Publisher: Razorbill
Publication date: March 2010
ISBN: 9781595142757
Source: Library
Beth the Beast has spent her entire high school career keeping her head down and listening to endless taunts about her ugliness. But with the voice of an angel, she scores the solo for choir and suddenly finds herself being made over to a beauty by her choir-mates. When they go on tour in Switzerland, she meets Derek a pale, gorgeous, troubled musician. They fall into a whirlwind romance that seems headed only for disaster when he keeps a horrible secret from her. Can their relationship survive the tumult of high school drama and of Derek's secrets?
Things I Liked:
I enjoyed the story, a girl transformed from beast to beauty, but without the whole book focusing on that. I really loved Beth's friend from home, Scott, who cared about her from the beginning, before the make over. It was definitely a gut-wrenching sob story that will suck you into caring for the characters and what happens to them all. I think the musical aspect brought something new and different to a rather well-used story line.
Things I Didn't Like:
It felt rather cliche in places, using some obvious plot devices that you could sometimes see pretty far in advance. Also, it suffered from some cheese-factor issues as well. But, if you can ignore some of those things, it's a book that will pull you in and then wring your eyes dry. To be enjoyed by those who like Nicholas Sparks.
Read-alikes:
Reminded me of A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks (probably anything of his)
Maybe a little like My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !
a few throughout
mrg-factor: X
some implied things and a lot of serious kissing
v-factor: none
Overall rating: ***.5 (cause I cried)
Do you enjoy reading melodramatic sob-stories once in a while? Apparently, I do! :)
If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage
Posts
Glad you enjoyed it despite the cheesiness. The thing that bugged me about this one was that the ending was so very predictable, but hey, I liked it nonetheless. And that opening scene is still stuck in my mind!
ReplyDeleteOh crap! This is the one I figured wouldn't bug me too bad so I bought it. I still haven't gotten to it but if you're comparing it to Nicholas Sparks...Sigh! ;)
ReplyDeleteSusan, that opening is rather unforgettable isn't it? Despite it's general predictability.
ReplyDeleteJenny, haha, I can't wait to hear what you think of it! (There are some really good things about it, though.)