Beautiful By Amy Reed

Beautiful, By Amy Reed, is an amazing book, filled with numerous details of the affects of peer pressure, and moving to a new school. The main character, Cassie, is desperate to make friends in her new school. She is determined to leave her good-girl existence behind and slide into trouble with her scandalous new friends. Pleasuring, and horrifying her, Cassie’s new life is unpredictably risky, and she is willing everything to get what she wants. She kisses her old personality good-bye and waves hello to the hazardous affects of drugs, and more. Soon, Cassie has to make the hardest decisions she has ever approached. When visiting her family for the holiday, Cassie’s personality new strikes attention to her millionaire uncle. The addiction to drugs and alcohol suddenly becomes a major issue through out the rest of the book. Also, the peer pressure from her new best friend helps her learn how to follow the crowed, and sticking up for your self.

The author uses foreshadow to guide her readers to what will happen next in the book, keeping the rest of the book a mystery. One example of foreshadow was in the beginning, when her new friends gave her the label “Beautiful.” Because of this, Cassie is desperate to keep that reputation permanent and erase existence of her smart, ugly girl status from her old school. This book is filled with visually-emotional details of the main character’s thoughts and feelings. Because of its use of details, Beautiful has the perfect use of sympathy and excitement; causing the reader to continue turning pages throughout the book. I would recommend this book to mature teen readers who enjoy realistic fiction stories about peer pressure and friends.