Stella Chavez is your classic good girl: straight As, clean-cut boyfriends, and soccer trophies . You’d never guess that Stella’s dad was a drug addict who walked out when she was a kid. Or that inside, Stella wishes for something more.
New girl Ruby Caroline seems like Stella’s polar opposite: cursing, smoking, and teetering in sky-high heels . But with Ruby, Stella gets a taste of another world—a world in which parents act like roommates, college men are way more interesting than high school boys, and there is nothing that shouldn’t be tried once.
It’s not long before Stella finds herself torn: between the best friend she’s ever had and the friends she’s known forever, between her family and her own independence, between who she was and who she wants to be.
But Ruby has a darker side, a side she doesn’t show anyone—not even Stella. As Stella watches her friend slowly unravel, she will have to search deep inside herself for the strength to be a true friend, even if it means committing the ultimate betrayal.
While I found this story somewhat addicting to read, I'm not really sure why. Truthfully, if you read the summary of the novel above, you'll pretty much have the story down. Though there were some bright spots in the book, overall I found it underwhelming.
Probably what irritated me so much about this book were the characters. They just didn't seem that believable to me. Stella starts out as a typical high school girl. But, as her friendship with Ruby grows, she became less and less realistic. Ruby makes some seriously stupid choices - over, and over, and over. While I could understand Stella falling for Ruby's manipulations a few times, it just seemed improbable that a "good kid" like her would not only look the other way while her friend flushes her life down the toilet, but actually help her do it! And Ruby... wow. Thank goodness she didn't seem relatable to me, as I cannot imagine a high school student quite like her (though I'm sure they exist somewhere!). Ruby's promiscuity, drug and alcohol use, and generally not-very-nice behavior made her seem over the top, and not someone I really cared about. While perhaps I am just a prude, it was just hard to envision a high school girl being SO far beyond her years. To see Stella make some drastic decisions with extremely negative consequences for the sake of maintaining a friendship with someone so unsavory was frustrating, to say the least.
The plot of the story was equally unrealistic at times. Again, this is mostly due to Stella's sudden willingness to throw her life aside for someone she's just met. While I found it enjoyable to see just how far Ruby was willing to push it, I found it hard to believe Stella was able to follow her down the rabbit hole so easily. Plus, the ending of the novel was really one of the worst I've seen in a while. It was abrupt, and entirely unbelievable. I don't want to spoil it, but teachers beware - you will likely also find it hard to believe there is so little supervision at an important school event. Ruby's accompanying change of heart at the end was also predictable and seemed forced.
Even in reading the summary, it seems obvious this will be an edgier teen read. Though nothing in the novel is graphic, there are certainly elements of all major concerns present: drugs, sex, language, and overall terrible life choices. I don't generally mind these things in a book in the hands of the right reader, as long as a character learns from his or her mistakes. But, though technically lessons were learned, I felt the book glamorized these choices, which takes away from most of the value I would see as an educator.
While this book had some interesting aspects that kept me reading, I was overall unimpressed. For someone looking for a quick read over the summer, it could fill a void. But, as a teacher, I likely won't be recommending it to my students.
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