The Quick Cut: A girl seemingly has it all: looks, amazing best friends, and popularity when she starts getting red spots on her skin that can't be cured. Eventually, she's diagnosed and ends up with her world turned upside down - realizing that what she used to have doesn't mean much at all.
A Real Review:
Thank you to Penguin Teen for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Abby Furlowe has it all: looks, popularity, best friends, and cheerleading. She's your overly stereotypical mean girl in the way that her best friends pick on anyone who isn't like them and her goal in life is to become an actress in California. However, her life and its mirage comes falling apart when some red marks appear on her skin that no doctor is able to cure.
Things continue to get worse with no medication or cream helping the situation until an unfortunate chearleading accident - and then the disease ramps into high gear. Its then that its discovered that Abby has Hansen's Disease, or as many know it be... Leprosy. In order for Abby to be cured, she gets sent to Louisana to receive medication and therapy. The friends that she thought she could depend on completely disappear and her looks are absolutely gone. With everything slipping away, what's left of this shallow girl and can she remake her life again?
If this story sounds really familiar, its because it is. This is not a very creative shell of a story here with the mean girl taught the lesson about what matters about life. However, there are some redeeming qualities to this story worth pointing out that do make it a fun, flirty read. Abby has a very complicated relationship with her brother, Dean. These two start out as total enemies who can never seem to get along with one another. As Abby gets diagnosed and Dean's life gets complicated, these two lean to work out their sibling hatred. Not only do they get along, they actually help each other out. I also enjoyed the format of this book with it being more in the form of talking rather than your typical chapters style. It has these breaks between small sections to keep things easy to chew off and stop as desired.
There are many issues with these book too though - plenty enough that they cannot be ignored. Abby is very bratty in the beginning and almost too much of a stereotype to the point its hard to swallow. Other characters continuously point out how shallow and empty of a person she is and although I know this was added to point out her flaws, it really served to point out the book's flaws.
In addition, the romantic angles with both Dustin and Scott were really mismanaged. Dustin starts out as a real hot option of a guy with a heart and then ends up disappearing off the romantic radar without so much as a reason why. Really? Considering how he ends up serving the story, I really think they should've just left him as a good friend and skipped the flirting altogether. As for Scott - he plays such an important role for Abby in making her comfortable post-diagnosis and learning to cope with her new life. However, we never really learn much about his backstory or his life beyond boot camp. Its a missed opportunity that by the end of the book I really found myself longing over. A LOT.
Even with its multiple missed moments and plot points, this story about a mean girl gone good has its redeeming moments and is well worth the fun read if you're looking for a quick book.
My rating: 3.5 out of 5