Footfree & Fancyloose

Bass Ackwards and Belly Up #2

by Elizabeth Craft, Sarah Fain

Best friends Harper Waddle, Sophie Bushell, and Kate Foster committed the ultimate suburban sin: bailing on college to pursue their dreams. Middlebury-bound Becca Winsberg was convinced her friends had gone insane until they reminded her she just might have a dream of her own.

Now the year is half-way through and their dreams seem within reach. Well, almost. Harper has managed to gain the freshman fifteen without ever being a freshman, though locked in her basement bathroom she finds inspiration and finally seems to be writing from the heart. Sophie is forced to leave her cushy Beverly Hills quarters and crashes on Sam's couch while looking for her big Hollywood break. Kate is doing aid work in Ethiopia, where she encounters family ghosts - along with Darby, the handsome but antagonistic Princeton student who thinks she's a dumb blonde who couldn't possibly care about Ethiopia "since there are no celebrities here." And when Becca finally emerges from her lovers' nest, it seems her relationship with Stuart isn't as perfect as she thought.

Even if "the year that changed everything" has sometimes been less than dreamy, these four best friends will always have each other.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Romance, Contemporary, Teen, Chick Lit, New Adult

432 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain wrote their first piece together when they were fifteen - a feature on Kansas City delis for their high school newspaper.

They now live in Los Angeles, where Sarah and Liz are currently Writer-Producers on the Emmy-award winning show "The Shield" and James Patterson's upcoming "Women's Murder Detective Club" TV series debuting this fall on ABC.

Reviews

[Carly]

Does it bug anyone else that there are 3 people on the cover and 4 friends?!?!?!?!

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed by Jennifer Rummel for TeensReadToo.com

This sequel to BASS ACKWARDS AND BELLY UP takes the second half of the year of dreams with these four best friends.

Becca is still at Middlebury living the life of a ski bum and in love. She's found her guy and she's sharing every moment with him. But her family life comes crashing down again and she just might say something she'll regret.

Sophie needs to find an apartment pronto as she's being kicked out of her great digs - and an acting job wouldn't be too bad, either. It's hard to say you're an actress if no one is hiring you.

Kate is "taking the water." She's gone to Africa to build wells for towns in desperate need of close water. Will being half a world away bring her closer to her family and also help her find her way home?

Harper found her voice and spends her free time writing in the bathroom where she can escape the world. In between writing, she must deal with her love life and her family issues.

The friendship of these four girls reaches beyond space and time and helps each one through both rough times and triumphs. It's a great sisterhood novel, showing the ups and downs of friendship and how one moment can change your whole life.

[Ari · Rating 4 out of 5]

This cover is a joke. It's about four best friends. Sure one of them is in Africa so technically she doesn't need to be on the cover, even though they are all four separated....but guess who isn't on the cover? The biracial character, Sophie. LAME does not even begin to describe how I feel about this cover. I asked my mom and sister to "pick out the African American girl on the cover" and they both said that there were no Black people on the cover. I even flipped to the back cover to see if she was there (horrifying still but not as awful as not having her on the cover AT ALL) but no, Sophie is simply not represented on the cover. Yet another case of whitewashing. I don't blog much anymore but hopefully I will be able to write about this more in-depth in a few weeks, its ridiculous. Aside from the atrocious cover (that Sophie herself would be outraged over for not including her fabulousness) I adored this book.

IQ: Judd 'If I say something will you promise not to get mad?'
'I promise I won't hit you.' It was the best she [Harper] could do. Getting mad was an involuntary reaction." pg. 222

I was greatly saddened by one character's ambiguous romantic future. We spend basically two whole books rooting for these two characters to get together and then they spend ONE NIGHT together and we are left to wonder if one of the characters still moves away from the love interest. Gahhh. The ending of Harper's story was a bit hokey but hey, she deserved it. Especially since her romance life didn't turn out so hot either. Becca's character was frustrating. I liked the peak at college athletics, especially since skiing is not one of the big-televised sports. But ugh she was the most frustrating character for sure. And yet I understood her problems even if I bemoaned her reactions to these problems.

