From School Library Journal Gr 9 Up—Teen model and aspiring actress Melanie Kennicut is trapped in a life chosen for her by her overbearing and controlling mother. Joanne Kennicut isolates Melanie from anything, and anyone, that will not further her daughter's career. When a terrible accident disfigures Melanie's face, her mother whisks the teen off to Montana to hide until she can receive plastic surgery. While there, she is drawn to a local boy who maintains the grounds at the home where she is staying. Sam is completely different from anyone Melanie has met before, and a whirlwind romance ensues. However, their romance soon spins into an unpredictable storm, which leaves readers wondering if any of the characters will survive intact. The story has some interesting plot twists, however the characters lack depth. The pacing of the story is very uneven. At first, the narrative is steady, but then it slows down, making the fast-forward momentum of the last third feel even more jarring. It may interest teens who are looking for an action-filled love story or a light beach read. VERDICT An additional purchase for libraries looking to add to YA romance collections.—Ellen Fitzgerald, White Oak Library District, Lockport, IL Read more Review “This beautifully written book has strong characters women everywhere will relate to, and a huge twist that will leave you in disbelief. A fantastic coming-of-age story!”—Kristen Hunt, author of The Blonde Eskimo “Fleur Philip's Beautiful Girl gorgeously illustrates that beauty definitely isn't skin deep. Add to that a powerful first love and some meaningful self discovery, and this book will find it's way from the beach with you to a soft spot in your heart.”—Jessica Hickam, author of The Revealed“In turns heart-stopping and heartbreaking, but ultimately hopeful, Beautiful Girl is the powerful story of one girl's search for what each of us wants: to be seen, to be known, and to be loved for who we truly are.”—Erin McCahan, author of Love and Other Foreign Words“Philips writes with conviction, heart, and honesty. Her words slip off the page and into your soul, reminding you that everyone is fighting an inner battle that most people know nothing about.”—Jessica Stevens, author of Within Reach“Fleur Philips has written a poignant coming-of-age story of a young woman who sheds her masks and finds true love and her truer self. Romantic and compelling, Beautiful Girl reaffirms our ideals of the redemptive power of love.”—Leonard Chang, author of Triplines Read more See all Editorial Reviews
E**S
Another great book by Fleur Philips. Cannot wait for her next book.
Fleur, again picks a story which goes to heart of the reader.
R**E
Sometimes A Book Just NeedsTo Go Slow
I received a copy of this book from the Summer Reading Challenge for Stephanie's Book Reports.I was so excited after reading the synopsis for Beautiful Girl. Then even more so when I found out it was written for grade 9 and up. I've got a thirteen year old daughter who if she came home and said Mom I read the best book ever I swear I'd cry. Big ole tears of joy because she hates to read. Granted she is going into the eight grade and not ninth but I had some major hope that I'd found a book that my baby would actually like......ummm NO!! My dreams where dashed a hundred and fifty pages and one closed copy of Beautiful Girl later.Beautiful Girl is about Melanie and she's beautiful and models/acts. Then a terrible car accident causes her face to be cut terribly. Her Mom whisks her off to Montana to hide her from being seen till she can get her facial surgery. The following is straight off the back of the book and had me so excited to read this story. "Melanie meets Sam, a Young a Native American who is nothing like the Hollywood boys Melanie knows. What transpires over a mere thirty hours after Sam and Melaine meet changes both their lives in ways they never thought possible."This novel takes off and we meet Melanie with her best friend Clarissa and the dreamy Decker Bail. The Decker she never called and her great friend Clarissa steals in like two hot minutes. Leaving the mall upset she runs a red light while grabbing her cell phone and it's goodbye face of a model. We meet her mom at the hospital and I'm telling you this woman is stone cold, just awful to her daughter. I can't stand the woman and her stepfather is spineless and just sits back and let's mom run the show. All this and not even two chapters in. I'm telling you this book flies. Being the lovely mom she is, Joanne refuses to let anyone see Melanie's face and won't even look her in the eye herself. Off to Montana we go and to Sam and this needy insta-love that makes love at first sight feel like it's being done on slow motion. One tiny conversation and Melaine is out of the rental house going with him and the sanity began. I'm so non spoiler I'm not going to talk about the insanity.I wanted to love this book. It's a book you read the back of and just know you've found a read your gonna love. There really is no development of the characters at all. Mom is horrible and the stepdad is spineless. Someone help this poor girl. If I was Melanie I'd have run away in a heartbeat. I wanted to like someone in this book and it just didn't happen. If you want me to like your book it's helps if you make me like someone in it. Please make me like someone!! Alas it never happened and this moms dream of holding in her hand the book her daughter might love went down the drain in a hurry.
K**A
I wanted to like it
The premise of Beautiful Girl peaked my interest and I was really looking forward to the story that it hinted at, a girl learning about inner beauty and gaining personal strength from it, but unfortunately it fell short of the mark for me. Melanie, the main character and narrator of the story, felt very one dimensional to me and I just couldn’t connect with her. The situation she was in sucked, I can’t deny that, but I just couldn’t find a spark in her that made her all that interesting as a person and didn’t really see too much of a change between the Melanie we meet in the beginning of the story and the one at the end of the story. Sam was likeable enough, but fell into the same category as Melanie. The relationship that forms between Melanie and Sam is, for lack of a better word, sudden and the insta love that comes out of it had me scratching my head. I don’t typically have an issue with insta-love, but in this case it just didn’t work for me and felt forced. The rest of the characters had me feeling much the same way, but the one character that I did find interesting and added some sparks of life to the story was Joe, Sam’s father. He had something of a stereotypical in the story, but I liked what he brought to the table.The story moves quickly and a lot happens but it felt choppy, like the pieces just didn’t fit right together. There were parts that started and ended abruptly and all I could think was: That’s it? Especially when it came to the moments, which there were quite a few, that were set up to be highly emotional. I’m not one that likes it when things are drawn out for drama’s sake, but there could have been a little more meat to some of the moments to garner more of an emotional punch.Overall: I really wanted to like Beautiful Girl, and the potential for it be a good story is there, it just unfortunately wasn’t for me.~ ARC received from SparkPress via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ~
L**F
A Lilac Wolf and Stuff Review
**I was sent an electronic copy in exchange for an honest review**Melanie is 17 years old, but has already lived a full career in the modeling/acting world of Los Angeles. Her mother has been dragging her to auditions and jobs since she was 4 years old. Her mother had her own aspirations, until she became a single mother. She passed, or forced, those dreams onto her daughter. Melanie doesn't have the guts to stand up to her mother, but she hates it. She hates the fake friends, the teenage life she has given up.One day, driving home from visiting her only friend (who isn't much of a friend, btw), she gets in an accident. Her face is ruined. Melanie isn't sure how she feels about it. Her mother acts like she can't be seen, which just makes her feel worse. Plastic surgery is scheduled, and in the meantime they hide away in Montana.And this is really where Melanie's life changes. She meets a boy and falls in love. Things come to a head with her mother. Melanie will never go back to the way things were before.This book was very fast paced and hard to put down. The romance was so sweet, innocent. The stories within the story.I was at a wedding reception when I finished this, and I had a bit of a book hangover. lol
Trustpilot
1 month ago
2 days ago
