Book Review: "L8r, g8r"

This review marks the third (and last) of the trilogy of Lauren Myracle's Internet Girls series. So comes the end of the line for Zoe, Maddie, and Angela, the winsome threesome.

It's senior year for these three friends, and everything is changing. Everyone's preparing to go to college - different colleges, at that. The realization hits home that they won't be "together forever". Will their friendship survive such an upheaval? Add typical boy troubles into the mix for added drama.

Some things never change though. Feuding with the monster who calls herself Jana is still going strong. Much of the story of this book has to do with all the warring going on between the friends and Jana. A valuable lesson can be pulled from this in this particular book of the series: revenge only begets more revenge, and it will never stop until someone makes an effort to put an end to it.

There's the typical topical internet things mentioned, although not nearly so much in this book as much as the first two did. It hardly goes any further than constantly mentioning the Big Bunny cartoons (which, dated though this book may be now, I was shocked to see this mentioned - I used to peruse that site all the time in its heyday before the days of Youtube). No Googlewhacks this time around, no internet quizzes - just Big Bunny.

Also, I give it a bonus point for a positive Beatles mention. Just about any book that mentions them in a positive light holds favor with me. ;)

This is probably the weakest of all three books (it really felt like it was grasping at straws just to drag the series out one more book), but at the same time, the most "real", should I say. One thing's for sure: after reading this trilogy, I don't think I miss high school anywhere near as badly as I thought I did before. As for this particular book though, I think I'm going to rate it a 3 out of 5 stars. Fairly neutral, which is more or less what I was left feeling after finishing it and realizing the series is over.

Book Review: "TTFN"

The second of Lauren Myracle's Internet Girls series, TTFN (or "ta ta for now" for anyone not in the know) follows closely in the footsteps of its predecessor, TTYL. To date, there's only one more book in the trilogy series (and likely, probably won't be more than that). It's still written in the same quirky instant messenger style, which, by the time you've gotten around to reading this book, doesn't seem all that strange to see on paper anymore.

Now, unlike the previous book, this one seems more realistic. It deals with more typical, real life problems that teenagers have, rather than ridiculous, contrived drama that sounds like it's straight out of a Disney Channel teen drama (and by "teen drama", I surely jest and mean Hannah Montana). The girls have just started their junior year of high school, and things are more or less picking up right where they left off in the first book (except a year ahead, but they quickly bring you up to speed in anything that happened in the timeframe between the two books). But, all is not well in paradise, for seemingly as soon as the girls start to feel a little too complacent and normal in their everyday lives, their worlds get turned upside down. Things begin to change and feel weird, and then Angela's father springs it on her that he's being relocated to California for his job and that he's taking the family with him. How will the Winsome Threesome get by without their core member? Not very well, evidently.

It doesn't take long for the natural shift of events to happen after Angela moves. Angela's thrown into a new school that she absolutely hates, and is more or less trailed around by this creepily immature girl Glendy who follows her around like a little lost puppy. Zoe starts growing interested in the boy that practically stalked Angela all of the prior year, even though she couldn't have so much have acknowledged his existence at the time. Things start to get hot and heavy pretty quick for them, and Angela finds out. Jealousy and tempers arise, and drama ensues. (I'm trying not to give too much away here...) Her good girl image is quickly shedding away. Meanwhile, Maddie has gotten involved with an entirely new crowd of kids (anyone remember the Jana drama of the last book?) and gets into trouble of her own, quickly becoming a stoner girl. What will happen? You'll have to read to find out! The book does have a surprise twist ending, which may or may not be all that realistic, but it was still cute. It also still has quirky internet jargon thrown in there that even made me have to do a doubletake (who knew that "Googlewhack" was a real thing? I have to admit, I even did go and try playing it a few times while still reading the book...), and toned down on the over-done, superfluous internet quizzes (THANK GOD).

Ultimately, I enjoyed this book considerably more than the last one. This one makes the girls feel FAR more like real people, rather than cookie cutter, teenager stereotypes. Sure, the angry mothers-who-protest-everything groups will probably still get their panties in a bunch over controversial material in this one, but it doesn't feel as far fetched in this book and like they're really just reaching for shock value and trying to pull in teens' interest by being 'edgy' or whatnot. This more accurately portrays the type of drama real life teenagers face in their lives, and I give it 2 big thumbs up for that. I'm going to go ahead and rate this book a 4 out of 5 stars.