Cracked Up To Be by Courtney Summers

Cracked Up To Be by Courtney Summers

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (December 23, 2008)

Paperback: 224 pages

Reading Level: Young Adult

Summary: "Perfect Parker Fadley isn’t so perfect anymore. She’s quit the cheerleading squad, she’s dumped her perfect boyfriend, and she’s failing school. Her parents are on a constant suicide watch and her counselors think she’s playing games…but what they don’t know, the real reason for this whole mess, isn’t something she can say out loud. It isn’t even something she can say to herself. A horrible thing has happened and it just might be her fault. If she can just remove herself from everybody--be totally alone--then everything will be okay...The problem is, nobody will let her."

Review: After seeing countless of reviews, claiming that Cracked Up To Be was pretty amazing, I couldn't help but order this! I wasn't planning on reading this until after I finished my other books, but I couldn't resist it any longer!

Cracked Up To Be is a fast-paced story that will keep you up reading all night. I'm almost at a lost of words for this book. The voice of Parker Fadley is incredible. She used to an A+ student, captain of the cheerleading squad, had a great boyfriend, and was popular. Something happened to Parker that changed her and everyone around her is trying to figure out what went wrong.

I really enjoyed Jake's character, the new kid in school, who tries to figure out Parker. Like she is with everyone, Parker is rude and sarcastic towards him. I liked reading about their partnership with an art project they have to do. All of the characters were nicely done. It was easy to envision each of them as I read.

Courtney Summers does an amazing job writing the flashbacks scenes throughout the book. These scenes are intriguing and you'll want to find out what happened to Parker.

Cracked Up To Be is excellent and such a realistic story! I could not have read a better book to read for the start of 2010!

Rating:

Characters: 10/10

Originality: 9/10

Ending: 9/10

Writing: 10/10

Voice: 10/10

Plot: 9/10

Favorite character(s): Parker. I couldn't get enough her story. Jake comes in a close second.

Another thing I enjoyed: I didn't exactly know where to put this in the review; I really enjoyed reading the scenes with Parker's dog that she gets in the story. Those scenes are innocent and you kind of see a different side to her when she's with her dog.

Cover: B. I think the cover is quite nice.

Overall: Incredible book! If you haven't already, go get it! Its actually on Amazon for less than $4! CLICK HERE. Must get Courtney Summers' Some Girls Are!!! I'm dying to read it.

4.5 stars