Pretty Amy by Lisa Burstein

Name: Pretty Amy by Lisa Burstein.
Pages: 304.
Publication: 8th May 2012/Entangled Publishing.
Rating: ✮✮✮✩✩
Buy It: Amazon | Kennys


"Amy is fine living in the shadows of beautiful Lila and uber-cool Cassie, because at least she’s somewhat beautiful and uber-cool by association. But when their dates stand them up for prom, and the girls take matters into their own hands—earning them a night in jail outfitted in satin, stilettos, and Spanx—Amy discovers even a prom spent in handcuffs might be better than the humiliating “rehabilitation techniques” now filling up her summer. Worse, with Lila and Cassie parentally banned, Amy feels like she has nothing—like she is nothing.


Navigating unlikely alliances with her new coworker, two very different boys, and possibly even her parents, Amy struggles to decide if it’s worth being a best friend when it makes you a public enemy. Bringing readers along on an often hilarious and heartwarming journey, Amy finds that maybe getting a life only happens once you think your life is over."

Review.

Pretty Amy is a contemporary young adult novel that revolves around friends, family and how one decision can change your whole. I expected Pretty Amy to be more funny than it was. It is not intense per say, I suppose dramatic is the word.

Amy is a teenager who has little to no self confidence. She hides behind her two friends, Lila and Cassie. Lila, who seems to ooze self-confidence but feels the need to be told she is pretty. Cassie, on the other, is a bad-ass girl who is not afraid to say what she means. With two friends with such personalities, they are easy to hide behind. When they get arrested on prom night due to their plan on revenge on their dates that stood them up, Amy's life gets turned upside down. Now, Amy is no longer allowed to talk to her only friends, if you do not count her parrot AJ, and must make a decision to turn on her friends or go to jail. 

Amy as a character was a little tedious. Maybe because I did not connect with her. She is shy and will not speak one minute and the next she will come out with a snappy retort. This annoyed me because I just wanted to shout at her, tell them about Brian! Amy, however, is loyal to her friends and does not rat, well anyone, out. Maybe, even too loyal. Her innocence is shown in the book when she believes that people will do what she is willing to do for them which we all know in the real world is not true. People will use and abuse you, all to get what they want. 

Amy has a voice that makes you feel bad for her when you read her internal dialogue, she gets to you. Maybe because in her own way, she is like a lost little puppy, who finally has to make some decisions of her own. Although, I do not like Amy for her personality, I think her mother has a lot to do with it. What an annoying and paranoid woman. Like, seriously. Amy and her mother are quite similar in that Amy would not talk to her mother about the situation and Amy's mother just would not listen at all.

Amy's journey of self-pity ends pretty abruptly and all seems okay with the world again which was a little disappointing but Burstein ends the book on a lovely metaphor or simile, I cannot remember if the world like was in the quote! :P 

Final Thought.

Pretty Amy could have been better or it could have been worse. Despite that, an interesting read that shows how loneliness and insecurities can dominate young people and their decisions.