Sweet 16

by Kate Brian

Teagan Phillips is obnoxiously rich, obnoxiously fashionable, and, this year, she's obnoxiously turning sixteen. No one's sweet sixteen party will be as glitzy, glamorous, decadent, and, well, obnoxious as Teagan's sweet sixteen party. She might single-handedly take the sweet out of sweet sixteen.

In typical fashion, nothing is quite right for Teagan on the night of her sweet sixteen party. When a slew of unfortunate events unfold at what was supposed to be the sweet sixteen event of the century, she hits rock bottom, literally, by falling down the stairs into the wine cellar. When she comes to, a strange woman is standing over her. What happens next will bring Teagan back in time to when she was a sweet little girl with two parents, before her mother died and her father threw himself into his work.

She'll be forced to face the choices she made that led her to be the person she is on her sixteenth birthday. And with the help of her fairy godmother (or whoever the heck the creepy woman in white is), this will be the sweetest of all sixteens.

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

259 pages, Hardcover

First published February 28, 2006

About the author

Kate Brian is the author of the SHADOWLANDS TRILOGY (SHADOWLANDS, HEREAFTER & ENDLESS), as well as the New York Times bestselling PRIVATE and PRIVILEGE series, and the wildly popular MEGAN MEADE'S GUIDE TO THE MCGOWAN BOYS. She also writes teen fiction under the name Kieran Scott.

Reviews

[persephone ☾ · Rating 3 out of 5]

i remember my friend lending me this book when i was 11 and i was obsessed with it.
I kept re-reading the kiss scenes because it felt so scandalous and now i read straight up porn on paper ✌️

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure what it is about Kate Brian. I really enjoy her books, and if I see one, I read it automatically. But I find myself cringing at times at her clunky writing style and liberal use of cliches. Her writing is very predictable, and her use of classic tales (The Prince and the Pauper, and in the case, A Christmas Carol) isn't flattering for her work. She doesn't provide any real original spins, and the acts are almost blow-for-blow.

It's not to say that I didn't enjoy Sweet 16. But it was just too over the top, in every way. Teagan was too much of an obnoxious over-privileged girl, her friends were too much the ditzy rich kids, and her transformation was too extreme. Overall, the story wasn't well enough told to earn any more stars.

[Jette Y · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is really good! Teagan Phillips has everything a girl could ask for money, fashion, and good looks expect she is really mean. She is about to turn 16 and can't wait for her birthday. Then on her 16th birthday she takes a fall. She ends up in her parent wine cellar. Then a strange old woman is standing over her. She goes back in time, when she was a sweet little girl, before her mom died and her dad was overly obsessed with work. She will be forced to make a choice to help the old woman (her fairy godmother) to change what made her terribly mean. What will happen read Sweet Sixteen to find out!!

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Should be renamed “A Birthday Carol” but I’m a sucker for retellings of A Christmas Carol so I really enjoyed this one. Teagan was spoiled, but I also felt for her as she has lost her mother. Not much more than a hint of romance, which is a little unusual for a YA contemporary. 3.5 stars

[Sonaksha · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don’t think there’s such a thing as ‘too old for a book’, but if you do believe in that then maybe that’s one of the reasons this book just did not work for me. The bad use of cliches, the childish writing style and the unnecessary distractions in the story. It felt like a really bad imitation of Dickens, which made it worse.

I’m not sure I would have appreciated this book if I’d read it when I was 16 either, so I don’t think it’s the age, I think it’s the vain, the unrealistic feel and the language in general that felt very out of place.

And if you’re wondering why I read it in the first place - I was doing a clean of my book shelves and stumbled upon this, so I decided to finally read it since I hadn’t when I was 16.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in about 2 days! It really caught my interest. I liked how this book was somewhat similiar to "The Christmas Carol". In this book and "The Christmas Carol," both main characters go on a journey to the past, present and future. They realized how their childhood was so nice, but their actions now are going to affect their future life. They have the choice to fix that, before it's too late. I loved this book!

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is this really a five star? No, but it’s nostalgic for me. I like the spin on a Christmas story and enjoyed it. Idk why I enjoy this book so much? I think it’s one of the first books I remember making me cry. And I did cry again. Would I recommend this honestly no.

[Mariam Sarhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book just for fun, thinking it would be a cliche high school story of a party gone wrong. Little did I know, however, because although that is part of the plot, there is a much deeper meaning to this seemingly juvenile story. I'm not gonna lie, it was was a bit cliched, but it was also about how we can unknowingly affect people in enormous ways, how we can change lives through perfunctory, careless actions that seem, at the time, consequentless. This is a story about realizing that there's more to life than simply money and makeup and outfits. It was a surprisingly satisfying, if mostly unprecedented read.

