Book Review: Beautiful

Beautiful by Amy Reed

Releases: October 6, 2009

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Pages: 240

Rating: 5 stars

When thirteen-year-old Cassie moves to a suburb of Seattle, she is determined to leave her boring, good-girl existence behind. She chooses some dangerous new friends and is quickly caught up in their fast-paced world of
drugs, sex, secrets, and cruelty.

Cassie's new existence both thrills and terrifies her. She embraces the numbness she feels from the drugs, starts sleeping with an older boy, and gets pulled into a twisted friendship triangle that is tinged with violence and abuse. Cassie is trapped in a swift downward spiral, and there's no turning back.

Beautiful is one of those books that you’ll remember long after you’ve read it. It was truly a raw and powerful story.

Cassie was new in school and she didn’t want to be the same shy girl she was in her old school. However, she ended up befriending the wrong type of people. She did things that she wouldn’t normally do – things that scared her but she did them anyways because she wanted to fit in.

Beautiful is so much more than just a story. These days kids really are vulnerable to their peers and surroundings. Reed did a fantastic job describing the lengths that kids will go to just to feel accepted. Almost makes me not want to let my daughter out of my sight when she gets older.

Amy Reed wrote a brilliant debut novel! It may be emotional to read, but this is a story that needs to be read by both teens and parents. I loved it and am definitely going to have to get myself a copy for my personal library.