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Chasing Puberty
Growing up is never easy, but what’s a girl to do when she’s starting her freshman year of high school and puberty’s left her behind? She stuffs her bra, of course!
Fourteen-year-old Logan Stanley never thought she’d be entering high school with the body of a middle schooler. Not when all her friends have real curves. How is she ever going to catch the eye of eleventh grader Brad Johnson, Middleburg High School’s star quarterback, and her forever crush, looking the way she does?
If she has any hope of at all of getting Brad’s attention, Logan knows she’ll have to become an ‘It’ girl. The kind of girl everyone wants to be friends with and all the guys drool over. Like her older sister, Nicole.
Unfortunately for Logan, the climb up the social status ladder is a lot further up than she’d imagined. Everything seems to be going wrong, including her older sister, Nicole, stealing her boyfriend. At least, the guy she’d hoped would be her first real boyfriend. But Logan isn’t giving Brad up to her sister without a fight.
She proves to Nicole that she can fight every bit as dirty as her sister when it comes to getting what she wants. But is having Brad as a boyfriend really what she wants? Or is there someone better?
Join Logan on her journey as she discovers that life doesn’t always go as planned. And that being a true ‘It’ girl is only a state of mind. You just have to believe!
Fourteen-year-old Logan Stanley never thought she’d be entering high school with the body of a middle schooler. Not when all her friends have real curves. How is she ever going to catch the eye of eleventh grader Brad Johnson, Middleburg High School’s star quarterback, and her forever crush, looking the way she does?
If she has any hope of at all of getting Brad’s attention, Logan knows she’ll have to become an ‘It’ girl. The kind of girl everyone wants to be friends with and all the guys drool over. Like her older sister, Nicole.
Unfortunately for Logan, the climb up the social status ladder is a lot further up than she’d imagined. Everything seems to be going wrong, including her older sister, Nicole, stealing her boyfriend. At least, the guy she’d hoped would be her first real boyfriend. But Logan isn’t giving Brad up to her sister without a fight.
She proves to Nicole that she can fight every bit as dirty as her sister when it comes to getting what she wants. But is having Brad as a boyfriend really what she wants? Or is there someone better?
Join Logan on her journey as she discovers that life doesn’t always go as planned. And that being a true ‘It’ girl is only a state of mind. You just have to believe!
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First published March 2, 2011
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About the author
Kat Brookes
37 books19 followersAward-winning romance author Kat Brookes is a 4-time RWA Golden Heart finalist, American Title III finalist, Winner of both the National Readers’ Choice Award and Harlequin's Great American Romance Novel contests. She has written for Amazon Publishing, Kensington Publishing, Harlequin and Harpeth Road Press. She's married to her childhood sweetheart, her hero, with whom she has two beautiful daughters.
Check out Kat's website: www.katbrookes.com
Check out Kat's website: www.katbrookes.com
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 21, 2018
Why is this book rated so highly? I don't freaking get it...
Logan Stanley, the main character we are supposed to empathize with, is a total brat. Even more so than her sister, Nicole, who Logan hates. I can understand Logan being mad at her sister for "stealing" the guy she likes (Brad), but she goes to extremes to get revenge. Like dressing up as her sister at the Halloween party just to be with Brad. In fact, I can't think of anything truly mean that Nicole did except eat Logan's Poptart and make snarky comments about her flat chest. A lot of siblings do stuff like that. Logan is hellbent on making Nicole's life miserable, and instead of facing bad consequences, she's rewarded! More on that later though...
Logan's friends exist only as "sidekicks" to help Logan get her man. They have no personalities, no hopes or dreams, or anything interesting about them at all. Every second, they're like, "Logan this, Logan that...no way! We need a plan to help Logan snag Brad!" Logan treats them more like slaves than best friends. I can't even remember their names.
None of the characters really talked like high schoolers either. They all kind of spoke the same way. Near the end, Logan writes in her diary, "Me and Lanny are going steady now!" Most teens today might know what that means, but who uses that term anymore? Why doesn't she simply say "going out" or "we're dating" or even "we're a couple"? I was like, "Really, Logan? Really?"
The story itself is very predictable. After Lanny and Logan spoke a couple of sentences to each other, I knew they were going to get together at the end. That's not even a spoiler. Lanny obviously likes her, for some reason unbeknownst to me.
In stories, I like when there's nervousness or signs that they like each other, as long as it doesn't go overboard. For example: "I could feel myself blushing" or "I noticed his pupils dilating." It makes the situation seem more realistic and builds romantic tension. In this, there was nothing like that. Nothing. Lanny and Logan would go out and say things without any embarrassment or hesitation.
Like I stated before, Logan gets revenge on her sister for no GOOD reason. Brad is the same age as Nicole, so of course there's a better chance of him liking her instead of Logan The Brat. When Logan gets revenge, she is rewarded with Lanny's kiss and Nicole's undying respect instead of dealing with any punishment or consequences of some sort.
