Bittersweet Sixteen by Carrie Karasyov & Jill Kargman

Rating:

5: Beyond Explanation

4: Awesome

3: Decent

2: Dislike

1: Hate

0: Abhor

1. Plot: (2/5)

Meh! The plot is very predictable. It's the typical high school conflict story. Cool girl with slightly uncool best friend. New kid comes in and "intrudes". New kid and cool girl fight over a boy, turns out the boy likes slightly uncool best friend. That's the whole story right there. Nothing special, totally typical. Bordering on BLAH!

2. Characters: (2/5)

The characters are the epitome of cliche characters. The lead is a typical blonde hair blue eyed New York type. The new kid is the typical L.A. skinny big boobs type. Even their male counterparts are cliche. The jock type, the prom king type. They went all out in terms of stereotypes.

3. Setting: (1/5)

Again, typical setting. Rich kids living in the Upper East Side. Need I say more? I rated this "hate" because it was bordering on unbelievable. I mean, I find it hard to believe that an all-girls' private school make their 15 year old students draw nude models for art class.

4. Story: (1/5)

Again, I gave it a "hate" because, first of all, the substance-lacking-and-borderline-unbelievable name droppings. Some of it is just unrealistic. But it's not just the name dropping that's unrealistic. In the story, they had to set up the best Sweet Sixteen birthday party. The party that ended up happening in the end was too good to be true, literally.

5. Writing: (3/5)

The way of writing amused me. For instance, "unfortunately" became "unforch" and "awkward" became "awky". This was the only aspect in the book that, to me, seemed realistic.

6. Ending: (1/5)

P.R.E.D.I.C.T.A.B.L.E. What's more, after the cool girl and the new kid fight, they immediately just patched things up. That doesn't happen in the real world.

OVERALL RATING: 2/5

WOULD I RECOMMEND?: Yes & No

Despite the low ratings that I gave above, this book still amused me because I still am a sucker for any chic lit. Any at all. So, if you're a sucker for anything chic lit, then you can get this is you just happen to see it in your bookstore. It is nothing worth seeking out. But if you're looking for a book with substance, I would recommend that you give this a pass.

CLASSIFICATION:

I would classify this as a beach-type book. A light read that doesn't need your undivided attention.

Price: Php 320 at Fully Booked