Becca, Harper, Kate and Sophie are still great characters. They make mistakes that you don't always see coming (i.e. I could see myself making similar mistakes) and engage in intense trial-and-error experimentations. In this book I think my favorite character was Kate. Harper was still immensely funny but I felt that Kate's character not only grew a lot but the authors also really delved into Kate's life. Her relationship with not just her parents but also her sister, Habiba. Furthermore I liked how the "abroad/overseas/traveling romance" aspect was handled, realistic but still sweet. And I loved that Kate was on a humanitarian trip. And I love Kate's other love interest, of course

"Kate let him get the last word. If this kept up, she was starting to think she might grab the gun and club him in the teeth with it, or dump him out of the car and let the rebel/militia have their way with him." pg. 159-160
Or this bit about classic Kate-Darby exchange: "When she was done there was a long silence. Then finally Darby nodded slowly 'he sounds like a pussy to me'
Kate clenched her fists. She really was going to kill him. And she wouldn't need a gun. Her bare hands would do just fine."

Sophie grew the most and while she is not 100% likable for much of the two books (she's rather selfish), I loved her determination and grit and the fact that she really was an optimist.

"She didn't want Sam to leave. But she didn't want to hold him back either. She knew what it was like to be living in the wrong place, doing the wrong thing. It was stifling and frustrating and generally horrible all around. She'd be okay on her own. Hell she'd be better than okay. She'd be great" (pg. 108), atta girl!

Still one of my favorite books about the Young Adult age. And I presume its one of the best books about gap years too.

[Stephanie A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was rather hoping we'd be over the hookups phase, but instead they seem to have revved it up (less casual, but more frequent). That is not what I want from my fiction, especially since the 2 romances I most wanted to see pay off never went anywhere*. The girls also seemed to grow more apart from each other, which I felt the first book was so good about showing us was NOT happening.

This would have been OK, except they also seem to become more self-centered so it's not like we're watching them grow as strong individuals. Even Harper, who spends a lot of time silently chastising two of her friends on this front, spends too much time either battling her neuroses or obsessing on her behind-schedule book, making her interpersonal relationships with everyone other than Habiba less than gratifying.

The only story I really enjoyed was Kate and her humanitarian aid work in Ethiopia, which is not a thing I ever expected to say about a book. There were a lot of great characters and a wonderfully inspiring backdrop. Yet even that was partially overshadowed by the boredom of the tired and obvious "I HATE HIM SO MUCH. HE'S SUCH A JERK. I'M GONNA KISS THAT STUPID HOT JERK" trope. (I think it would have been more interesting if they could have revealed him to still be a pretentious and abrasive person, but they had simply learned gradually grudging respect and civility toward each other. Sometimes, people you hate on sight are actually people you'll never get along with.)

All in all, I might upgrade a star in the future after it settles with me, just to distinguish it as a YA book I would recommend amidst the chaff, but I also felt like the book just wouldn't end and I was slogging through it, desperate for an upswing.

*about those romances -- I'll create a spoiler section to talk about how they end.

Sam finally grew on me during this book, so it was annoying for Sophie not to have a 'breakthrough' moment until, apparently, she had time for a quick roll in the hay to say goodbye (gross). And Adam -- are you KIDDING ME. I waited for hundreds and hundreds of pages for her to pull her act together, finish her increasingly-annoying book and pay me off with a spectacularly romantic return to him...and as soon as I seemingly get that, all she can think about is her dumb friend Judd? At this point I'm so bitter I'm actually angry that she gets monetary success in a book deal from screwing me out of a potentially wonderful relationship.

Meanwhile, I appreciate this book's negative message about friends-with-benefits, and really appreciate the exclusion of intercourse from Harper's version of those benefits (I can ALMOST understand the appeal now), but that still doesn't mean they're fun to read about. Ugh, the waste of feelings.

[Steph | bookedinsaigon · Rating 4 out of 5]

FOOTFREE AND FANCYLOOSE picks up right where BASS ACKWARDS AND BELLY UP ends, at the end of the Christmas-New Year holiday season. Harper Waddle—college reject, writer-barista, and Dream Train starter—has burned the first fifty pages of her first novel as per her English teacher/dream man Mr. Finelli’s constructive criticism. This time she is starting over and writing from the heart. Harper is determined to let nothing stop her, but mixed feelings about her coworker, Judd, Mr. Finelli, and a family accident make the road a lot bumpier.