***Woooow, that's totally believable, you guise!***
Another questionable lesson comes up at the end. Basically, it teaches girls that they NEED a boy to constantly reassure them, to raise their self-esteem and to make them feel like valuable human beings. Now I'm not saying that your boyfriend or guy friend can't help you feel better about yourself. What they cannot do is "complete you" or make you understand who you really are. Because Logan claims Lanny does exactly that. I really hate this message going around in YA books and being popularized by boy bands. Low self-esteem is not a desirable or attractive trait. It's one thing to like someone who has a low opinion of themselves, and it's one thing to say, "You're a great friend/girlfriend/boyfriend. I think you're awesome and I hope you'll see that for yourself." But it's another thing to spread the idea that you have to rely on other people to make you feel worthwhile. Only you can find your purpose, not some "gorgeous", hormone-driven teenage guy.
To sum it all up, this is pretty much what the book teaches: If you plot vengeance against someone and use your friends to help you get whatever you want, you'll get the guy of your dreams, and you'll magically grow from a training bra to a B cup in only three months! Oh yeah, and boys will solve all your problems for you!
Heh heh.
My 12-year-old sister writes more realistic romance than this. I'm not even being snarky...
Logan Stanley, the main character we are supposed to empathize with, is a total brat. Even more so than her sister, Nicole, who Logan hates. I can understand Logan being mad at her sister for "stealing" the guy she likes (Brad), but she goes to extremes to get revenge. Like dressing up as her sister at the Halloween party just to be with Brad. In fact, I can't think of anything truly mean that Nicole did except eat Logan's Poptart and make snarky comments about her flat chest. A lot of siblings do stuff like that. Logan is hellbent on making Nicole's life miserable, and instead of facing bad consequences, she's rewarded! More on that later though...
Logan's friends exist only as "sidekicks" to help Logan get her man. They have no personalities, no hopes or dreams, or anything interesting about them at all. Every second, they're like, "Logan this, Logan that...no way! We need a plan to help Logan snag Brad!" Logan treats them more like slaves than best friends. I can't even remember their names.
None of the characters really talked like high schoolers either. They all kind of spoke the same way. Near the end, Logan writes in her diary, "Me and Lanny are going steady now!" Most teens today might know what that means, but who uses that term anymore? Why doesn't she simply say "going out" or "we're dating" or even "we're a couple"? I was like, "Really, Logan? Really?"
The story itself is very predictable. After Lanny and Logan spoke a couple of sentences to each other, I knew they were going to get together at the end. That's not even a spoiler. Lanny obviously likes her, for some reason unbeknownst to me.
In stories, I like when there's nervousness or signs that they like each other, as long as it doesn't go overboard. For example: "I could feel myself blushing" or "I noticed his pupils dilating." It makes the situation seem more realistic and builds romantic tension. In this, there was nothing like that. Nothing. Lanny and Logan would go out and say things without any embarrassment or hesitation.
Like I stated before, Logan gets revenge on her sister for no GOOD reason. Brad is the same age as Nicole, so of course there's a better chance of him liking her instead of Logan The Brat. When Logan gets revenge, she is rewarded with Lanny's kiss and Nicole's undying respect instead of dealing with any punishment or consequences of some sort.
***Woooow, that's totally believable, you guise!***
Another questionable lesson comes up at the end. Basically, it teaches girls that they NEED a boy to constantly reassure them, to raise their self-esteem and to make them feel like valuable human beings. Now I'm not saying that your boyfriend or guy friend can't help you feel better about yourself. What they cannot do is "complete you" or make you understand who you really are. Because Logan claims Lanny does exactly that. I really hate this message going around in YA books and being popularized by boy bands. Low self-esteem is not a desirable or attractive trait. It's one thing to like someone who has a low opinion of themselves, and it's one thing to say, "You're a great friend/girlfriend/boyfriend. I think you're awesome and I hope you'll see that for yourself." But it's another thing to spread the idea that you have to rely on other people to make you feel worthwhile. Only you can find your purpose, not some "gorgeous", hormone-driven teenage guy.
To sum it all up, this is pretty much what the book teaches: If you plot vengeance against someone and use your friends to help you get whatever you want, you'll get the guy of your dreams, and you'll magically grow from a training bra to a B cup in only three months! Oh yeah, and boys will solve all your problems for you!
Heh heh.
My 12-year-old sister writes more realistic romance than this. I'm not even being snarky...
July 12, 2012
I loved this story! The way Logan thinks is hilarious! She and her sister fight constantly, and all the characters interact so realistically that any reader would have to recognize at least one of them from their own life. I laughed out loud a couple of times and, though I suspected how the story would end, there was some surprises that were great. The ending was better than I expected and I would love to read more. Kat Brookes writing style is fast-moving but detailed enough where the story flows smoothly but is never boring. There were a small amount of grammatical errors but nothing that really took me out of the story. All these add up to an amusing, realistic tale that I would definitely recommend to anyone who enjoys YA romance and humor.
February 15, 2014
This was a cute little story. I really liked Logan. I thought she was a cute, although silly, girl desperate to be a woman. Lanny was awesome. The sock fiasco was hilarious.
February 27, 2016
Read through netgalley.com through Text Me: 8 Novels of First Love.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews