Charmed

by Carrie Mac

Izzy's mother works far away and leaves Izzy at home, alone with Rob the Slob. Angry at her mother and trying to deal with school, friends and the attentions of charismatic Cody Dillon, Izzy finds her life swirling out of control. Coerced into putting out to help Cody, Izzy finds she is one in a long line of girls ensnared in prostitution, with no way to escape. Believing that her mother will come for her, Izzy manages to fight back and, when the chance appears, make a run for it.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Teen, Abuse, High School

112 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Four-eyed bookworm, tattooed queer, storyteller nomad mama to two unschooled earthlings, based in East Van, overlooking the shipyard cranes and always ready for the next most amazing giant tiny little big wonderful something to capture my attention.

Or:

When Carrie Mac was born, her right eye gawked off in one direction while her left eye looked the other way. Well meaning adults thought she was a changeling and so they wrapped her up and put her on the porch for the fairies to take back, please and thank you. It was snowing. It was dark. No fairies came. The same well meaning adults decided she'd catch her death out there. So they brought her in and kept her after all.

She's read millions of books, and has sat happily at the feat of a legion of storytellers. She is equally fascinated by disaster and grace. car wrecks, hurricanes, plagues, and genocides on the one hand, small and stunning everyday miracles on the other. She sometimes wishes she were a pirate. She'd often wished she'd run away and joined the circus when she had the chance. She spends a great deal of time in the company of her imagination, and when she isn't, she's wide eyed and awed by this planet and the people running amok all over it.

Reviews

[Deacon Tom (Feeling Better) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Brutally Detailed Book

What a surprise I received with book. Written for young adults and discussed in school. I can make a case fir honesty but the need for guidance in the presentation.

The plot is sharp and cutting with Ovid but not pornographic. A young teenage girl is left with her uncle who travels to their home to stay while the mother has to travel for a few months.

It is not a surprise the uncle is an absolute 100% jerk. She’s always looking outside the home. She falls in love with an older guy who invites her to live with him. Problem with uncle solved?

Things happen quickly with the boyfriend. First, she loses her virginity. Over a very short period, he slowly turns her into a drug addict and then a prostitute.

At first, I thought why the heck would I want to present this to young adults? The answer is when it’s handled correctly, it clearly show examples of the results of drug abuse and the potential of bein used for human trafficking. However, I also fear that some scoundrels of in the young could see it as a training manual.

I recommend that this book be carefully monitored by adults and sharing of feelings be allowed.

By the way, the title “Charmed” is very misleading. It should be “Groomed” because they are grooming this girl is exactly what this book is about.

[Yasneli T · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book so far is really interesting. Izzy is similar to me. She has a secret crush and when he comes by she get so happy. When she gets home, she hates it because her step dad always bugs her. She loves being at school better that way she sees Cody and her world lightens up. Think of the time when your secret crush was by you and accidently bumped into you and touches you to pick you up oh my gosh or what if he talks to you oh my gosh he talked to me! Izzy’s friend, Margaret always brings her down when she talks about what she feels about Cody when he comes by which is sad I mean a friend should always be happy with you. Still, Izzy is so happy that Cody talked to her and actually noticed her. Feeling butterflies when he is by you or him kissing your hand like Cody did to Izzy oh my gosh girl! Don’t let people pop the bubble you’re in.

[A Book Vacation · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I read this novel, I kept pleading aloud with the main character, Izzy. She is such a naïve teenager, looking for love and acceptance, as those she loves continually spurn her. When her mother fails to take her daughter’s side, and instead sides with Rob, her lowlife live-in boyfriend, Izzy hits rock bottom. Her mother asks her to move out and live with a friend for the next six months, until she returns from her job at the logging camp. Hurt and resigned, Izzy seeks help from her new beau, Cody Dillon—a gorgeous high school dropout who is heavy into drugs. Of course, nothing is what it seems in the life of Cody Dillon, and Izzy soon finds herself sucked in to a vicious ring of drugs and forced prostitution...

To read my full review:

http://bookvacations.wordpress.com/20...

[Brianna Davies · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a joke- the book is obviously a thinly veiled "warning" for young girls to stay in school and away from older "bad" boys. I agree with those statements, but oh man, what a horrible book this is. The writing style is akin to a third grader's, the characters may as well be paper cut-outs. The plot is ridiculously over the top. Izzy, the protagonist, falls in love with Dillon (the boy who ultimately sells her into prostitution) within a span of three days or so, and starts living with him? The mom kicks her own daughter out for stealing money to buy things like tampons? It's so ridiculous and I'm wasting my time even writing this review. I only read it because I had half an hour to kill and I'm two books behind on my Goodreads reading challenge.

