Review: a little help from my friends

Title: a little help from my friends : A Miracle Girls Novel

Author: Anne Dayton & May Vanderbilt


Summary: (back cover) Who knew junior year could get so complicated?

As the youngest Miracle Girl, Zoe Fairchild was happy to fade into the background last year. But when she sheds her baby fat and shoots up four inches the summer before her junior year, everything changes. Now she's turning heads at school, and this new attention is beginning to strain her relationship with her sweet, serious boyfriend, Marcus. Pressure builds when Zoe's assigned partner for history class is Dean Marchese--a handsome New York transplant who isn't afraid to show her how he feels.

Just when Zoe needs her three best friends the most, the other Miracle Girls are suffering from boy troubles of their own. Even Zoe's rock-solid home life begins to shake beneath her when her parents' relationship frays over finances. As this uncertain year of growing pains comes to a frenetic head, the quietest Miracle Girl must find her voice at long last and take control of her own destiny...with more than a little help from her friends.

Review: Usually books with two authors never work out for me. I guess that these two had a lot of chemistry together because the writing didn't feel rough or rocky. The words were seamless from beginning almost to the very end.

The ending was a little awkward for me. Zoe grew too fast and matured too quickly for it to be natural. She wasn't developed enough there. Everything else made sense. Her reactions were pretty realistic and she didn't seem as shy as I though she would have been. Zoe was a pretty likeable character.

Some scenes in the story did feel a little forced. Like in school, where she has that crazy history teacher; there seemed to be too much description of Zoe's thoughts. It was explanatory, but less would have been more.

I love the problem that this book dealt with. Breaking up with someone who is really nice and wonderful. How do you go about doing something like that? Zoe had a nice, long, stable relationship with Marcus, but Marcus began to not feel right for her. Zoe had to deal with the confusion of being in love and knowing what love really meant.

Her parents were going through a possible divorce, even though they claimed to have loved each other. Zoe's faith in lasting relationships faltered because of it. Her friends were also letting go of old relationships and allowing themselves a second chance of finding the one.

There wasn't cussing or all that other stuff a lot of YA books contain, but I though this was advantageous because most teens aren't rebellious and reckless. Realistic fiction should be realistic. I think that the majority of teens don't cuss every other word. This was a pretty realistic book.

Hope you guys enjoy it if you do decide to read it! :) I really like the cover! The bright pretty colors against the white are very uplifting. Spring in the mid of fall/winter. It's pretty dreary out here.

Rating: 1 2 3 3.5 4 5