[Tatiana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet 16
Kate Brian
272 Pages
February 28 2006
Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
ISBN 13: 9781416900320

Sweet 16 is about a snobby rich girl named Teagan Phillips. She will do whatever she can to make sure her Sweet Sixteen party is perfect. Teagan brags about this party all the time but as it comes closer, things turn out bad. She plans to have sex with her boyfriend but he is cheating on her with her best friend.

Teagan realizes that her parents changed the fact that she was supposed to have an open bar. She got furious and barged out of the room. As she is walking she sees a room labeled wine cellar. Without thinking, Tegan opens the door an rushes inside. She wasnt aware of the stairs so she took quite a fall and knocked out. Hours later, she woke up to a mysterious women telling her she was dead.

It turns out that the women only tried to help her by taking her to the past, back to the present, and the future. The women revealed that she indeed was not dead. The women was Teagan herself, in the future. Older Teagan was warning her that if she continued to be selfish and continue her snobby ways, she would end up dead in her early 30's.

[Marisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet 16 by Kate Brian was a very interesting book about a spoiled teenager who knew nothing more than the latest trends and her father's credit card number. On the night of her "party of the year" sweet 16, she falls down the stairs and her life is forever changed when she awakes to a ghost helping her up from the floor. The ghost shows her her actions and how they effect a lot more people than she imagined, or even cared to think about.
I liked this book overall because of the message it sent and how it used present day teenagers to get the author's point across. During the middle of the book, I lost interest, but I would advise you to keep reading it because it picks up and grabs your curiosity again in the next few chapters.
I would recommend this book to eight graders and on. I believe that girls would be more interested in reading this rather than guys because its point of view is from a girl whose hobby is fashion. There are a lot of characters in this novel, and some of them are very easily mistakable for another. Overall, this was a good book and I would recommend it.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of times, we don't realize what we have or appreciate what we have until it is too late. Teagan seems to be that person. Taking advantage of people, only caring about her looks, not realizing who her real friends are, and of course, wanting to have the best sweet 16 her school has ever seen. The biggest day of her life doesn't seem to go the way she has planned, especially after she falls down a flight of stairs (and nobody realizes/cares she's gone) and is taken by a ghost through her past, present, and future experience. Through what she sees, she's able to analyze things/see things with different eyes. She starts to see how she has lived her life and what really matters. She is given a second chance in life, but will she take it? read and you'll find out :-)

[Tweller83 · Rating 2 out of 5]

On the night of her sweet sixteen birthday party, self-centered snob Teagan Phillips receives a visit from a special person who tries to convince the teenager to change the way she lives her life.

SLJ says grade 8 and up. Has language and some implied sex and underage drinking but is appropriate for middle school. Not one I would necessarily recommend.

[Keisya · Rating 4 out of 5]

i Like it! this is a very typical teenage girl book, but i think it's similar to 'Ghosts of Girlfriend Past' and 'Christmas Carol' and some mixture of random movies too. I cried so many times reading this book. I wish the author explained more detail at the end.

Definitely recommended.

[Alia Malhotra · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is nothing new in this book which you may not have seen or read so many times before, and it's predictable too... but again, teens, a one individual girl.. a spoilt one, is always so interesting to see or read.

[Kara]

This book was SO insightful and well-written. It isn't a book about a party, it's about a girl who goes through a life changing experience. I reccomend it to everyone :)

[Crimelpoint · Rating 2 out of 5]

Książka bardzo ciekawa. Jak zwykle autorka świetnie wykreowała postacie i bardzo je zróżnicowała. Jej język jak zwykle jest lekki i przyjemny, przez co książkę czyta się bardzo szybko. Momentami jest nieprzewidywalna, jednak nadal jest to typowo amerykańska historia.
Książka jak zwykle idealna dla 11- 15 latków.

[Ellie N · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet Sixteen made me kind of uncomfortable sometimes because the main character was unnaturally snobbish and obnoxious. She was a very bad person and weirdly obsessive and strange. The ending was nice since she had a change of heart but the rest was kind of creepy

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has some language and inoprropiate stuff but over all I thoight it was ok.n

[Desiree Kaslavage · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much better than what I expected! ❤️

[Emersan]

this book was literal trash. im sorry but why the heck would you write a book this bad?

[Karen Waller · Rating 3 out of 5]

A not so great spin off of Christmas Carol. If you are into spoiled obnoxious this girl is it. The ending is ok. It's just too overplayed for me.

