Spoiled by Heather Cocks, Jessica Morgan Series: Spoiled #1
Published by Poppy (6.21.2011)
Genres: Chick Lit, Contemporary, Young Adult
Format: ARC, 368 pages
Source: Gifted
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Sixteen-year-old Molly Dix has just discovered that her biological father is Brick Berlin, world-famous movie star and red-carpet regular. Intrigued (and a little) terrified by her Hollywood lineage, Molly moves to Los Angeles and plunges headfirst into the deep of Beverly Hills celebrity life. Just as Molly thinks her life couldn't get any stranger, she meets Brooke Berlin, her gorgeous, spoiled half sister, who welcomes Molly to la-la land with a smothering dose "sisterly love"...but in this town, nothing is ever what it seems.
Set against a world of Redbull-fuelled stylists, tiny tanned girls, popped-collar guys, and Blackberry-wielding publicists, Spoiled is a sparkling debut from the writers behind the viciously funny celebrity blog GoFugYourself.com.
My thoughts
I signed up for the Completely Contemp Challenge to broaden my reading horizons, and this was one of my picks because I own it. It’s not that I didn’t want to read it, but honestly I thought it would rate maybe 3 stars for me. I was completely and pleasantly surprised, because I never thought I’d love this one as much as I did!
Brooke acted disgustingly fake toward Molly. The way she treated the poor girl when they first met was transparently forced – in fact, I was a bit disappointed that Molly didn’t notice. She did despicable things to try and sabotage Molly and scare her away, including spreading some nasty (and completely untrue) rumors.
My opinion didn’t change much until more than halfway through the book, when we finally get to see the beginnings of a crack in her perfect facade. She actually grew on me (much like a fungus) as the novel went on, and by then end I mostly liked her. The development in her character was monumental.
I really liked Molly. Maybe not quite as much at first, because she was a bit naive, gullible, and spineless…but like with Brooke, there was clear character development. She finally started growing a backbone, standing up to Brooke’s shenanigans and ignoring all of the jibes. I gotta hand it to her, though, she put up with a lot of BS with relatively little upset. I don’t think I could have handled as much as she did. Plus she was down to Earth and easy to relate to.
I loved Max! First of all, she has green hair. Second of all, she killed a cactus plant (Molly said she didn’t even think that was possible)…so as a fellow brown thumb, I felt a kinship toward her. (Seriously, I can’t keep anything green alive for more than a few weeks.) But it was much more than that. She didn’t care what people thought about her, just did her own thing, and she took everything with a grain of salt. I liked that she encouraged Molly to stand up to Brooke: ‘You can only take the high road for so long. Unless you’re Gandhi, but I think we can all agree that he was exceptional.’
I liked Teddy, too. He was funny and nonchalant, and I respected him for giving Molly a friend when she really needed it. And he didn’t ever judge her.
Something else that made me really enjoy Spoiled was the humor. I giggled out loud many times while reading, and I thoroughly enjoyed some of the terminology and wording of things (such as ‘shitballs,’ ‘crazenuts,’ and ‘radcakes,’ and saying that someone’s buttcheeks ‘look like two balloons fighting’ – great mental image there). I love it when a book can make me laugh, and that fact earns major brownie points for me!
Spoiled was a cute, fun, and quirky read! I am a huge fan of love/hate relationships and cathartic endings. The characterization was fantastic, with deep and realistic characters, and the fame/fortune/fashion world was sold very convincingly. This book would be perfect for a movie!
“What?” Max asked.
“Well, it’s just that if two guys are mad at each other, we brawl and then it’s over. Girls resort to psychological warfare. It seems exhausting.”
“I was just waiting for you to say something victorious.”
“It’s like Brick always says, ‘Gloat rhymes with bloat, and both are the enemy of an upstanding citizen.'”
“Maybe I can be friends with both of them.”
“Nice try, Switzerland,” Max said. “But we’re talking about years of animosity between those two. They make the Middle East look like a Girl Scout jamboree. Just tell her you need Brooke’s kidney or something.”
“Are you kidding? Shelby would cut it out herself and call it philanthropy.”
Other people’s hearts ran on their own schedule, like a train; if you found a ride you wanted to take, you had to hop on while it was at your station.
Plot: 5/5
awoseome when i read this book i was done in a day and i couldnt wait to get the second book