teebee's review against another edition
2.0
Originally reviewed - 5/19/08
I started reading this book out of curiousity-- I mean the plot was obvious; two girls who were bffs since kindergarten enter high school and find that they want different things. Marnie: to be as popular as her older sister was and Nola...Nola just wants to survive. You're probably asking; "Then why read this series if it's so predictable?". Well, I guess I kind of see where Claudia Gabel is going with this series and I guess that-- even though the plot was--is predictable, I wanted to see what she'd do to make it different. I don't think she did much to seperate her story from others but she did make Nola stronger than we'd expect. I'm not blown away by this sereis but Like I said before it's a bit Interesting. If you're interested, check out the series. I for one will be doing so from time to time.
I started reading this book out of curiousity-- I mean the plot was obvious; two girls who were bffs since kindergarten enter high school and find that they want different things. Marnie: to be as popular as her older sister was and Nola...Nola just wants to survive. You're probably asking; "Then why read this series if it's so predictable?". Well, I guess I kind of see where Claudia Gabel is going with this series and I guess that-- even though the plot was--is predictable, I wanted to see what she'd do to make it different. I don't think she did much to seperate her story from others but she did make Nola stronger than we'd expect. I'm not blown away by this sereis but Like I said before it's a bit Interesting. If you're interested, check out the series. I for one will be doing so from time to time.
alexalovesbooks's review
2.0
(Review originally posted on Alexa Loves Books)
The book was well-written, all the facts and plotlines laid out so that the reader would not have a difficult time following the story. That having been said, I guess the story overall just didn't appeal to me in particular.
I like the character of Nola; she reminds me of myself when I was younger in a lot of ways and I could relate to her struggle watching her best friend change and become a completely different person. I also liked reading about her budding friendship/relationship with Matt.
Though I could kind of understand where she was coming from, I didn't like Marnie. I guess it's a personal thing because I would never do that to my best friends. Friendship is sacred to me, so yeah, watching her basically shove Nola aside for Lizette and company just annoyed me to no end.
The book was a quick, easy read, but I would recommend it for younger, middle grade readers.
The book was well-written, all the facts and plotlines laid out so that the reader would not have a difficult time following the story. That having been said, I guess the story overall just didn't appeal to me in particular.
I like the character of Nola; she reminds me of myself when I was younger in a lot of ways and I could relate to her struggle watching her best friend change and become a completely different person. I also liked reading about her budding friendship/relationship with Matt.
Though I could kind of understand where she was coming from, I didn't like Marnie. I guess it's a personal thing because I would never do that to my best friends. Friendship is sacred to me, so yeah, watching her basically shove Nola aside for Lizette and company just annoyed me to no end.
The book was a quick, easy read, but I would recommend it for younger, middle grade readers.
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