Tuesday, July 27, 2010

It Started With A Dare - Lindsay Faith Rech

Self-proclaimed nobody CG Silverman sees her move to an upscale new school as her chance to be somebody different. Her devil-may-care attitude attracts the in-clique, and before CG realizes it, a routine game of truth or dare launches her to iconic status.
While this rebel image helps secure CG’s newfound popularity, it also propels her through a maze of unprecedented chaos, with each new lie and every dare opening doors that, in most cases, were better off left shut.
CG is on a collision course with disaster. Will she be able to keep up the façade? Or will the whole world find out she’s a fraud?

Title: It Started With A Dare
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Graphia
Publication Date: September 13, 2010
My Rating: 4/5

CG is hoping to reinvent herself. New school, new crowd, why shouldn't she be popular this time around? No one knows her here, she can be whoever she wants to be. She ups the ante with a simple game of truth or dare. Telling the truth isn't hard for CG, but she prefers to embellish her answers. As for the dare, well, the more outrageous, why not? Her devil-may-care attitude gets her in the door with the popular crowd, but once there, she needs to maintain the status quo.
I, curiously, enjoyed reading about CG and did connect with her on some level. The more I read though, the more my head started shaking. I could just imagine where she was headed, and kept pleading with her to stop. Of course, she's a fictional character and can't hear or comprehend what I'm saying, so that didn't help matters any. She is a loveable character, though she does some daft things. Her character does evolve and there is hope for her. Whether she continues on the path she is on, or realizes what she is doing and stops, is another matter entirely.
The integral characters to the book are all richly realized. They are fleshed out and you can't help but feel sorry for some, or roll your eyes at certain others. Regardless, they are all human, and this book goes to show that what some may constitute as fun, may unintentionally harm others.
The humour throughout the book kept the general atmosphere tongue in cheek, without being cloyingly sweet. CG's use of expletives was abundant and varied; some of her outbursts had me laughing out loud, they were so off the wall.
All in all, a lighthearted book about the measures that people will take to fit in. Well worth the read, the moral of the story is pure. This will definitely be a book that I remember, especially for the lessons on what not to do to fit in.


Disclaimer: This book was obtained through netgalley, free of charge, in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for sending me this copy to review.

3 comments:

Savannah said...

Sounds good. I need to read this.

Unknown said...

I want to read this!

Melissa (i swim for oceans) said...

This sounds pretty interesting...never heard of it before :)