Contents Under Pressure

by Lara Deloza

A fresh, honest look at the difficult choices and unexpected joys in a girl’s life under pressure.

Lucy Doyle is about to explode. She’s sure her name might as well be Loser because she‘s never, ever been kissed. To make matters worse, nearly all of her friends have left her behind for boys. Even Lucy’s favorite brother doesn’t seem to have time for her anymore. He’s just moved home from college with a distant new attitude and a big-haired girlfriend Lucy can’t stand. Freshman year is definitely not off to a good start.

So when Lucy attracts the attention of Tobin Scacheri, the junior everyone wants to date, she can barely believe her luck. Tobin’s cute and funny, and he might like Lucy as much as she likes him. But Lucy’s brother has a secret that will turn her already mixed-up world completely upside down. Now, Lucy must figure out how far she’s willing to take her relationship with Tobin—and how to deal with a brother who’s not as perfect as she thought.


From the Hardcover edition.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 13, 2004

Reviews

[Priscilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good book, on the problems of a real teenager. Lucy Doyle feels like she should have a big "L" on her forehead, because thats what she feels like she is. A loser, someone who doesn't belong. I mean, she hasn't really, "grown" into a teeneger yet. Her friends have alll grown up, except her bestfriend Allison "Ally". She has NEVER been kissed by a boy before, and had never had a boyfriend. Though now, a boy named Tobin who is a junior likes her, and she likes him a lot. She must decide on how "far" she will let this boy go with her. With her problems at school, comes her problems at home. Her favorite brother is coming home, with some unexpected "baggage?" Now, Lucy must question whether her perfect brother is really "perfect" or just a big fake.

[Kelly Ballard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this story. It was like a glimpse into a regular teenage girl's life and the day-to-day issues that come up. There wasn't anything over the top or disturbing about the story which is a nice change in a lot of the YA books that are considered "great." The themes were strong and the characters well-rounded. I loved that the main character had a strong moral compass even with other less than wonderful things going on around her. I loved that the parents weren't made out to be awful and the boyfriend was great, too. This book was like a reassurance that there are still teens out there that deal with real-life issues but they aren't where their entire world is falling down around them. Nice change of pace, super quick read, too!

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is awesome.
Lucy has never had a real official boyfriend and least likely kissed. But then Tobin(OMG a junior) gets a crush on Lucy(freshman)...and her world completely changes.
She goes from feeling like a loser to having the best life she could ever have. She has a lot of things going on and she doesn't know how to deal with them. She really looks up to her brother but when she finds out he's not so perfect as she thought. Some new girl(her brother's "friend")moves in with the family. All her friends are leaving her for their boyfriends and she feels like everything and everyone has been changing. At the end she finds out a change is exactly what she needed.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was awesome! This book is a good young adult novel. Lucy, is a freshman, in high school. She is like a loser, and she lost most of her old best friends. Her older brother Jack comes home with his girl friend, and has a distant new attitude. Lucy believes that her freshman year, is not coming to a good start. But when Lucy attracts attention to this popular hot junior named Tobin Scarcheri, she can't believe her luck, but Jack has this secret that can turn everything upside down. This book is awesome! A fast read!

[Tuba Khalid · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick light read. Teenage, Peer-pressure, first kiss and life in general :)

[Danielle Overly Backlogged · Rating 1 out of 5]

Certainly Contents is a breeze of a read and more than appropriate for younger, more inexperienced readers. The subplot subject matter, an unexpected and out of wedlock pregnancy, is handled tastefully and with little preaching. But there's little else to say about this book. I tried for a while to figure out what bugged me about this book, it was neither great or horrific, and I've narrowed it down to a few key points:

Lucy, the protagonist, is the only character I ever connected with and with a cast as large as the one chronicled in Contents, I expected more. I guess Lucy's your average coming of age character, uncertain, awkward, trying to find herself and the place(s) she fits in and struggling to keep up with her peers. I think it's fairly easy for most people to remember back to those days and empathize with her situation and Lucy's character seems to embody all those conflicting emotions. But this novel boasts a number of other characters we're supposed to connect with as well and, for me, that simply didn't happen.

