Mini Reviews: Beauty, Starstruck, and Crash and Burn

My mother in law Cathy is flexing her reviewing muscles
on the blog today!

BEAUTY
Lauren Conrad
Beauty tips/make-up
288 pages
HarperCollins
Available Now
Received from publisher for review

CATHY'S THOUGHTS
To be honest, when I started these books, I had preconceived ideas based solely on what I knew of Lauren's personality from the show "The Hills".

The first book, Beauty, is a exactly what the title suggests–a beauty book. Ms. Conrad admits that she's learned most of her hints on make-up and hair from the professionals she's worked with while doing reality TV. Her tips are probably geared more for the teen to thirty age group, but do seem to be well-researched and offer helpful instruction.

What I was most surprised by was Ms. Conrad's personal anecdotes and insights. They were thoughtful and well-written. She was not boastful when she talked about personal beauty. She emphasized playing up your best individual features, and trying to be your best self. Her personal beauty idol is her mother, you have to love her for that!!! She was very sweet in her description of her mom.

As in most beauty books, the pictures make it a bit difficult to distinguish and understand all the techniques being depicted, but overall, some good tips and a pleasant surprise in her stories.

Rating: 3.5/5

STARSTRUCK
Fame Game #2
Lauren Conrad
352 pages
HarperCollins
Available Now
Received from publisher for review

CATHY'S THOUGHTS
This is a story of a group of twenty-somethings living in LA working on a reality TV show. Sound familiar? Assuming Ms. Conrad is simply writing about what she knows, it does make you think about reality shows and how they're produced. Most seem to be scripted and not all that real. If you like these type of shows though, it's fun to see "behind the scenes" and even spend some time trying to guess who she may have based some of the characters on.

The plot is fairly predictable in that the characters don't have much depth, and they are often inexplicably surprised when they have no privacy while on the show. Another small frustration is that the story just ends without any real resolution. There are some lessons learned in the book though, such as fame is fleeting, stick to your values, and work harder and don't settle. These seem to be lessons that Ms. Conrad learned while working in LA because she has moved on and accomplished more than her fifteen minutes of reality fame might have otherwise allowed. I have to say I was biased starting these books, but was pleasantly surprised by both.

Rating: 3.5/5

CRASH AND BURN
Michael Hassan
Contemporary Young Adult
544 pages
Balzer + Bray
Available Now
Received from publisher for review

CATHY'S THOUGHTS
Mr. Hassan takes a unique and interesting approach to a very current topic–school violence. He gives us a look at the lives of two boys, Crash and Burn, one the hero and one the antagonist. Crash is our narrator, writing a book about "the event", and we therefore learn everything through his memories and hindsight. And as many of us know, there is always a different perspective after the fact.

Crash, the hero, and Burn, the perpetrator, have a long history together. Both have similar backgrounds: affluent neighborhoods, problems in school, mental and behavioral issues, and lots of frustration in dealing with life. If we were not told at the beginning of the book who was the hero, we might have had trouble deciding which character was going to crack first.

The chapters alternate between Crash's book and the chaos of the aftermath of him saving the school. This is a very insightful way of presenting the story and keeps us interested throughout. We see how Crash and Burn's lives have intertwined since elementary school, both in positive and negative ways, and really either of these boys could have snapped. Mr. Hassan seems to overload Burn's live with disasters though, and I don't know if anyone could have handled all the bad things that happened to him on top of being poorly medicated for mental illness.

The overabundance of problems in Burn's life as well as the fact that Mr. Hassan spends a touch too much time on Crash's pursuit of drugs, sex, and truancy made the story feel a little overindulgent, especially considering this is a YA book. I realize sex and drugs are often parts of teenagers' lives, but having Crash be so extraordinarily proud of these things (particularly his sexual conquests), as a parent, made me question the message it might be sending to younger readers. I understand that he was not intended to be the typical hero, but I felt certain things were glorified that didn't need to be glorified.

I do think this story opens our eyes to teenage angst and the fact that we can never truly know what is happening below the surface. There are always signs, and there are many in the book that should have been addressed by the adults, but then again hindsight always provides the clarity missing from the original situation.

Maybe that is the message–be aware and don't be afraid to step up and help. That is how Crash saved the day and became the hero.

*Cathy did mention to me when we were discussing her thoughts on this book that she was surprised it was considered YA due to some of Crash's behavior and his constant fixation on sex and drugs. As a result, this book is recommended for older readers.

Rating: 3.5/5