[NICHOLE · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about a young girl name Izzy who dreamed of becoming the girlfriend of a cute and popular boy in the school named, Cody Dylan. Her wish came true and things started to become awful. It turned out to be that the boy of her dreams was not a good person. He sold drugs and abused many women.

I recommend this book to my friend Shinnelle I think she will enjoy this book because Carrie Mac is her favorite author.

[Nancy Lyon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book I would recommend to more of a high school audience because, it says a lot of inappropriate words and talks about prostitution and a whole bunch of other bad things. But it's a really good book no matter what it's about.

[Cindy Martinez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I give this book a 5 out of 5 because this book is based on a real-life story. This book inspires me because I know that there are people that are suffering and inspires me to help them out. This book inspires me and other young women out there because then they have the courage to share out there story or how they want to help other people. But this has become my favorite because I know that people do not always seem like they are supposed to and makes me think about how I need to be more careful about my family and my future family.

[Liralen · Rating 3 out of 5]

More Orca Soundings. Fewer moving parts than in The Way Back (the other OS book I read recently), so this worked better for me given the slim length. The end feels a little too easy for me (that is: there's a lot that Izzy is at some point going to have to work through), but I appreciate the way Izzy is portrayed as both naïve and too old for her age. Too eager to grow up fast, and not prepared for—or even really aware of—the consequences.

[Jack Moon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in middle school because I found it in my school library. I was about 11 years old and probably should have waited a couple more years to read it. But it was an eye opener for little me and I still think of it on occasion almost 15 years later.

[Two · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was nothing like I thought it would be. At first, book read like fan fiction so I didn't take it seriously and laughed everytime Izzy said something like "Adults are so dumb. Ew!" But as she began to fall for Cody and stopped going to school, my seriously heart broke for her.

[Corinna Humiston · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book because it was short but told a good story. It was very intriguing and I always wanted to know what was going to happen next. This book also has a huge twist toward the end.

[Maestra · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a high-interest (very mature topics), low reading- level book. It grabbed my reluctant readers’ attention from the start.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I disliked all of the characters except Margaret.

Why was Izzy's mom so useless? How the heck was Izzy so clueless? We are not in the 1970s here.

This book was scary, as we all know these scenarios are happening somewhere in the world, it's so sad.

Finally, the writing was good, but the character of Izzy was so annoying, but she did carry an important message.

[Jasmine]

This book is about this girl Named Izzy. She is 15 she stays with her mom and her moms boyfriend and they do not get alone. Izzy has a bestfriend named Margaret and she the quite type she dosn't like Rob the slob either. Rob is Izzy moms boyfriend he's not nice and he gets over on Izzy's mom. Izzy likes this boy named Cody Dillion he's very popular and all the girls like him. Margaret dosn't like him because he droped out school and he is to old for Izzy. Izzy says that Margaret is jealous of her because she fat and dont nobody want her. Izzzy started being with Cody all the time and they were somkeing pot all the time with each other. Margaret says that Izzy has changed and she not the same any more and why does she smoke pot it makes her look stupid and Izzy told here it's just something that her and Cody do. Izzy moms come backe from being out of town and she is very upset that her house is a mess and that Izzy has been smokeing pot so she put izzy out and she goes to the gas station and calls Cody and he comes and pick her up and they go back to his house.

[Tia Liben]

Charmed

This book is about a girl named Izzy, who is lets say not the most popular girl in school. She has the biggest crush on the high school drop out, Cody Dillon. But cody isn’t who she thinks he is. Izzy get caught up, in drugs, dealing, and prostitution.
I love this book. I liked every thing about this book! I loved how it kept me on the edge of my seat. I have read this book about four times now. I cant put it down, I don’t think I dislike anything about this book. You can be in any mood to read it.
This book has helped me a lot. Know how to pick the right guy, and live above the influence, of drugs , sex, and drinking. I cant really relate to this book because I have never been in that kind of position.

[Talia Dominguez Castro · Rating 3 out of 5]

well this book is good but not that good that deserves five stars...i like how the author made that girl kind of iinnocent about the prostitution world. some people are so clueless about tht topic and is good that there's actually books out there that talks about it.
well i felt bad for izzy because of the things that she had to do and what she went through even though she didnt deserve what would happen to her in her own house wit her own family :/ .its a good book though (: i would really recommend it to those people out there so they can kno how bad people are out there in this world (theres also good people too).

