Review: This Girl Isn't Shy, She's Spectacular by Nina Beck

CONTEMPORARY TEEN ROMANCE

Samantha Owens is fed up with being a good girl. So she's skipping out on her stuffy boarding school and finishing up her senior year in New York City. There, Sam reunites with her former fat-camp roomie, the irrepressible Riley Swain, and is drawn into Riley's high-glamour, high-fashion world: think deluxe makeovers, dates with wealthy boys, and wild nights out.

Then Sam meets D, the gorgeous, wicked boy who once broke Riley's heart. Sam is supposed to hate D, but she can't. Quite the opposite. And D can't seem to stay away from Sam, who never wanted things to get this complicated.

But no one said reinventing yourself--or falling in love--was ever supposed to be easy...

For me, this was a so-so book. I prefer books in the first person, so I can really sink into the characters, but here, both Sam and D were written in third person, and I just didn't get into their heads as much as I would have liked to.

Plus, when you like a secondary character more than you like either of the protagonists, you know the book's trouble. Riley Swain, Sam and D's mutual friend, was probably my favorite character in the whole book. Her sassy attitude cracked me up, and she was always pushing Sam to go achieve her goals and get with D. She was there for Sam every step of the way, just like a true friend, which I really admired. Riley was a great character, and I think the first book by this author, called This Book Isn't Fat, It's Fabulous, is written from Riley's perspective, so I'm definitely picking that up.

Sam was pretty much a "blah" main character. Self-doubt in characters is important, because it gives them a chance to grow through the book, but here, I think Sam was being downright stupid, not doubting herself. I wish I could say I was dazzled by her character and wanted to read more, but that's not the case.

D, however, was a different story. While he still can't quite measure up to Riley, he was a pretty good character, especially at the beginning of the book. Near the first few pages, he seemed like an incredibly sexy, mysterious character. Near the end, the reader finds out that he is not really that mysterious, which kind of ruins his character, but the fantasy was nice while it lasted. He was a great guy, with witty dialogue and a hint of self-doubt here and there. He did some excellent developing in this book.

The romance here was fantastic. I don't often go for teen romances, but this one stood out to me because of the cute cover and the sassy title, and I really liked how the romance developed in this one. D and Sam started wary of each other but grew fond of each other in the way teens do. The way their love for each other developed was so authentic that I couldn't help but be drawn into the plot.

This Girl Isn't Shy, She's Spectacular by Nina Beck gets three stars.