Rating:

Tall, blond Lissa Mansfield is used to being one of the “in” crowd–but being accepted by the popular girls at posh Spencer Academy boarding school in San Francisco is turning out to be harder than she thought. And then there’s her New-York-loudmouth roommate, Gillian Chang, who’s not just happy to be a Christian herself–she’s determined to out Lissa, too! If Lissa can just keep her faith under wraps long enough to hook Callum McCloud, the hottest guy in school, she’ll be golden.

But when Callum pressures her to go all the way with him, Lissa has to decide for herself how far is too far. How can she see that line when he’s so gorgeous and popular and she’s so dazzled? And besides, she’s too busy shopping for a Valentino and booking the hottest celeb for the Benefactors Ball. Who knew finding a place at Spencer Academy would be so complicated?

Ever since I picked up Just Listen by Sarah Dessen, I’ve been looking for her books everywhere I can check, as well as good young adult books to read. Last book fair, I chanced upon this book by Shelley Adina among all the other pocketbooks and textbooks in National Bookstore. I remember Camy reviewing one of her books, so I decided to grab it. It’s Young Adult and it’s Christian; this should be good.

Lissa is a part of the popular crowd in her old school, but when she moved to the prestigious Spencer Academy, she couldn’t even break into the popular girls’ circle without being embarrassed at some point. Then she meets her new roommate, Gillian, who turns out to be a Christian like her. A very passionate Christian, who’d do everything for her faith — something that Lissa is kind of wary of doing. And then there’s Callum McCloud, who makes Lissa’s heart skip a beat whenever he smiles at her. There’s really nothing wrong with wanting to be popular, but at the expense of her faith? What will Lissa do?

I found the book very enjoyable and relatable. The name-dropping kind of got to me a bit, especially the numerous mentions of the iPhone (maybe this is just me), although seeing a familiar name like Frank Peretti did perk me up. :D The characters feel very real too, and although I’m already getting annoyed at Lissa for being so dense, I was also rooting for her too, hoping that she’d rise in the end. I also really enjoyed Gillian’s character (can’t wait to read her story in the next book in the series) as well as Kaz, Lissa’s other best friend.

I thought Shelley would end it with Lissa getting vindicated from the predicament she got into, which would probably be very satisfying, but I’m glad that the author ended it differently. The ending made things closer to real life, which adds to the relatable factor.

I read some reviews of this book and there were a lot of comparisons with Gossip Girl. I never read any of the books in the series (although I like the show), and maybe someday I will, but I think this book has a really great potential. The characters are lovable and not preachy, and the problems of the characters are as realistic as it can be (well, not as much here in the Philippines, but in the general sense it’s sort of a universal thing). I can’t wait to read the rest of the series. :)