August 10, 2009

Review: Girl Stays in the Picture by Melissa de la Cruz




Saint Tropez, the playground of the super rich. This summer it’s the location for the bio-pic Juicy starring none other than the pop sensation Devon fresh from rehab. Her co-star in the movie is Summer, the up and coming blonde next door who’s brought her friend Casey on the trip as her personal assistant. Also in town is Livia, daughter of Juicy’s producer who has lost over a third of her weight due to a gastric band surgery.

Soon it becomes clear that Devon has been demoted as the star of the picture with Summer becoming the new focus. Devon is upset with the changes but certainly understands that making a comeback from her partying lifestyle will be a long hard road.

Now that Livia has lost her weight she’s scored a major hottie, Trevor. The two light up the town but for Livia a friend she made last year when she was overweight becomes more precious to her than Trevor. However she failed to let him know she already has a boyfriend and he finds out the hard way.

From lucky assistant to being treated like she’s nobody that matters, Casey is feeling lost and out of place in Saint Tropez. Plus the sweet guy she met at the airport turned out to be Jamie Lawson, a huge star that’s now dating Summer. Can things get any worse?

Through the ups and downs of the summer scene the girls remain fast friends but someone is up to something shady. Just who can it be?

I loved the fact that even though Girl Stays in the Picture is mostly about pampered rich kids it’s a fairly clean story that teaches an interesting lesson about friendship. Each girl learns something about themselves and who they are friends with before the summer is over.

Filled with snippets of tabloid writings at the beginning of a lot of chapters I thought this was a unique way for De La Cruz to move forward in time and get quick plotlines thrown in at the same time. Girl Stays in the Picture was one of the better YA books that I’ve read in a long time and with the ending’s major cliff hanger I’m hoping this will be a series of books. I look forward to more of the girl’s adventures and plan on reading much more by De La Cruz. This is a must read for YA fans.

BookBlips: vote it up!

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