Be The Girl
This book is going to stay with me for a long long time. This is such an important book to read. I plan on buying a copy and having my 13 year old daughter read this, because it is everything. I'm am sitting here at my computer desk typing this out with tears in my eyes, still. I wanted it to be over, because it was just so hard to read, but i'm sad there wasn't like 100 more pages.
This is a story about a high school girl named Aria. The story starts with Aria and her mother moving in with Aria's great uncle. There are vague comments about why they have moved, but nothing definite. You can obviously tell something has happened in their life before this because Aria has changed her last name, and she refers to it as her "old" life. I'm not going to tell you what caused this move, because I was blown away when I found out. I thought I had it all figured out and I was so far off. Trust me when I say you want to go in blind and find out for yourself. Aria meets the family next door, which consists of the devastatingly handsome Emmett, and his sister Cassie. Cassie is autistic, and she and Aria immediately become friends. Aria immediately finds herself infatuated by Emmett, but he of course, has a beautiful girlfriend. Aria soon finds herself struggling with something, something that could maybe be reminiscent of "old" Aria. She struggles with making the right decision, and in the end makes an enemy.
"This is what girls like Holly do. This is how they get away with their cruelty- they hide their toxic underbelly with a honeyed veneer for adults, and adults buy it because they want to. Or they shrug it off as typical teenage behavior. The Hollys get away with it. And then they do something else. Something worse. And the cycle continues"
I liked Aria almost immediately. She had this innocence about her, and she took Cassie under her wing. I liked her relationship with Emmett, and I enjoyed the scenes with the two of them together. I wouldn't consider this a love story though. The real story here is Aria, and her growth in herself. Sometimes I read other reviews and I did notice that some people said they didn't see the growth in her character, but I did. When you finally learned about her past and you had already had the advantage of seeing what she was like now, sure she made some mistakes, but I did see how she had grown. My favorite parts of the books were the scenes with her and Cassie. They had a great relationship, and Aria really loved her and you could clearly see that, and feel it.
"There were supposed to be more mints on top-" Heather begins with a chuckle. "But I accidentally ate them." Cassie smiles, as if she's proud of that fact and everyone, including Uncle Merv, can't help but laugh. Because Cassie makes people laugh, just by being herself- her innocent, curious, kindhearted self."
This story is about bullying. Some of the worst kind of bullying. I have a 13 year old daughter so some of it was really tough to read, because I know this stuff really goes on. I see this stuff going on in my daughter's life. The whole story hurt my heart so much, it was so painful to read, I cried many many times, but this is such an important story. People should read this, and they shouldn't turn a blind eye.
"She told me that the sooner you figure out how to like yourself through your own eyes, the sooner you'll stop trying to see yourself through everyone else's."
While I feel like the book had a much bigger message than the love story between Emmett and Aria, I did enjoy their story. Emmett was such a sweet guy, he was a protector, and he truly cared about Aria. There was a scene between the two of them in a haunted house that seriously took me back to high school. That just young innocence of having your first real crush on someone and how it makes you feel. That scene was written so well it made me feel like I was there experiencing all of that.
"Cassie giggles and slides her arm around my waist, her body stiffening a touch even as she grins at me. Hope and excitement radiate off her and I find myself absorbing it. "We're best friends," she announces. I return her smile. "Yeah, we are." And I wouldn't trade it for the world."
Overall, I'm giving this one 5 STARS. I'd give it 10 if my rating scale worked like that. This is such an important book. An important book for young girls and adults both. I loved everything about it. It made me laugh and it made me cry, but best of all it made me think. And I know I'm going to carry this one with me for a while.
*graphics found through a google search*
"This is what girls like Holly do. This is how they get away with their cruelty- they hide their toxic underbelly with a honeyed veneer for adults, and adults buy it because they want to. Or they shrug it off as typical teenage behavior. The Hollys get away with it. And then they do something else. Something worse. And the cycle continues"
I liked Aria almost immediately. She had this innocence about her, and she took Cassie under her wing. I liked her relationship with Emmett, and I enjoyed the scenes with the two of them together. I wouldn't consider this a love story though. The real story here is Aria, and her growth in herself. Sometimes I read other reviews and I did notice that some people said they didn't see the growth in her character, but I did. When you finally learned about her past and you had already had the advantage of seeing what she was like now, sure she made some mistakes, but I did see how she had grown. My favorite parts of the books were the scenes with her and Cassie. They had a great relationship, and Aria really loved her and you could clearly see that, and feel it.
"There were supposed to be more mints on top-" Heather begins with a chuckle. "But I accidentally ate them." Cassie smiles, as if she's proud of that fact and everyone, including Uncle Merv, can't help but laugh. Because Cassie makes people laugh, just by being herself- her innocent, curious, kindhearted self."
This story is about bullying. Some of the worst kind of bullying. I have a 13 year old daughter so some of it was really tough to read, because I know this stuff really goes on. I see this stuff going on in my daughter's life. The whole story hurt my heart so much, it was so painful to read, I cried many many times, but this is such an important story. People should read this, and they shouldn't turn a blind eye.
"She told me that the sooner you figure out how to like yourself through your own eyes, the sooner you'll stop trying to see yourself through everyone else's."
While I feel like the book had a much bigger message than the love story between Emmett and Aria, I did enjoy their story. Emmett was such a sweet guy, he was a protector, and he truly cared about Aria. There was a scene between the two of them in a haunted house that seriously took me back to high school. That just young innocence of having your first real crush on someone and how it makes you feel. That scene was written so well it made me feel like I was there experiencing all of that.
"Cassie giggles and slides her arm around my waist, her body stiffening a touch even as she grins at me. Hope and excitement radiate off her and I find myself absorbing it. "We're best friends," she announces. I return her smile. "Yeah, we are." And I wouldn't trade it for the world."
Overall, I'm giving this one 5 STARS. I'd give it 10 if my rating scale worked like that. This is such an important book. An important book for young girls and adults both. I loved everything about it. It made me laugh and it made me cry, but best of all it made me think. And I know I'm going to carry this one with me for a while.
*graphics found through a google search*
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