Review: Great debut novel!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 13, 2013
Lucinda Zwindler is introduced to us as a poster child for teenage-rebellion. As a victim of bullying, betrayal and the cruel nature of high-school cliques, Lucy has adopted a bad attitude as a protective shell and has developed the knack of making poor choices. Her parents reach their boiling-point, step in and mandate her to a summer job painting houses in hopes to teach her some responsibility and get her back on track.Justin Marshall is your cocky, stereotypical jock. He's popular, he's got the ego the size of his head and he's got the looks to back it up. Justin embodies everything Lucy hates--he's a popular, egotistical jerk. Every guy wants to be him and every girl wants to be with him. Every girl, that is, except for Lucy. The story gets interesting when Justin shows up at her front door to take her to her new painting job. Even though the two spend every day together, Lucy can't seem to figure Justin out. He just frustrates the crap out of her!Slowly but surely, Lucy gets to know the ins and outs of Justin. The more she learns, the more her image of him changes--for the better! Her annoyance with Justin slowly diminishes and emotions she can't control continue to grow despite all her efforts to deter them. Will Lucy listen to her head and be able to write those feelings off or will Justin make her see that there are some things in life that doesn't suck?What a novel to debut with, Lizzy! I loved the story and definitely had a few late/sleepless nights trying to finish it! It touches on a few very real themes (bullying, mental health and growing up just to name a few) which make the book very relatable.I definitely enjoyed watching the summer unfold as one of self-discovery for Lucy. She goes through her ups and downs to amend broken relationships, forge new ones and in doing so, learns a whole lot about herself during her healing process. It's fun to see Lucy slowly come to the conclusion that everyone else can see from the first chapters!The characters introduced in this novel leave more stories to tell--*hinthintnudgenudge* I want a story about Alex!!