I have to buy everything Courtney Summers has written. It's good that she only has one other book, because I'm pretty sure I'd need to buy fifty titles if that were an option. I absolutely loved Cracked Up To Be. Can I prove how great of a read this was? Absolutely.
This week has been crazy busy. Meetings, an interview, teaching, meeting a new (awesome) student teacher, helping kids catch up before the end of the quarter, etcetera and so on. Crazy. I was thinking yesterday (after getting home at around 4:30 pm--late for a Friday) that I would take a nap. Well, I can't sleep without reading so picked up Cracked Up To Be off of my To Be Read Shelf and thought I'd mange ten or fifteen pages before a glorious afternoon nappy. Nope.
I ended up reading one hundred and fifty pages before dark. I almost passed out from hunger. No sleep for me, but needless to say, I finished the book early this morning. As much as I love reading, I don't usually devote most of my Friday evenings to it.
Cracked Up To Be is told is narrated by a fresh, sardonic character named Parker. She used to be the most perfect girl in her high school until a fateful party where she got a lot wasted and her best friend went missing. After this party, nothing is the same for Parker. Her perfectly crafted perfection drops and she gives up her whole image, her whole facade of being interested in the popularity game. There is a huge element of suspense in this novel, so I won't tell you too much about it. It's almost like the reader gets to understand Parker on Parker's terms. She won't talk to her parents, friends, or a counselor. Why should we, the readers of her story, be any different?
This an excellent read and I am buying her other YA novel Some Girls Are right now!
