Sunday, April 20, 2008

How to Be Bad by E. Lockhart, Sarah Mlynowski, and Lauren Myracle Book Review

How to Be Bad by E. Lockhart, Sarah Mlynowski, and Lauren Myracle
(HarperTeen, Hardcover)

Rating:

Jesse, Mel, and Vicks are about as different as three girls can be. Jesse is an uber-Christian, goody two shoes. Mel is a rich girl who has been overshadowed by her older sister her whole life. Vicks is a wild child whose boyfriend left for college and isn't returning her calls. The only thing that seems to connect them is their job at the local Waffle House. Until they embark on a road trip together. In one long weekend, these three girls will test the limits of friendship, serenade an alligator, and learn that being bad is sometimes just what you need.

I usually try not to post reviews until a book has been released. Why review it if people can't buy it yet, right? But this book was so great that I just couldn't resist. First off, each author was in charge of writing one character. So the chapters alternate between Jesse, Mel, and Vicks. The result is a story with three unique voices that blend seamlessly together. I loved the fact that the three authors write differently enough that it's easy to tell which character is talking just based on sentence structure, slang, and word choice. This book would have been good if even just one of these authors had written it; combine all three and it's a great read that has you laughing out loud and wishing that it would never end. This is one road trip that you don't want to miss.

I'll leave you with one last little thing. E. Lockhart has an updated website (www.e-lockhart.com) and when you select one of her books a graphic pops up. The graphic for How to Be Bad is a duck. I'm not going to give anything away, but the duck factors in to the story in a major way and the duck rocks. Trust me...or don't, and go read the book! :-)

How to Be Bad Myspace Page
- has lots of fun facts about the authors and how they wrote the book

12 comments:

  1. ooohh...I really want to read this book! I've enjoyed E. Lockhart's and Lauren Myracle's books so I'm really excited for this one.

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  2. ahhhh, i want this book!!!!

    great review btw :D

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  3. Oh good, I'm glad it's good! I don't think it would have interested me before I read Fly on the Wall, but now it sounds really interesting! There are several people ahead of me in the queue for it at the library, though.

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  4. Oh my. I haven't been about your blog for a while so this is my first time seeing the new header graphic. I lurve it.

    I have the same question as "dewey". Is this book available for pre-order?

    *Aella*

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  5. I think you can pre-order it from just about anywhere. And it goes on sale May 6th so if you can't find it for pre-order, then you won't have to wait long. :-)

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  6. Sounds good I'll have to be sure to check it out!

    -Mollie

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  7. You are so lucky that you got an ARC. It looks like a great book, and I'm so excited to read it. Nice review!

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  8. I discovered your blog through the Weekly Geeks challenge. Happy reading!

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  9. Just wanted to let you know that I posted about your wonderful site over on my personal site: http://www.randomwonder.com/

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  10. I enjoyed How to Be Bad, too. I liked that it had a good mix of sassy and sweet. And I liked that there's a good overall message, even though the girls are certainly not always on good behavior.

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