Beautiful by Amy Reed

Beautiful by Amy Reed
Pages: 240
Pub Date: 10-06-09
Synopsis: When Cassie moves from the tiny town where she has always lived to a suburb of Seattle, she is determined to leave her boring, good-girl existence behind. This is Cassie's chance to stop being invisible and become the kind of girl who's worth noticing.Stepping into her new identity turns out to be easier than Cassie could have ever imagined...one moment, one choice, will change everything.Cassie's new existence both thrills and terrifies her. Swept into a world of illicit parties and social landmines, she sheds her virginity, embraces the numbness she feels from the drugs, and floats through it all, knowing that she is now called beautiful. She ignores the dangers of her fast-paced life?but she can't sidestep the secrets and the cruelty.Cassie is trapped in a swift downward spiral tinged with violence and abuse, and no one--not even the one person she thought she could trust--can help her now.


Beautiful started as a book about a girl who was in a whole new atmosphere. Smart and unsure about herself Cassie is approached one day by a girl. A ninth grade girl who introduces her to a whole new world. A new, and dangerous world. I personally felt that I could really connect with Cassie through everything she was feeling. I felt as if I was in the room with her at Ethans house the music blasting in the room next door as they were interrupted several times. I felt as if I could feel her silent fear as she went to go retrieve acid before going to Ethans. Amy Reed is a magician with the words for this book was woven together beautifully. As a 13 year old girl having to move from one school where everything is set one way for so long to a new school were everything is opposite Cassie tells her story. Her story of her parents unhappy relationship. Her mothers depression. How she deals with never fitting in. How she becomes socially and emotionally numb. The story was told with shocking detail causing gasps to escape from me as I read. This story was eye opening and shocking. It showed me a silent world that had been hidden from me up until now. Everything is so different and strange as the story constantly builds. Drugs, sex, suicide, lies, and so much more weasel their way into this story at every chance they get.