Friday, July 20, 2007

Review: Faking 19


Faking 19 by Alyson Noel
3 1/2 stars


Alex and M. (she started being called by only her first initial when she was little, since all of her clothes were monogrammed) are best friends trying to figure things out in their senior year. M. is beautiful and rich and seems to have it all, including a place at a posh university next year. Alex, the child of a single mom, is in different financial circumstances. Her deadbeat dad spends all of his time and money on his new girlfriend. Alex has always been a good student, but in her final year, she stops caring and instead drives into LA with M. to party with older guys.

This book has some Gossip Girl elements (as you'd probably deduce from the cover), but it's a bit more serious. There are some funny moments and I really liked the descriptions of Alex's thrift-shop chic style. But Alex really gets herself into some difficult situations and M.'s life isn't as rosy as it seems. A good choice for teen chick lit with some substance as well as style.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

ok. here's a strange question. when i was young, i so loved young adult fiction. but that never translated into a love of adult fiction.

i'm 38 now, and i'd rather read something like this than, say, um, she's come undone.

i don't read them, though, because i'm kind of embarassed. does liking YA literature as a "grown up" make me strange?

tinylittlelibrarian said...

Noooo, it doesn't! YA literature has really, really grown in quality in the last 10 years and lots of adults enjoy reading it. That's the good thing about the book blogosphere - you'll find there are tons of adults who enjoy it and love to talk about it. There's a lot of overlap between adult and teen readers these days, especially in genres like chick lit and fantasy.

And, if you need further proof - check out the book blogosphere and Harry Potter! It's technically a children's book and adults are as crazy as kids about Harry!

(PS - I have no desire to read She's Come Undone, either. :) )

Anonymous said...

thanks, TTL! i never really thought about the whole harry potter thing.

btw, i really like your blog and reviews!

tinylittlelibrarian said...

Thank you so much, that's really kind of you to say! :)