Book Review: "Audrey, Wait!"

Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway reads like both a dream come true and a nightmare all at the same time for rockers everywhere. Who hasn't dreamt of becoming a musician's muse, having a famous song written about them, and instantly becoming famously immortal to the point of brushing elbows with the rock world themselves; even famously making out with one of the hottest musicians of the moment? Careful what you wish for; the reality can quickly turn sour and into a complete and total disaster.

Such is the case of Audrey Cuttler. Just yesterday, Audrey was your typical 16 year old American girl, with a boyfriend in a local band and living your typical, average everyday life. That is, until Audrey and her boyfriend break up, and he writes a song detailing their breakup that quickly shoots him into superstardom -- and subsequently, Audrey as well by association. Everything Audrey has ever known as her normality is turned absolutely upside down...and not in a good way.

The story is written from a fresh point of view of a girl who's caught in a private hell of unintended, unwanted noteriety and all the problems that go with it, but sounds very *real* as a person. I also have a great appreciation for the song quotes at the beginning of every chapter, I felt they were a nice touch and addition to the story as well.

Basically, I love everything about this book and highly recommend it on every possible level. A big, big 5 star rating for this book!

Book Review: "So Super Starry"

For a book with a title like So Super Starry, one would assume it to be about Hollywood starlets or the like. Especially with the photos on the cover. So please explain how, exactly, we end up with a very British book about posh, pampered, overly-sheltered English kids who live in their own little private community away from the rest of the world, and the only defining factor between all of them is wealth?

Of course, being a teen book, it's got all the usual ingredients: the main character who feels just a little bit different from everyone else, the popular kids, the outcasts, the bitches, the love interests, etc. In this particular go-round, the main character falls for one of the popular kids/bitch's brother, who has a reputation, blah blah blah. And because he comes from money, everyone makes a big deal out of what this girl ought to be doing to impress him, rather than the old addage of to thine own self be true. Yes, it ends up winning out in the end, but the entire book, it seems, is SO superficial that it's disgusting. Even the main character knows this, and yet it remains the same. Yes, I realize there are people in the world who really live like this, but this story seems to be more a study into the psychology of the superficial than it does a love story between people from opposite ends of the spectrum.

Not to mention, the author's style of writing is so very dry. This was really strange for me, because usually I pounce all over anything that's British, but this....I don't know. I struggled to even make it through the whole book because it kept losing my interest. As such, I feel that I'm being generous by even rating it a 3 out of 5 stars.