All the way across the ocean, Kate has joined a humanitarian project in Ethiopia, digging wells for villages. She feels more in control and strong and herself than she’s ever felt…except her teammate, a pretentious Princetonian named Darby, mislabels her as a ditzy blond and seems to think she is a waste of time and space.

In LA, Sophie is getting used to a new Hollywood sort of life—far, far away from the glamorous poolhouse she used to inhabit. Now she’s rooming with Sam, the Meyers’ ex-poolboy, and still struggling to make it big, still feeling like she’s not LA material. She snags an agent finally, but at what cost? How much of herself is she willing to give up in order to advance up the screwed-up quid pro quo world of Hollywood?

And finally, at Middlebury College, Becca is living out her Dream, bigtime. Not only is she doing phenomenal on the slopes, she’s also head over heels for her boyfriend, Stuart, a smart, understanding, gorgeous guy, despite the fact that he IS a football player. But of course, perfect bliss cannot endure in Becca’s world. She receives a shocking revelation about her family that sends her Stuart ecstasy into a hurtful tailspin.

The lives of four friends who chose the other path—and grew and succeeded as a result. Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain’s books are full of chick-lit adventure and romance, which will be sure to please girls all over.

[Traci · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has nothing to do with the story, but there's something that REALLY bothers me about this book, and about Bass Ackwards and Belly Up before it: Why are there only 3 girls on the cover? There are 4 main characters in these books, none more important than the others. And it's obvious who is missing. Sophie is half black, and the girls on these covers are about as white as I am. I don't get it, and it drives me crazy.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable, but a lot of bad language and sex... especially for a young adult book.

[Bonnie O'Donnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This may be #2 in a series, but it is one of the rare beauties that do not require that you have read #1 to enjoy and or understand. Each of the characters was well developed and their story lines were believable. One small note, I would have made them all at least 18 since there was a lot of the usual college-age antics and adult situations.
Also, the stories had decent endings and I did not walk away feeling like I had been teased by a cliffhanger that you only got to find out by reading the next book.
Thank you to the very capable authors, Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain for that! I may very well look to see if there is a #3 to take us on the next journey, or I may find the first book to see how the Year of Dreams came about.
This was very enjoyable and I recommend it to anyone who likes to cuddle up with a book.

[Sharona · Rating 5 out of 5]

Een heerlijk vervolg op het eerste boek. Ook dit boek moest ik verder lezen, ik kon het niet weg leggen! Binnen 1,5 dag had ik het boek uit, jammer dat je dan in zo'n gat komt dat je weet dat er niet nog een boek is. Maar wat een plezier weer gehad tijdens het lezen. Wel vond ik het jammer dat de ene personage er meer in voor kwam dan het andere personage, maar dat kwam misschien ook wel doordat die ene persoon meer beleefde.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

cute and engaging but totally unrealistic for half the outcomes.... good escapism.

[Ava Morell · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I first started reading this book, Harper (one of the main characters) was writing a novel. When she finished, she gave it to her English teacher to read through and edit it. He explained to her that her writing didn't sound like her, and she needed to make the novel more relatable to readers. She didn't like his answer at all, so she decided to give up on the novel. A couple days later she found out that she didn't get accepted to NYU. After everything she'd gone through that week, Harper decided to re-write the novel for her "Year of No Regrets" she was doing with her friends. When her novel was finished after that year then she would reapply to NYU and go from there.
Even in that slight thought change, Harper's character greatly developed. She went from being angry and wanting to quit to determined and goal-oriented. Her, along with the other girls (Becca, Kate, and Sophie), all experienced similar things throughout the story, but in different ways.
In that one year, the girls losses, experiences, and lessons learned came back to one common theme: at some point you will have to learn to face the problems ahead of you, and you can't just run away from them. Although the girls did take a year off from reality, they found themselves back and facing their problems when it was over. However, their experiences made them more prepared to lead the life they choose, and not be influenced by anyone other than themselves.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this sequel to "Bass Ackwards and Belly Up," we find the four friends finishing out their Years of Dreams. Harper continues to work on her novel and renews her friendship - and possibly more? - with Judd; Kate arrives in Africa and immediately makes som enemies; Becca's dream of falling in love with Stuart said nothing about staying in love; and Sophie has to figure out if L.A. can still work for her after her big break turns out to be a direct-to-German-video movie.