Tobin, Lucy's love interest, seems sweet. But that's it. He's a sweet boy. Nothing more. He lacked the depth of personality that would have made him an impressive character and given the number of scenes he occupies he needed to be better developed. I really wanted to like him, to connect with him and see and feel all of the things Lucy did, I just wasn't given the opportunity.

Hannah, Lucy's brother Jack's pregnant girlfriend, is one of the better drawn characters but still there's something missing. Unfortunately she isn't given the opportunity to find her voice until the end of the book and by then it hardly mattered. What I read of her left me wanting more.

Jack. Oh, there is so much to say about Jack. He was one of the more irritating characters I've come across in recent times. Jack's moved home with Hannah, dropping out of college in the process, and begins to promptly act like an obstinate two years old. The author would have us believe that Lucy and Jack were thick as thieves, but that never comes through. What we're left with is a young man who picks ridiculous fights with his sisters and acts as if getting his girlfriend pregnant is a fate worse than death. Certainly I don't advocate getting your girlfriend knocked up, especially at such a young age, but stop your bellyaching and step up to the plate. Jack just couldn't manage to do that and, instead, sulked and whined at ever provocation. In the end, the author tried to turn things around for Jack, but I was left saying "meh" and I couldn't have cared less.

The story could have been great, there was a wealth of material to work with, but it never got off the ground for me and I blame weak characters for that. Had there been more substance it very well could have been a slam dunk.

[Marissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a book that calls you without knowing exactly why, left you with questions, makes you question yourself, made me feel part of the story. I recommend it

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was easy to read. I'm not sure if that's good or bad, because the only reason it was easy to read is due to the fact that it didn't genereate any deep thought or make me want to bond with the characters.
I related to Lucy at first; she didn't know where she fit in when it came to the dating scene, and I get that. Then she started dating, and that connection was lost.
I also felt for Jack at first, because he's trying to deal with an unplanned prenancy and his little sister can't help but bug the crap out of him. Then he started acting selfishly, and THAT connection was lost.
None of the other characters really jumped out at me, so I was left with flat characters and a rather diminutive plot.
But the book had one big redeeming quality for me. It was real. Maybe that's why the plot was a bit bland, but it was a story about a perfectly normal fourteen-year-old girl dealing with perfectly normal teenage problems. There wasn't any absurd drama; it was basically everyday conflicts that almost everyone deals with, and I appreciated that. Just because someone is completely normal doesn't mean they don't have a story to tell, and I think this book demonstrated that perfectly.

[Medeia Sharif · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lucy isn't doing so well her freshman year. She isn't a boy magnet, she's embarrassingly clumsy in front of Tobin, the boy she likes, and it seems like her older brother is drifting from her.

Then it turns out Tobin likes her back and they become an item, but she has to figure out how far she'll go with her new boyfriend. Also, things are getting more awkward with her brother Jack, since he's come back to live with the family and Lucy has to share her room with his pregnant girlfriend.

This is a delightful novel showing a snapshot into a normal teenage girl's existence as she deals with family, friends, and high school issues. Nothing was over the top, which I found refreshing. This is a "quiet" novel, but I found it to be a page turner as I rooted for Lucy to overcome her problems.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book that deals with the pressures of family life, friends, boyfriends and change during high school, this novel follows a few months in the life of Lucy. Lucy adores her older brother, who is away at college and is suddenly too busy with his new girlfriend, who Lucy despises, to hang out with his little sister anymore. Plus, her parents are acting weird about why Jack just moved back home; her friends from last year aren’t her friends anymore; and the cutest guy in school, a junior named Tobin, seems interested in Lucy, a freshman. What is going on?

[Cori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Contents Under Pressure by Lara M. Zeises is an incredible book. It truly shows the life of a teenager who is under pressure. Lara is always down on herself because she's 16 and haven't experienced anything that a normal teenager does. Until, she catches the eye of a junior that everybody wants and it changes her whole world. I really like this book. It's one of my favorites because I can relate because I'm in high school and sometimes their is a little peer pressure. I recommend this to people my age.

[Jill W · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was recommended this book by my school librarian, who told me it was a great book. In the beginning, I thought it was going to be boring, because I wasn't captured by the first few chapters, but as I continued to read it and I became more interested in it. After a while it was hard for me to stop reading the book, because of all the drama it was filled with. After finishing the book I was very happy that I didn't put down this book in the beginning even though I was tempted to.

