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TITLE: Pretty Amy AUTHOR: Lisa Burstein PAGES: 304 FORMAT: Kindle Galley ISBN: 978-1620611197 BUY IT: Amazon RATING: 5/5 [in the genre] or 8/10 [all books I’ve ever read]. FOR: Fans of strong female characters. Fans of Meg Cabot. Anyone looking for a well-written summer read with a realistic romance and real-world, down-to-earth drama. |
I’ve been stoked about reviewing this book for a long time. It’s the first cover reveal I was part of, and the first advanced review copy (galley, technically) I’ve ever received. And ten pages in, I knew I would be writing a glowing review. Pretty Amy brings me back to my own high school days, reading The Princess Diaries and feeling like a no-name loser. Wondering if I’d ever become someone people remembered.
That’s one of the things I loved about this book. Watching Amy find herself. From the beginning, you know she isn’t really happy. She’s the leftover friend. The burnout huddling with a cigarette, not because she really wants to, but because it makes her feel like she belongs. As a reader, I connected with her instantly. I wanted to hug her, to slap her, to tell her that she was making the wrong decisions. But even when she was her most bratty-teenage annoying, I never stopped rooting for her.
Before I wax too sickly poetic, back to things I loved. The plot was tight and moved along at a snappy pace. Things were never easy for Amy, but never so hard as to be melodramatic either. You could imagine real people acting the way they do in this situation, even when they’re cold and cruel. As for the writing, I had little to complain of. YA isn’t known for good writing, but Burstein is one of those rare good ones. Her MFA shows through. It’s accessible, pretty in places, snarky and funny in others, and only occasionally too overwrought with metaphors.
I leave you with a favorite excerpt: “Lila did act like a bride at a wedding that never ended. She always had to be the most beautiful, the most interesting, and in this case, the least likely to be mistaken for a blind prostitute.”
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