Perfect by Sara Shepard

Title: Perfect

Author: Sara Shepard

Age Group: Teens

# of Pages: 298

My Rating: 4/5

Continuing from the second novel in the Pretty Little Liars series, the girls are in trouble...yet again. Hanna is chasing after Mona, trying to win her best friend back. Except things keep screwing up. Spencer who uses her older sister's paper back in high school as her own for class ends up being nominated for a prestigious award. Could she take it back before she wins it? Emily ends up being exposed to the world about her sexuality by A and she is ashamed. She must do a program that will "fix" her, but will it work? And Aria can not suppress her feelings for Ezra, even with a great boyfriend at hand.

Once again, Sara Shepard brings another gripping continuation in the Pretty Little Liars series. What I am glad most about this novel is the fact that it wasn't intense with drama compared to the last two. Yes, things still happened but it wasn't too insane. It agitates me to know that I am far from finishing. I really don't want to go through so many volumes just to figure out the ending.

I have to say, I actually have a favourite part in this novel. [POSSIBLE SPOILERS] When Hanna ends up being ditched by Mona, a classmate named Lucas steps in to be by her side while everyone else laugh at her downfall in popularity. In this one scene, he takes her to go on this hot air balloon ride. She ends up telling him what was going on and there is just so much peace and relief in the scenery that I couldn't help but love it. [SPOILERS END] I didn't have a favourite character up until now, which turns out to be Hanna. Even though she puts on that bitchy facade, she is still that insecure girl from many years ago. I just hope she completely sheds the fake layer of hers or I think I would be really peeved.

I wonder what will happen next...?

Review copy provided by HarperCollins Canada.

Perfect by Natasha Friend

Title: Perfect
Author: Natasha Friend
Age Group: Tweens
# of Pages: 172
My Rating: 4/5

Isabelle is an eighth-grader with a complicated life. Her father died about two years ago and her mother is an emotional wreck. After her younger sister ratted her out for throwing up all of her food, she is now stuck in a help group. She thought this was going to suck until she discovered that popular girl (and her idol) Ashley was in it too.

As she struggles with binging and purging, Isabelle learns that Ashley is not the flawless goddess she always admired and moving on can be a difficult but rewarding task.

To be honest, I was not a fan of Isabelle throughout the book. Most of the time, she was this annoying premature teen that I wanted to throw a ball at. She was completely obsessed with Ashley and the idea of being with the It kids. You know, typical teen issues but with a bulimic problem to top it off. There were a couple of times where she redeemed herself but overall, I didn't like her. I guess for the most part it was because she had not yet enter high school so I made her character worse than she was in my mind.

As for the book itself, it came off pretty well. I like the writing style and the plot can get pretty good for something that deals with adolescents who struggles with bulimia. It has a realistic portrayal of what it is like to wolf down all of these junk food and throw it all up. Unlike most stories that are about bulimia (actually, I'm taking a guess here), it is not overly depressing nor emotional. Yes, Isabelle is dealing with tough issues but it's not to the point where the novel becomes angsty. With the length of this book, I find that the author wrapped it up very nicely from start to finish.

If anyone would like a short but pleasant read about a young teen with real life problems, Perfect is a great novel for that. Or for anyone who is not yet in high school, this should be a pick up.