Last night I finished reading a preview copy of a teen book that is due to be published early April. I signed up for a new program on Harper Teen's website called
First Look where you enter to be chosen to read new books that haven't been published yet (you pick from a few different choices.) I chose
Perfect Girl by Mary Hogan, author of
The Serious Kiss, which we already have at MPL in our teen section.
I was really excited when I received a free copy (pre publication) in the mail. I have to admit I probably wouldn't have picked this book up to check out on my own, but I really liked it a lot by the time I finished. At first I thought it was going to be pretty vapid (because of the opening paragraph and the whole "Perfect Girl" thing)...however, that is a very minor part of the story. I think people who like the Princess Diaries books by Meg Cabot, or movies like 13 Going On 30 would really like it.
It is basically about Ruthie Bayer, a girl who lives in a small town in Delaware, who thinks she is in love with her longtime friend Perry, the next door neighbor boy. She feels lost until she remembers that her Aunt Marty, who she only met once when she was 11, writes this "Goddess of Love" column for a major fashion magazine. She calls on her for advice, and her aunt comes from New York for an impromptu visit, much to the distress of Ruthie's mom, who has a long-standing (mysterious) rift with her sister.
This is a really fast read...and there are some very relateable moments. There is also a sweetness--genuine, not saccharine--that really attaches you to the characters..
Anyway, this is a good testament to shaking yourself out of your regular genre...and reading something outside of "your kind of books."
