Review: Reading Books Like a Boss Review for Choices
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 12 30, 2013
This book deals with a tough topic: teen pregnancy. At the beginning of her senior year, Gracie finds out she is pregnant. Her boyfriend, Nick, is on the verge getting a scholarship to play football with USC. Gracie had her life planned out. She thought she was going to move California with Nick and live happily ever after. Instead of her senior year including normal activities, like football, dances, and parties, her life was full of doctor's appointments, raging hormones, and morning sickness.Gracie finally works up the nerve to tell Nick she is pregnant, and he handles in the way only a douchebag can. He bails, and I wanted to castrate him."Nick this was unexpected. I freaked when I found out. I'm scared and I know there are going to be changes." He stands up abruptly. I whip my head up to get a good look at his face."So what are you going to actually have this baby?" He asks surprised. I stand up, only inches from him. He's taller than me still, a good foot maybe. I narrow my eyes, trying to calm my nerves."You can have an abortion. Plenty of girls do that, especially in high school."See what I mean? He's a total jackhole, and he's going on my fictional character shun list. Nick, you're dead to me.Gracie is crushed and terrified of the possibility that will have to raise her child alone. You want to know what I think, Gracie? You're better off without his deadbeat booty. Take Nick to court to get child support and go find yourself a better beau.And that's exactly what she does (minus the child support).Carter, Gracie's knight in shining armor, waltzes right into her life when she's at her lowest. Carter is the principal's son, and two years older than Gracie (More mature! That's a step in the right direction!). He is sweet, caring, thoughtful, supportive, and perfect. I cannot say enough wonderful things about him."I'll do anything for you Gracie. Even if I don't like it, I'll deal with it. I just don't want this to be so hard for you."One of my favorite things about this story was the amount of support Gracie had from her parents, her friends, and Carter. Her parents were young parents themselves, so they understood exactly what Gracie was going through. When Gracie passed out at work, her mother made her stay home from school for weeks to recover.Her friend, Meg, was a firecracker and did not mince words. She defended Gracie when the school "mean girl", Jana, verbally attacked Gracie, and was there as emotional support throughout Gracie's pregnancy. I absolutely adored her (and she has a great name)."So what did [Nick} want? I swear if he made you cry, I'm going to break into his house while he's sleeping and cut off his balls and feed them to my cat.""He just better watch it. I am not dealing with his [shiz]. Or I'll bitch-slap him into next week."I laughed when I read the bitch-slap comment because I updated my status on Goodreads saying that exact same thing! Meg and Megan think alike.I really enjoyed this book. The "twist" in this book was great, and I didn't see it coming. Don't let my rating deter or discourage you from reading. This really is a great book. Teen pregnancy just isn't my absolute favorite topic to read about, and because of that I couldn't connect with the characters. However, the story was really sweet and touching. I look forward to the next book in the series, and I will definitely read it.