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Book summary:
When "Perfect" Parker Fadley starts drinking at school and failing her classes, all of St. Peter's High goes on alert. How has the cheerleading captain, girlfriend of the most popular guy in school, consummate teacher's pet, and future valedictorian fallen so far from grace?
Parker doesn't want to talk about it. She'd just like to be left alone, to disappear, to be ignored. But her parents have placed her on suicide watch and her conselors are demanding the truth. Worse, there's a nice guy falling in love with her and he's making her feel things again when she'd really rather not be feeling anything at all.
Nobody would have guessed she'd turn out like this. But nobody knows the truth.
Something horrible has happened, and it just might be her fault.
Talking about different from the blurb you can see that this one is not typical. Parker from before everything was a typical girl for your YA stories. Perfect, smart and friendly cheerleader with a popular boyfriend and everything that comes with that. Parker with whom we meet here is everything but that. She is drinking, rude and bitter. Something pulled the trigger but she is not ready to talk about that. Now her only goal is to graduate and be left alone. Things start to complicate when a new guy shows up and it mix her feelings even more. You can see the cracks.
Not only the plot is different, for me the best part of Summers' writing are characters. I dare to say that her characterization is high on my list. They are real and bitter and far from perfect. Even though they might not act like you would you can totally understand that. With is a great accomplishment. I needn't say there is plenty of feels in these lines.
Now you probably wonder why 4 stars. Well it's the ending. Somehow I wish there was more. Simply it all came too soon for me and while it was somehow satisfying it wasn't as good as the whole story.
Rating: 4 stars.
***I read this book as part of Courtney Summers read-a-thon organized by Ciara at Lost at Midnight Reviews.
Until the next time,
This sounds like an author I need to try, great review!
OdgovoriIzbrišiI hope you'll :) Thanks :)
IzbrišiShe is an expert in that :) Thanks Aman. I hope you'll read it soon :)
OdgovoriIzbrišiThe ending was rather abrupt, but other than that everything about this book was amazing! Courtney Summers is on my auto buy list >.<
OdgovoriIzbrišiFabulous review, Tanja! <33
Yes it was but I have got her books too xD So I know how it is. Thanks Mel :)
IzbrišiI was slightly disappointed by the ending to this one too, Tanja, but I loved the book otherwise! I can't wait to see your thoughts on Some Girls Are and Fall for Anything - my two favorites!(:
OdgovoriIzbrišiSame here. Really? You've got me really curious now. Thanks :)
IzbrišiI have never heard of this one, but your review has me very very interested. I love YA contemp with darker undertones. I may have to give this one a try. Great review!
OdgovoriIzbrišiThen this is just for you. I hope you'll enjoy it. Thanks :)
IzbrišiI enjoyed this one too thought its been a while
OdgovoriIzbrišiGlad to hear that Brandi :)
IzbrišiI love Courtney Summers! She is my go-to author and one that I know will never disappoint me. This Is Not A Test was freaking awesome, wasn't it?! I haven't read Cracked Up To Be just yet, but I realize it's inevitable. Sooner or later I just have to make time for it :) Thank you for the beautiful review, Tanja! :)
OdgovoriIzbrišiEvie @Bookish
Yes This is Not a Test was great! :) I hope you'll read this one soon and I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Thanks Evie :)
IzbrišiAside from the ending, this sounds like a fantastic read Tanja! I haven't read anything by Courtney and I really need to change that. I've heard her characters are always really well done, and characters are what I look forward to most in a story! Adding this one to the list:)
OdgovoriIzbrišiI really hope you'll get to meet this author and her novels. Glad to hear that :) Thanks Jenny :)
IzbrišiI loved, loved, loved This is Not A Test and this seems so different from that. Despite the ending it sounds like a good read. Lovely review and so glad you enjoyed it.
OdgovoriIzbrišiYes this one is different genre but it's still great :) Thanks Kim :)
IzbrišiI haven't read this author before! I really need to get This is Not a Test then. What I love most are developed characters, and everyone sounds pretty dynamic with many layers in Cracked Up to Be. Love that she's not the cliche cheerleader! This is going on my wishlist :D
OdgovoriIzbrišiThat's exactly how characters are here :) I hope you'll enjoy it :)
IzbrišiI have heard such great things about Summers's writing. I feel that this book world provably be a good fit for me. I'm glad you enjoyed it, Tanja. Nice review!