[Stephanie]

Lucy Doyle is your average teen heading into high school. She‘s never, ever been kissed. Nearly all of her friends have left her behind for boys.Lucy’s older brother just moved home from college with a different new attitude and a big-haired girlfriend that she can’t stand. What Lucy doesn't know is that her opinion towards her brothers girlfriend might rapidly change as Lucy realizes that her brothers girlfriend might be more important to her than she thought.

[Malika · Rating 3 out of 5]

FULL-BLOWN CLICHE .... but cute :D

I feel like I've read a short story book. This book contained very little detail And there are a lot Of things you'll be left wondering about. There is a good thing about books like this - you get to create further details from your mind! I'd like to think the beautiful cover of this book was actually a painting of Lucy made by Tobin since you know ... he likes to paint and stuff.

[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, as is obvious by my 5 star rating. I liked that the book dealt with sex in a realistic way and yet also didn't shy away from the fact, that the main character is young. What she does makes sense. The family was well developed. Most of all I'm a sap for teenagers getting mushy. It makes me coo.

[dearlittledeer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lucy, aka Biscuit, is adjusting to freshman year, changing friendships and life without the older brother she worships bigtime. Things change when Jack unexpectedly returns home from college and Lucy gets to know a popular junior. Tobin Scacheri — great name, totally dreamy love interest. A tender story!

[..Fifi... · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was really fun to read...I enjoyed every minute of it and would totally recommend it...it was really about just an average girl who likes a guy and finds out some secret about her brothers girlfriend...I liked it alot...it's not an extraoridinary story, its kinda cliche...but the better books of the cliche...this is a great book for teens...:D...I enjoyed it alot...:D...

[Sasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really did like this book. It was short and sweet, but very predictable. I knew Hannah was pregnant from the beginning, and new that Lucy would get together with Tobin. It was a great book about the value of family and friends. I definitely liked the music references mentioned throughout, like the Beatles and the Beastie Boys. Overall, it was a nice book, but more for the tween age group.

[Katrina Knittle · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy read that is hard for me to say whether it was good or bad. I loved how fast I read through the book, but I didn't really come to care for any of the characters. Other then that I loved how real the book seemed. From what I got from this book was that even if someone seems normal they have their own story to tell.

[TheSaint · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not in the habit of reading 7 year old YA novels. Seven years is half a lifetime for a YA. Therefore, every time I read a Capital Letter Noun, like Sega, I jumped right out of the story to wonder about Playstation and Xbox. And this book didn't really rely on a very many CLNs to establish setting.
That said, I'm not entirely sure I'd have like this one hot off the presses.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This author never disappoints me.[return][return]Lucy, a fourteen-year-old high school freshman, experiences the happiness and confusion of dating a popular older boy, changing relationships with life-long friends, and sharing a bedroom with her older brother's pregnant girlfriend.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A coming-of-age book for sure, this book deals with a Freshman in high school figuring out how she fits into her family, friends, and the new role of girlfriend in her new found young-adult world. I liked it, a bit too much drama, but then, I guess that is high school.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read for every 8th grade girl before she enters high school and finds herself the "target" for an older guy. They aren't going to all be as nice as the guy in this book. Zeises is a superb YA author!

[Reka Beezy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good, light read, which almost sounds contradictory considering the subjects in the book. I'd recommend it if you don't have anything else on your list (ha!), but I probably won't pick it up again.

[elissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as her first book, but still well-done. Has sort of the tone of a Judy Blume novel. A teenager decides that she's not ready for sex, after much consideration.

[Gaurett · Rating 3 out of 5]

cute book, Lucy is a sweet teen girl, a modern Judy Bloom like character

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

good foiling

[Amy]

No one is perfect but you make the best of the situation. Not all boys want to make out with a girl.

[Nina Janina · Rating 5 out of 5]

i loved it!! there were so many times where i was just like "woah..... i didnt expect that!"
its a great book about growing up and changing.

[Joan Curtis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the accuracy of the minds of many teenagers -- everything can be so mixed up and adults so often forget that.