Scary Beautiful. by Niki Burnham. 2006. Simon & Schuster. 264 pages. ISBN: 9780689876196“Scary beautiful” is how people describe Chloe Rand, the heroine of this 2006 romance by Niki Burnham. Until recently, her relationship with her boyfriend has kept the other boys in her class at bay, but when he unceremoniously dumps her and moves across the country, she finds herself being treated very differently by her classmates. Being an attractive single girl invites all kinds of rumors and insults. The only plus side of Chloe’s newly single status, aside from lots of free time to spend with her friends, is that it frees her up to flirt with Billy, the cute geeky boy working at the pizza shop. There’s just one catch - one of Chloe’s best friends is already interested in Billy. Will she understand Chloe’s feelings, or will Chloe lose her friends along with her boyfriend?
I can’t get enough of Niki Burnham! There is just something about her writing style that makes me want to devour her books in one sitting. This one is especially refreshing because it characterizes a beautiful girl as more than a mere Barbie doll, or popular mean girl. While I think most girls are annoyed by beautiful women who lament their good looks, Chloe is not annoying, and the reader comes to sympathize with her particular set of issues. Billy is also my kind of romantic hero - the nice boy who blends in the background until you notice how cute he really is.
I noticed some commonalities with the
Royally Crushed trilogy I read a while ago. The biggest one is that the protagonists in both stories have a core group of supportive friends from whom they keep secrets for fear of being misunderstood. I also noticed that both girls are torn between love interests, and that each one seems to prefer the boy who is less likely to return her feelings. These are themes I enjoy in YA fiction, and I think Niki Burnham has a real knack for presenting them with just the right amount of drama to engage tween and young teen readers.
Scary Beautiful is great for pleasure reading, and is sure to appeal to middle school girls who also like Lauren Barnholdt, Lauren Myracle, and Rachel Vail.
Looking for more teen and tween romance recommendations? Click
here to browse my past romance reviews.
I borrowed Scary Beautiful from my local public library.
Spin Control by Niki Burnham. December 28, 2004. Simon Pulse. 256 pages. ISBN: 9780689866692
Do Over by Niki Burnham. September 26, 2006. Simon Pulse. 240 pages. ISBN: 9780689866692
In these last two books in the trilogy now compiled as Royally Crushed, Valerie continues to experience the ups and downs of her relationship with Prince Georg. In Spin Control, she believes she has been dumped, so when she heads home to Virginia for Winter Break, she goes on a date with David Anderson, only to discover that she loves Georg more than ever. In Do Over, she returns to Schwerinborg to reconcile with Georg, and to work on gaining confidence in his feelings for her, even if they can’t always demonstrate their affections where the press can see. Before the end of the trilogy, Valerie also sees her dad start dating again, and finally finds a way to come clean with her friends about her mother’s newly revealed homosexuality.
I know this trilogy is not the best-written in the world, but I really loved reading it. The ultimate outcome was fairly predictable, but the emails between Val and her friends in Virginia, and her awkward uncertainty around Georg, as well as the cattiness of the girls in her Schweringborgian school, all made for great entertainment. I was distracted repeatedly by references to Heath Ledger, who has died since the publication of these books, but the Google books preview of the new edition shows that this problem has been corrected with several passing references to Ledger resting in peace. The only other thing that felt vaguely out of place was the fact that Val and her friends email rather than text or send Facebook messages, but I am sure there are teenagers out there somewhere for whom this is still the norm, so it doesn’t ruin the books by any means.
All in all, these are light reads, even at their most serious moments, and they provide insight into all the drama of first relationships without ever becoming too weepy, or losing hope that the ending would be happy. The series was definitely worth finishing, and I’ll be looking for more from Niki Burnham, starting with her latest book for teens, Shot Through the Heart.
Read my review of the first book in the Royally Crushed trilogy, Royally Jacked, here.
I borrowed Spin Control and Do Over from my local public library.
Royally Jacked. by Niki Burnham. December 23, 2003. Simon Pulse. 208 pages. ISBN: 9780689866685
Royally Jacked is the first book in a trilogy by Niki Burnham. It was originally released as part of the Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies series, and has recently been repackaged, along with its sequels,
Spin Cycle and
Do Over in a three-volume edition called
Royally Crushed. In this first installment, main character Valerie's world is turned upside down when her mother announces she is leaving her father to move in with another woman. Valerie has two choices - change schools and move in with her mom in the next town, or change schools and move to an obscure European country with her father. To everyone's surprise, she chooses to move to Schwerinborg, leaving behind her best friends and her long-time crush on David Anderson. Schwerinborg (which is totally fictitious, by the way) isn't quite what she expected, but there is one bright spot. Valerie and the Schwerinborgian prince, Georg, hit it off right away. At first they're just friends, but even though David Anderson at home has started to like Valerie, she just can't help but develop feelings for Prince Georg as well.
I'm really glad this story has now been released as one volume, because the entire first three quarters of this book reads like the set-up for a much longer novel. I really felt like the story was initially one manuscript and that this beginning portion was sort of arbitrarily cut off and released on its own. The real meat of the story doesn't begin until Valerie arrives in Schwerinborg and meets the prince, and that doesn't even happen until the second half of the book. The story also leaves a lot of things unresolved, especially when it comes to David Anderson and Valerie's relationship to her mom.
The writing is pretty basic, with no real frills. It's very easy to read, and would likely appeal to reluctant readers who like romantic comedy films. Fans of the Princess Diaries will also like the similar subject matter and will be pleased to fall in love with Georg right along with Valerie. The older cover from the 2003 edition is starting to look a bit dated, but the contemporary-looking new cover will definitely grab a new generation of teens' attention.
I borrowed Royally Jacked from my local public library.
