emleemay 's review for:

Cracked Up to Be by Khristine Hvam, Courtney Summers

5.0

---

Based on what I've read so far, [a:Courtney Summers|1487748|Courtney Summers|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1324454937p2/1487748.jpg] is easily one of my favourite young adult authors. Her books are incredibly raw and emotional and her talent for getting inside the mind of troubled teens isn't very common in young adult literature.

I admit that I didn't like this book quite as much as [b:Some Girls Are|6624871|Some Girls Are|Courtney Summers|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1317791700s/6624871.jpg|6819111] but that isn't saying a lot, it was still powerful and moving. I expected to not like this novel as much because of the lower average rating than [b:Some Girls Are|6624871|Some Girls Are|Courtney Summers|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1317791700s/6624871.jpg|6819111], but I think the main reason for that is due to Parker Fadley being more difficult to relate to if you're a teenage girl reading this.

In [b:Some Girls Are|6624871|Some Girls Are|Courtney Summers|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1317791700s/6624871.jpg|6819111] we understand the protagonist, we feel her pain when she is ostracised by people she once called best friends, and we also understand what she must be feeling to have no friends anymore and to want to be part of a 'crowd' in high school. Parker, on the other hand, wants none of this. She is moody, sarcastic, she is that character in many young adult books that is put there for you to hate, seemingly nasty for no reason.

But what if that girl who puts people down as soon as she meets them wasn't just a throwaway character meant to incite hatred? What if she was a person with thoughts and feelings and reasons.

This is what [a:Courtney Summers|1487748|Courtney Summers|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1324454937p2/1487748.jpg] does best. She takes the cliche, the stereotypical high school bitch, and she gets inside her mind. And it's a sad, lonely and eye-opening place to be. There has never been a 'bitch', high school or otherwise, that came out of her mother's womb that way.

I truly love reading these books and I can't wait to read more by [a:Courtney Summers|1487748|Courtney Summers|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1324454937p2/1487748.jpg]. If you're just getting started with her novels, I recommend reading [b:Some Girls Are|6624871|Some Girls Are|Courtney Summers|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1317791700s/6624871.jpg|6819111] first, mainly because I think that one speaks to a wider audience than [b:Cracked Up to Be|3521484|Cracked Up to Be|Courtney Summers|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1316728526s/3521484.jpg|3563198], which will suit some and not others.

But whatever you do, do not make the mistake that these are typical high school novels with cute boys and mean girls, the covers can be misleading that way.