Review: Beautiful by Amy Reed

Title: Beautiful

Author: Amy Reed

Publisher: Simon & Shuster 
Pub. Date: October 2009

Length: 232 pages

Summary (from back of book):

When Cassie moves from the tiny town where she has always lived to a suburb of Seattle, she is determined to leave her boring, good-girl existence behind. This is Cassie's chance to stop being invisible and become the kind of girl who's worth noticing.

Stepping into her new identity turns out to be easier than Cassie could have ever imagined...one moment, one choice, will change everything.

Cassie is trapped in a swift downward spiral tinged with violence and abuse, and no one—not even the one person she thought she could trust—can help her now.

Cassie moves from Bainbridge Island to Seattle. There, her life was boring and lonely, but here, nothing is going to be the same. Cassie befriends tough girl Alex and begins turning into someone else. She is immersed into a world of drugs, violence, and sex. Cassie loves the thrill of her new life, but is also terrified of what could happen. She embraces the numbness of drugs and loses her virginity to an older boy. Now she is being called beautiful. But Cassie never realizes the danger she’s really in, and now, the only person who can save her is herself.

Before I finished this book, I’d already decided that Amy Reed is a master. Normally, authors turn away from writing books like these, or do it all wrong. Amy Reed wrote it perfectly. It’s one of those books that are good from the start. The cover and the summary draw you in, and after the first chapter you are hooked.

I can’t directly relate to Beautiful, but I’ve had poisonous friendships and know what it’s like to be isolated and wanting to fit in. Someone who was becoming close to me got caught up in the world of drugs a few years ago and still hasn’t returned. Beautiful got me considering things and reasons that I’d never thought about before. I never thought that someone would start using because they were scared or wanted to fit in. Beautiful is mind opening, and in some cases, life changing.

*This book is recommended to older teens and adults because of the content. Although Cassie is in seventh grade, this book is definitely not for children of that age.

Rating: 

5 Moons