Book Review: Beautiful Girl

by: Fleur Philips

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

Book Review: I Am Lucky Bird

by: Fleur Philips

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Synopsis:
When her mother mysteriously vanishes from the small town of Plains, Montana, 12-year-old Lucky Bird’s childhood comes to an abrupt end. Left to defend herself against her suddenly abusive grandmother, Marian, and forced to endure the twisted predatory games played out by Marian’s lover, Lucky soon finds herself trapped in a nightmare.

Even when she manages to escape, the outside world can’t take away the brutal images of her past. Still haunted by her mother’s disappearance and the trauma that followed, Lucky is easily led down a path of self-destruction—a path that only the intervention of a young stranger and his family can guide her away from. But first, Lucky will have to confront her demons, and the dark truths kept hidden.

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I'm trying to think of a way to describe this novel. It's not a happy story, where everyone gets along and there's a separate bad guy or thing that they must unite to find themselves victorious. No, Lucky is a girl very much left to her own devices. And often, that's not a pretty sight.

I think I love these kinds of stories because I can honestly relate to the character. Even if she doesn't have anyone else in her corner, I'm there cheering for her to find her way out of the darkness.

Fleur (lovely name, isn't it?) has a sweet writing style that just grabs you and won't let go. And she uses the most unique font! I don't know what it is, but it's different. The paragraphs are separated and it's a font you won't see in any other book. It makes it feel like you are reading a diary or something other than a mass marketed paperback.

This isn't a pretty coming-of-age story, but it was fully worth my time. This is going in my library for keeps.