I really liked the first book and this was definitely a worthy follow-up. These characters are mostly realistic (though I found myself wondering, 'where is the ugly friend?!') and I really like that they engage in pretty typical teenage behavior without being chastised for it. I guess most people would be upset about the depiction of underage drinking with no real consequences but I'd say in most cases, that's reality. These characters are just really fun to read about. They're endearing and enjoyable. I think the authors have a really good grasp on teen fiction and I'm surprised - and pleased - that they are able to find success in screenwriting as well. The one thing that bothered me was at the end when we find out that Harper's Great American Novel is allegedly the previous book. Just seemed too easy of a way out.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was eager to see this young adult novel at the ALA conference this month in Philadelphia. I snatched up the advanced reading copy. The original is due to be published April 1. The first book in this series, Bass Ackwards and Belly Up, I described as a Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants for older teens. Other than being slightly confused by which character was what, I enjoyed this romantic, frilly chick lit novel.[return][return]Four best friends took the plunge in the last novel and decided to not go to pursue their dreams. Harper decides to stay home and write the next great American novel. Kate takes off for a European vacation but ends up volunteering in Africa to dig wells. Becca is dealing with her parents divorcing or marrying or whatever while she is on the ski team in college. Sophie is out in California trying to make it big as an actress. Throughout the novel, they come together for big events and stay in touch via email and phone calls. All four grow up, a few find romance and all find a little bit of happiness.[return][return]I do have a problem with the cover. There are four best friends in the book, so I don't like the three that are on the cover. I know, I know, Kate is in Africa, but she still deserves to be on the cover.

[Suzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the story. It was very unrealistic at times, which is fine, but the authors didn’t write a lot of the material to match the age of their characters....so it made me focus more on the authors instead of being focused on the characters. For example, what teenager in the last ten years would know when Truman was president? And I feel like the authors were out of touch with what college aged kids do....I doubt college kids, who aren’t even of drinking age yet, know what Cristal is....or drink wine on Valentine’s Day, or enjoy a beer with lunch after a long day of work....or have (or can even afford) Pottery Barn wine glasses?! Maybe I am totally unaware, but it was keggers and just beer when we were in college....and beer was consumed in plastic cups or cheap unmatched glasses. These “inaccuracies” brought me out of the story and made me think of the much older authors instead of allowing me to stay absorbed in the story.
There were also a lot of typos....maybe I should get a job as an editor? Lol

[Carmaletta Hilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was slow to start for me. When I read Bass Ackwards and Belly Up, I was taken from page one and could barely put the book down. With this one, I put it down for three months before picking it back up again.

I liked all four girls in the first book, which is why I was so excited to read this new one. Reading this one, however, I found myself only really caring about Sophie. Becca's neurosis, Kate's drama with Darby (and constant reminders that we have it so good and don't appreciate it so we should feel bad), and Harper's book just started getting on my nerves about halfway through. And the ending, especially Harper's ending, just left me dissatisfied. If it weren't for Sophie, I think it would have taken me another month to finish this book.

It was okay, and I liked some of it, but I didn't love the whole thing as I did with the first book.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a fan of the first book in this series (Bass Ackwards and Belly Up), I was thrilled to learn there would be a sequel to it. Now that I've read it, I'm sad that it's (probably) over.

I felt like I was friends with Becca, Harper, Kate, and Sophie. Even though it's just a book, I sometimes wished I could jump in and give advice, hug, or sometimes even slap someone. I wanted the best for them, always, and was so sad when something went wrong for them.

As someone in a previous review said, it's a shame that this series doesn't get more recognition. It's better than a majority of the popular books out there now.

