Friday 5 June 2015

How To Be Bad by E Lockhart, Lauren Myracle and Sarah Mlynowski

When you're tired of being good, sometimes you gotta be a little bad ...

Jesse, Vicks and Mel couldn't be more different. Jesse, a righteous Southern gal who's as thoughtful as she is uptight, is keeping a secret that she knows will change her life forever. Vicks is a wild child: seemingly cool, calm and collected on the outside, but inside she's furious at herself for being so anxious about her neglectful boyfriend. And Mel is the new girl in town. She's already been dismissed as just another rich kid, but all she wants is to get over some of her fears and find some true friends. 

But for all their differences, the girls discover they've got one thing in common - they're desperate to escape. Desperate to get the heck out of Niceville and discover their true 'badass' selves! Even if it's just for the weekend ... One 'borrowed' car later, it's time to hit the road and head for Miami. Hearts will be broken, friendships will be tested, and a ridiculously hot stranger could change the course of everything.


Three narrators, three very different girls. Jesse is a good Christian girl, embarrassed by her mother; Vicks is a typical wild child but inwardly insecure about her boyfriend moving away; and Mel is the new girl, very rich and thought to be slumming it. But of course nothing is that simple and people are never that easy to understand. When they go on a random road trip, real motivations are revealed and personalities allowed a chance to shine.

I love a good road trip story, they are always fun. Quite a short one, just three days, but boy can a lot happen in three days! It was full of very funny adventures - visiting a stuffed alligator, crashing a house party and getting fall-over drunk, and nearly getting eaten saving a duckling from a croc. Ok that last one wasn't funny, it was heart in my throat terrifying. But it did a pretty amazing job bringing the girls closer and forgetting little grudges. Looking death in the eye tends to do that!

By going out of their comfort zone, all three girls learn something about themselves and how they life their lives, keep their secrets and interact with friends. Along with the road trip drama, they all come closer together and I love a good chance-of-redemption story, as Jesse gets another chance with her mother, Vicks with her boyfriend, and Mel to make true friends. Different writers as the three girls made for very big personalities and very real voices. All in all, a great read, awesome characters with some cool love stories thrown in for good measure. Highly recommended for a summer contemporary. 

Published 4th June 2015 by Hot Key Books. Thank you to the publisher for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

No comments:

Post a Comment