February 18, 2014

Review: Smart Girls Get What They Want by Sarah Strohmeyer

Smart Girls Get What They Want by Sarah Strohmeyer
Young Adult
Published 2012 by Balzer and Bray
E-book of 224 pages
Gigi, Bea, and Neerja are best friends and total overachievers. Even if they aren't the most popular girls in school, they aren't too worried. They know their real lives will begin once they get to their Ivy League colleges. There will be ivy, and there will be cute guys in the libraries (hopefully with English accents)! But when an unexpected event shows them they're missing out on the full high school experience, it's time to come out of the honors lounge and into the spotlight. They make a pact: They will each take on their greatest challenge—and they will totally rock it.

Gigi decides to run for student rep, but she'll have to get over her fear of public speaking—and go head-to-head with gorgeous California Will. Bea used to be one of the best skiers around, until she was derailed. It could be time for her to take the plunge again. And Neerja loves the drama club but has always stayed behind the scenes—until now.

These friends are determined to show the world that smart girls really can get what they want—but that could mean getting way more attention than they ever bargained for. . . .

I bought this in e-book format randomly one night and read it in four days, which is a short time to finish a book for me. I am not counting the pages I read of this book toward the Love For Books Readathon because my goal for that is to read 50 non ebook pages a day.

My expectations for this book weren't set that high, probably because of the high school setting. I don't know why I made judgments like that on the book before even skimming the reviews, or opening it. I have learned to never do that again, because I really loved this book, every single page of it, high school setting and everything.

This book really had me reacting; I was sighing and gasping and smiling and laughing all the way through. I felt really close to Gigi, the main character, she was very realistic. The side characters were also realistic, which is so hard to find in a book. The best friend trio was so well thought out, they had a great dynamic that reminded me of my own friendships in real life. Even the teachers at Denton High were realistic to me. I had them all imagined perfectly, because I had teachers a lot like them in high school. 

I liked the romance, it was done well, and watching Gigi handle her friendships and boys at the same time was fun and interesting. Her friend's boy troubles will drive you crazy, but not in a bad I-can't-read-any-further kind of way, but in a good I-hope-she-finds-happiness kind of way.

The plot was awesome, filled with turns and twists and a cohesiveness of everything going on in Gigi's life. 

Three tiny complaints, though. And I mean tiny, almost irrelevant. Of the three friends, if I even remember correctly, two of them had green eyes. I complain because green eyes aren't handed out for free in the genetic world, they're very rare world-wise, like one or two percent of the entire population has green eyes. My second complaint was there were a lot of names to remember, and I often confused the characters with each other, especially Henry and Justin. It might just be me, I've been having bad pregnancy brain recently, but I think it's worth mentioning. Lastly, the cover for the ebook I read doesn't make much sense to me, which is the one I chose for this review. I like the other cover better, it better represents Gigi, and this cover doesn't give the story inside much justice. (Not saying I don't like the design though, it's a very pretty cover!)

Some of the life lesson parts were kind of gooey and eye-roll inducing, but I forgive it because they are important lessons and they're to be expected in a book aimed toward high school age people. I was considering rating this four of five stars because of my tiny complaints, but those didn't ruin the book for me or anything, so five entire shiny stars from me!

3 comments:

  1. Wow, I love when you don't expect to love a book and then are surprised!
    Missie @ A Flurry of Ponderings

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  2. This sounds cute!! I've been wanting to read a book by this author, but I keep forgetting about this one. I totally agree that the original cover sounds like it goes with the book better... but I think this one really pretty! Good luck with the baby and the pregnancy brain... I remember those days :)

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  3. I love fun surprises like this! I do like the sounds of this one too. So glad you ended up enjoying it. :)

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