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Footfree and Fancyloose was a great sequel to its predecessor. Following the stories of 4 girls, 3 of whom commit the 'ultimate sin' by deferring college to go after their dream. F&F was a beautifully written and so realistic. The stories i liked the most were of kate and harper. I really despised becca and all her whining. All in all it was a great book. Even though so many people compare it to sisterhood series, this is just as good if not better :)

It's something we all dream about but don't have the guts to do.

[Zara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly good. I really didn't like Footfree and Fancyloose as well as the first in the series, but it was enjoyable--in a very cliched sort of way. I think Kate's story seemed the 'realest' to me, but I'm not sure why...perhaps because it wasn't as stereotypical as the rest. Anyway, I'd recommend it for some light reading, if you like that sort of thing. And I'd also like to point out that it's by Elizabeth Craft AND Sarah Fain. Just so everyone knows.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad book, I can't say it's the best thing I've ever read but it's not the worst. I didn't like how everything just always seemed to work out for the characters, I get that it's a teen book and that everything needs to be wrapped up nicely but I found that it just got more and more unreal towards the end. I did like that one of the characters did something in Africa that was much more realistic than the other characters lives. It's an okay book but I probably won't pick it up again.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book! It is a beautiful story of friendship and taking the risk to follow your dreams. I connected most with the character Kate, because I am very driven academically, but also because I want to volunteer in another country. I enjoyed the different perspectives and the variation in the stories. It is a book any teenage girl can connect to. It gives you motivation to follow your dreams and take chances.

[Lillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

First I'd just like to say that Footfree & Fancyloose was a good read! SECOND: Becca was just REALLY ANNOYING. I know she's SUPPOSED to be because of the whole Stuart thing, but... Agh. I think I just have to lower a star BECAUSE of her. I don't like dealing with friends like that IN REAL LIFE nor do I want to READ about it! But. I guess that's the point of her storyline. ANYYYYYYYYYWAY. I think I liked the first book more, but this book was still tres awesome!

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sad the story is over! I absolutely loved it!

A friendship among four friends that stays strong no matter the circumstance. Some of the stories/hurdles the girls jumped through felt similar to situations I experienced in my own life with friends. Each girl was so unique in her own way that it helped the circle stay strong. I wish that I had that strong of a bond always with my own friends.

Excellent book!

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I borrowed this from the library and didn't realize it was a sequel until I glanced at the back cover. Having said that, you don't have to read the first back to make sense of this second one. It reminded me greatly of the Traveling Pants series. I appreciated something about each of the four main characters and considering the large amount of YA crap out there, this is worth the read.

[Tahsin · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow. that was quite the exhilarating read. I loved it. all of it. I want a sequel to this. I want to know everything that goes on in there lives because it's just so inspiring and motivational and interesting and so radically different from mine. I really really really do want to know more. so authors, please take mercy on this poor soul and write a sequel

[Cam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book. Surpassed my expectations because it was definitely even better than the first book, which is quite a feat since it can't get any better than that. I was actually equally interested in all four girls' storylines when usually I'd favor one over the other.

[Amber Irvine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sequel and the author did a good job of refreshing us to where we left the characters without being fatiguing about it. It is a quick summer read. Mindless pleasure but those are the books I love.

[Tenara · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was annoying, but it had to be read. You have to have your teen novel breaks, don't you?

What I found most irksome is the fact that in nearly every book that I have read that has teen novel qualities, the character I like does not end up with the supposed guy.

WHAT DOES THAT TELL YOU.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! It's so heartfelt and funny, and is like a more mature and dramatic version of the Sisterhood. I loved the characters and how they all went and actually tried to pursue their dreams. I hope there's a third book, because I'd like to see a happy ending to two more of the couples.

[Ifahh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful read :) Kept me up all night trying to finish it... needless to say, it's impossible to put down. I hate Sophie's & Becca's character, though, since I couldn't really relate. But it was a good story, overall.

[Emily Schirmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Footfree and Fancyloose" was a beautiful continuation of "Bass Ackwards and Belly Up." It reminded us that a dream is just as much—if not more—about the journey as it is about the destination.

Read this and become inspired, uplifted, and sentimental in the very best way.

Highly recommend.