OdgovoriIzbrišiI think you'd enjoy it :) Thanks Andrea :)
IzbrišiI've only read one of her books, but I really liked it a lot. I'm glad you enjoyed this one!
OdgovoriIzbrišiThanks Candace :)
IzbrišiI loved This is Not a Test. I need to read more books by Courtney though!
OdgovoriIzbrišiI hope you'll :)
IzbrišiI am a bit skittish when it comes to contemporary YA, especially what one might call issue books. I really do appreciate Summers, but I'll have to work a lot more to gather the courage to read her.
OdgovoriIzbrišiReal and bitter are simply not my recipe, at least for now. :)
I know you're not a fan of these but dunno Summers is something else :)
IzbrišiDrinking, rude, and bitter?! You described a few people I know, hah.
OdgovoriIzbrišiI liked TINAT and a couple of her other contemporaries, but I haven't loved them, partly because I feel like the endings could always use a little...more, like you described this book. I'm glad you still enjoyed it enough for 4 stars, though!
Wendy @ The Midnight Garden
I think we all do, unfortunately.
IzbrišiYes the ending here needed more, for sure. Thanks Wendy :)
I've not heard of this book before, but I do remember wanting to read This is not a test :) Great review! I will definitely have to give the author a try.
OdgovoriIzbrišiI hope you'll read TINAT, its a great read :) Thanks :)
IzbrišiI'm yet to read This Is Not A Test (yeah, just come kick my ass) and I don't read summaries but your review is enough for me to make out that this is a great read. Imperfect characters make for perfect stories and it's nice that Cracked Up To Be has that in it. Aw, I wish the ending were more detailed for your sake. Nice review, Tanja!
OdgovoriIzbrišiSarika @ The Readdicts
(on my way) It is a great read and you should read it. Well yeah, I hope she will fix that with her next book :)
IzbrišiYay! So glad to see another Courtney Summers fan. :D I've only ever read one other book by her - THIS IS NOT A TEST - and I loved it to death. So I'm very, very happy to see that her other books are just as wonderful. I have to admit that CRACKED UP TO BE didn't really catch my attention at first (it's the cover. I just don't like covers with people in school uniforms on them), but now I can say for sure that I'm interested. :)
OdgovoriIzbrišiCharacterization: I wouldn't expect any less from Courtney, after such a deep cast of characters in TINAT. "They are real and bitter and far from perfect." - Love this. I've read my fair share of bitter characters in contemporary, but that's all they are: bitter. Nothing else. Their whole character is centered around their "troubled pasts," which does nothing to make them real at all. And I also like that we don't always understand why the characters in this book make certain decisions, because it's more realistic, IMO.
But NO about the ending! Goshdarn, leave it to the ending to screw things up. :( Hopefully I'll be able to overlook the ending and just enjoy the story, because CRACKED UP TO BE sounds very good. Brilliant review as always, Tanja!
high fives girl! :) Yes TINAT was a really amazing and yeah I understand that about uniforms too. Don't like it either.
IzbrišiShe really knows with her characters and it's amazing. True and here it's not even past it's just a moment that triggered everything and it's actually guilt.
I hope you'll overlook it, I know it's bad but that's the difference between TINAT and this one.
I agree with you that Courtney's characters are really strong, and probably why I love her writing so much. It's a shame the ending didn't live up to the rest of the story, but I'm glad to hear you liked this overall. Great review!
OdgovoriIzbrišiShe really doesn't turn everything into fluffy lovely HEA. It's always a turn-off but still the story was really good. Thanks :)
IzbrišiI loved Courtney Summers - Fall for Anything. I still need to read This is Not a Test but I'm sure it's just as good. I've never heard of this one and I'm so glad you alerted me to it. I know I'll love trying to figure out what's going on with this popular cheerleader but I worry about the ending. I'm excited! I have to check if my library has it. Thanks!
OdgovoriIzbrišiHaven't read that one, but it might even be the book for this month. I'm not even sure. You'll enjoy the story for sure, ending is well unchangeable. Thanks :)
IzbrišiI still haven't read anything by Courtney Summers before, but I love the sound of her characters - "real and bitter and far from perfect." But aw, it's a shame the ending let the story down a little. I've heard such great things about her novels, so I'll definitely pick up one soon - probably Cracked Up to Be :) Great review!
OdgovoriIzbrišiChri @ Fathomless
It's what we need in YA, not blonde girls and nerd girls and bulky guys. Hope you'll enjoy it :) Thanks :)
Izbriši