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Izzy’s mom’s work has taken her out of town for 6 months, and mom’s boyfriend “Rob the Slob” manages to get Izzy kicked out of the house. With the pressures of school, friends and the problems at home, Izzy is “rescued” by Cody Dillon, a bad boy drop-out who shows her just the attention she’s craving. But getting involved with Dillon soon proves to be much worse than she ever imagined.

This is part of the Orca Soundings series, high interest easy reads for high school students. Drug use and deals, sex, prostitution, underage smoking and drinking . . . makes this one too mature for middle school.

Crossposted to KISSTHEBOOK.blogspot.com check it out!!!

[~k3ndra~ W · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is about a girl named margret who wants to find a way out. Her mother is always going out of town leaving her with her step-dad rob. He's always acting like a baby and gets his way. one day margret gets fed up and runs away from home because she owe's rob some money. she meets this guy named dillon and he gets her anything she wants... at the party she meets one of dillons friends and she wakes up with him the next morning and dillon is no where to be found. To find out what happend next, read this book.

[Charlene R · Rating 5 out of 5]

omqq i startedd readiing iht ... i read the whole book in an entire day i lvoe this book soo much!! i give this book a million startss ***************************************************************************************** <3 the two main characters are cody dillon and izzy a.k.a isabelle at least thatss what cody dillion calls her !! also the other main characters is margaret her best friend well her ex bestfriend ever since she started hanging out wit amanda margeret has been changing so izzy ditched her and created her own new life !! when ill come back ill tell you more ........

[Connie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finding my library's tumblecloud was a super bad event.

I don't go there expecting a good book. They're all the short little books, and they're mostly distractions.

Although I understand that not all of the book made sense to the MC, I wasn't grounded in anyway. I can still feel attached to the MC even if they're not all there, and I didn't get that. It made for a little bit of a confusing read.

[Brandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

i enjoied this book the begin had me wanting to read more and more. it about a gurl named izzy who like this boy that droped out her school.he works with drug dealers and she doesn't at first.they end up dateing and now he trying to make her a hooker but she so in love with him she'll do anything.rwad this you'll love it

[Da Hua Ruan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I Think that this book is really sad because the main character gets raped. She gets raped a lot of time straight and she gets cheated. She got back living normally, but i think that she was really happy. She was glad that her mother was believing her at the end and saved her. I think that she maybe reflecting over what happened to others in the world now.

[Ashley Ortiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book was mostly about this qirl that was in a bad boyfriend and girlfriend thinq and she got really hurt at the end of all the thinqs that she went thru just to get wiff the boy she liked and it happend but did not work out at all. i recommend this book b.c it is just a great book to read and it teach u alot in our teenage selfs know .

[Allison Greene · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a Hi-Lo book, with a very intense topic. Izzy is abandoned by her mother and eventually gets caught up in a world of teenage prostitution. The book continues with her trying to get her life back in control and get out of this situation. I found the books plot was rushed through, but overall it is an easy read.

[Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the best by Carrie Mac. The writing style is weak and the plot reminded me of a story I read in the 50's in a 'true confessions' magazine.

Since it was the first book I read by her I almost decided not read any other of her books. Fortunately, a review on one of her other books convinced me to try one more of her books and the others are much better.

[Tiffany B · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think that the book was not that great because i didn't like the problem, it was very disturbing in what I've read so far, the character was facing problems, which I didn't want to read about. When I first grabbed the book I thought that it would be more appealing and really make you visualize a picture, but I didn't understand why she couldn't get out of the trade.

[Samantha Cheney · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was pretty good. I wish it was more developed, but then again it is an adolescent fiction book that I've had since high school (roughly 8 years). I do highly suggest it to young readers however. It only takes an hour or so to read, but I also hate that it's probably the most predictable book I've ever read. I like atleast some surprises...

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like the Orca Soundings books as they're high interest and fast paced.  They're great for reluctant readers.  This one is definitely interesting.  You really feel for the main character, though it definitely escalates quickly.  I'd definitely caution you against going into this book lightly because it deals with some very serious issues.

[Kaley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book was so so. There were a few exciting parts but overall the plot was weak. An easy read though. I would like to read more by Carrie Mac and see if she has any better books out there.

[Sade C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever been told that you were the best girl in the world by your so popular boyfriend? Then the next you know he is offering you up to his friends? If this ever happened to you then this is a book for you to read.