesson. I really liked this book.