Beautiful

Beautiful

by Amy Reed

Cassie has always been a social outcast.  She's smarter than everyone around her, gets A's without trying, and knows all the answers.

When Cassie's mom convinces her dad to move to a new neighborhood, Cassie knows that this is her chance.  No one knows her.  She can be anyone.  She can become anyone.  She can be Someone.

What she becomes is a drug addict who sleeps with a guy just because being his boyfriend means that she'll always have an identity: Ethan's girl.  She drinks any alcohol around.  She takes acid, smokes pot, snorts coke.

Her world is falling apart and the only way for her to cope is to keep doing it all.

The only bright spot in her life is Sarah: a girl more damaged than her who depends on her to keep her safe and sane.

Can Cassie be the person Sarah needs her to be before it's too late?

Final thoughts: The writer has a unique voice, which was hard to get into initially.  But once I got the rhythm, the book was too powerful to put down.  Cassie's downward spiral was realistic and scary.  I kept wondering when her parents would figure out what was going on.  I kept hoping that her academic intelligence would finally clue in her social incompetence as to how she was ruining her life.

Rating: 4/5

Warning: This has mature themes and issues.  Cassie may be only 13, but she's going through things in this book that would make many adults uncomfortable to read about.