Review- How to Be Bad by E. Lockhart, Sarah Mlynowksi and Lauren Myracle

How to Be Bad on Goodreads

 BOOK SUMMARY:

Three bestselling authors--E. Lockhart, Sarah Mlynowski, and Lauren Myracle--bring you on the road trip of a lifetime in this dynamic novel packed with fun, friendship, and feminism.

Jesse, Vicks, and Mel each has her own reason for wanting to get away from their nowheresville Florida town. Add in a hot (and harmless) hitchhiker, an impending hurricane, and a close encounter of the gator kind, and the result is one sizzling road trip where the journey is far more important than the destination. Now in a fresh new package, How to Be Bad will take even more readers along for the ride. 

Release date: April 28th 2015

Published by: HarperTeen

Page numbers: 352

REVIEW: 

I was gifted a copy of How to Be Bad by my family, and somehow, whenever I saw that it was written by not one, not two, but three authors, I thought it was a collection of three short stories. When I finally decided to read the book in the hopes that it would break my very long and very boring reading slump (which it did, by the way), I realised that it is a road trip book written in three points of views, and my God, what a fun book it is!

How to be Bad is the story of three young girls who work at the Waffle House and are each facing their own problems, when one day Jesse convinces her friend Vicks to go on a weekend road trip to Miami and somehow new girl Mel becomes a part of the gang as well. Over the course of the book and everything the girls went through, I found myself growing fond of them, and both admiring and appreciating them because they are so real, raw and relatable.

The three girls were so different from each other, and somewhere, that is what made the book so fun to read. On the one hand, we have Jesse and Vicks, who have been close friends and even though they are the complete opposites, they complete each other in a certain way. Then we have Mel, who I thought was most relatable, and she just adds that extra something to not just the entire road trip, but to the lives of Jesse and Vicks.

There's so much that happens in this book over the course of one weekend during the road trip that it's hard to summarise everything. The authors E. Lockhart, Sarah Mlynowski and Lauren Myracle have written a spectacular book with a very fun yet moving and touching story. I've previously read E. Lockhart's We Were Liars, which was a very unique and heart-warming read and Sarah Mlynowski's Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have) which again, I loved. So only Lauren Myracle was new to me, but man, was I impressed with the way this book was written!

All I will say is that How to Be Bad is a lovely coming of age story that is done so brilliantly. Coming of age stories are always a hit, and this one is no exception. I am in complete awe of this stunning and engrossing read that has so much to offer and teach, that has nothing to do with being bad, but learning how to accept both sides and live with it. I read this book over a weekend, and I had a great time doing it, so I would highly, highly recommend it, especially to fans of young adult contemporaries.

Buy the book: AMAZON

Review- Ten things We Did (And Probably Shouldn't Have) by Sarah Mlynowski

Goodreads Summary:

2 girls + 3 guys + 1 house - parents = 10 things April and her friends did that they (definitely, maybe, probably) shouldn't have.

If given the opportunity, what sixteen-year-old wouldn't jump at the chance to move in with a friend and live parent-free? Although maybe "opportunity" isn't the right word, since April had to tell her dad a tiny little untruth to make it happen (see #1: "Lied to Our Parents"). But she and her housemate Vi are totally responsible and able to take care of themselves. How they ended up "Skipping School" (#3), "Throwing a Crazy Party" (#8), "Buying a Hot Tub" (#4), and, um, "Harboring a Fugitive" (#7) at all is kind of a mystery to them.

In this hilarious and bittersweet tale, Sarah Mlynowski mines the heart and mind of a girl on her own for the first time. To get through the year, April will have to juggle a love triangle, learn to do her own laundry, and accept that her carefully constructed world just might be falling apart . . . one thing-she-shouldn't-have-done at a time.

REVIEW:

April is named April because she was slated to be born in April, but was born in March. Her parents are divorced and she decides to stay with her dad while her brother, Matthew moves to France with their mom and step-dad. April's father remarries Penny, who decides to move to another city. April is not cool with it at all and is firm on staying in her home town at her friend Violet's place. This comes in perfect timing with Vi's mom moving elsewhere for a movie shoot. 
Just imagine the idea of spending the rest of your school year with your best friend with your parent's consent and having an entire place all to yourselves! Tempting, right? That is exactly what April and Vi have. They lie, make fake calls, fake email ids, fake pretences but they have a blast and make the most of their time alone and end up learning something. 
Soon, April and Vi's home alone scenario turns out to be a huge party involving almost half their school. Throw in April's boyfriend Noah, her not-so-sure crush Hudson, Vi's oh-I-don't-know-if-I-like-him guy and Hudson's brother Dean, April's second BFF Marissa and a stalkerish yet adorable neighbour Lucy and you have a full house full of fun! 
I really liked April as a character and she used her brain well by doing what she thought was right. Vi was fun to have around. She seemed a little crazy at first and I always thought that there was something off about her, but she was awesome and my suspicions were just that- suspicions. Marissa was also a really nice girl and so was Lucy. The mess that these girls create was mayhem in the most ridiculous way possible. 
The guys in the book- Noah, Dean and Hudson were funny and extremely adorable. They were each different in their own way and they were all cool. Each character has been written about in such a simple and realistic manner that it makes you want to be there with them. 
A teenage mess as I like to call it, Ten Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn't Have) was- if I am to sum it all up in one word- FUN. I mean it when I say that I enjoyed reading EVERY page of it. It was a nice, light-hearted, cool and totally awesome read. Author Sarah Mlynowski's writing keeps you awake throughout the book and you end up laughing out loud. I had a blast reading this book and I couldn't help but wonder how awesome it would be to be in April or Vi's place. This was totally my type of book! 

REVIEW:

X 4

Sarika