Review: A Teen Dream
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 26, 2013
Take a bit of Glee, mix withMean Girls,HoneyandFame (1980) [HD] and the finished product is the wonder some Passion and Pain.A group of talented teens going into their first year at a performing arts school brought back memories of when I was younger and totally hooked on all things Fame.All trying to find their niche and going from mostly complete strangers to tight nit friends almost instantaneously.  A bit too instant for reality sake, but I assume the author rushed that a bit to just get the story itself going instead of spending half the book with people warming up to one another.I know when I think of high school, I have the memories of my friends and I doing goofy things together, but also remembering the mean girls.  This story does not leave that stone uncovered but gives us one of the most spiteful, hateful, deceitful mean girls possible, Letitia, and an entourage to boot.There's music, dancing, friendships, romance, cattiness and so much more all intertwined in this story.  The main POV is Elena.  I'd say about 90% is her POV with a dash of others here or there.  It was a bit distracting to be seeing things from her POV and suddenly, out of the blue, going to another's.  It would have been a better fit to either leave it hers altogether or mix it up a bit every other or every few chapters.  Anyway, Elena is an endearing character.  Full of hope, a bit naive, the brunt of the main mean girls attention but always looking out for her friends and seeing what she could do to help them while also being confident enough to learn from them.Elena has spunk and even though her core could be shaken, she picked herself up and broke it all down street style.Let's not forget the hotties...Sebastien and Jay.  Both vying for ones girls attention, even though one is doing so unknowingly but of course those who pay attention can see it clearly.This book is a teen dreams.  Full of friendships, the arts and living the dream, a teen could find much inspiration in this book and I'm sure will get some of its readers to try a new thing or two.  With the success of Glee, American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, X Factor, etc, this book has an audience far and wide and will not disappoint.