Review: Princess with a cigarette
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 12 30, 2012
I loved "Forcing Gravity," so I jumped in to this book for more Monica Alexander and her perspective on college age young adult life.  These characters are less likeable.  The heroine, Emily, spends two months with her family at a beach house with no job, so her situations range from should I start smoking, should I start smoking clove cigarettes, should I get a tattoo, should I get drunk/really drunk, should I cheat on my boyfriend of five years, should I buy clothes that are sluttier than I usually wear, should I get my nose pierced. . .all of which she answers "yes".  There is peer pressure and it is fiercest when it comes from her twin brother.  Her best friend also eggs her on to be less "rigid".  It is sort of tiresome -- she seems like a nice person and why she has to change to be more like the beach kids and her constantly stoned brother is a step too far in her journey to be a more tolerant, open-minded person.  Her guitar-playing beach boyfriend can only give her discrete moments of wisdom and emotional commitment (he has a couple of jobs and is taking care of his dying mother).  His story is compelling and well written.