[Sarah Hajbok · Rating 5 out of 5]

Didnt think i was going to like this, but i couldnt put it down! Tells a very valuable lesson aswell. Would deffo recommend

[Maki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Banger de mon adolescence

[Lidia Lefebvre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Très bon livre! Il se lisait très bien et rapidement.

[Kayla Plutzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I dont remember this but I know I really liked this!

[Hillary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a dramatic change from the start and the end of the book. All in all I think this relate to modern teens due to them mostly sometimes having their rebellious phase and bad influences, like Teagan Phillips. This is a good book when you want to relook your life.

[Stefanie Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

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[Anne Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Au début de Pourrie gâtée, nous faisons la connaissance de Teagan, orpheline de mère, qui s’apprête à organiser une somptueuse fête pour ses seize ans. Rien n’est trop beau pour cette jeune peste qui se pense vraiment au-dessus du lot. Elle est vraiment insupportable et détestable, prend tout le monde de haut… Bref, elle est tout à fait haïssable. Jusqu’au moment où, lors de la fameuse soirée (au cours de laquelle elle est tout particulièrement odieuse), elle glisse dans un escalier et s’évanouit. Elle plonge dans une sorte d’univers parallèle et découvre le mal que peut faire son attitude à ceux qui l’aiment, mais surtout que la vie n’est pas que superficialité !

C’est tout à fait le type de livre « détente » où l’on sait déjà en l’ouvrant que ce ne sera pas un chef d’œuvre avec des réflexions philosophiques hyper poussées ou une écriture super travaillée, mais on passe néanmoins un très bon moment, et cela nous permet de nous évader de notre quotidien. C’est une mission parfaitement réussie pour cette lecture girly, et j’ai particulièrement apprécié suivre l’évolution de Teagan qui s’opère tout au long du livre. C’est une sacrée claque qu’elle va recevoir, et elle sera tout d’abord sur la défensive. Néanmoins, sera-t-elle assez mature pour cette prise de conscience douloureuse, mais nécessaire ?

Malgré tout, j’ai aimé Teagan, car cette apparente méchanceté s’explique en réalité par une immense souffrance : la perte de sa maman, décédée d’un cancer alors qu’elle n’était qu’une petite fille, et le sentiment d’abandon ressenti par les absences répétées de son père. Du coup, elle dépense l’argent de ce dernier à la hue et à la dia. Mais l’amitié ne s’achète pas non plus. Elle semble avoir oublié les vraies valeurs de la vie, et j’ai éprouvé une certaine empathie pour elle lorsqu’elle en s’en rend compte.

Les autres personnages ne sont pas en reste, et ma préférence va sans doute à Emily, la plus ancienne amie de notre héroïne (elles sont nées le même jour et avaient pour coutume de célébrer leurs anniversaires ensemble), et elles sont désormais aux antipodes l’une de l’autre, alors qu’elles étaient très proches étant enfants. Stephen est également un protagoniste intéressant, et j’ai aimé son caractère et son dévouement pour autrui. Quant à Lindsee (la prétendue meilleure amie de Teagan) et à Max (le petit copain de notre personnage principal), je les ai clairement détestés pour tout ce qu’ils sont et représentent, et je leur aurais volontiers botté les fesses !

Lien vers ma chronique : http://meslecturespageaprespage.blogs...

[Elusive · Rating 2 out of 5]

In ‘Sweet 16’, Teagan is looking forward to her sixteenth birthday party which she had spent over a year planning as she wants everyone to remember it. Needless to say, things do not go as planned. Consequently, she falls down the stairs and wakes up to find a stranger standing over her – a stranger who gives her a much-needed wake-up call.

As intended, Teagan was highly unlikeable. She was the epitome of an entitled teenager – she was rude, demanding, bossy, self-centered, selfish and vain. She was obsessed with popularity and social status. Her birthday party seemed more like a grand awards ceremony and was devoid of any warmth. The thing is, obviously she’s supposed to learn her lesson and change for the better but that was completely unconvincing. No matter how the author tried to show that Teagan did indeed have a good side, I never liked her at all.

I disliked how she made a 180 degree change in the end because it was unrealistic and too sudden. In the first place, in general it’s hard for people to change and even those who want to change find it to be a challenging process. The author handled this matter in a simple-minded manner which simply didn’t work at all. I’m expected to believe that after the stranger took her back in time to witness her poor behaviour and showed her what was currently happening in regard to her boyfriend, best friend and former friend, she instantly realized her mistakes. That was too much.

Besides that, the other characters were one-dimensional. I was a little interested to learn more about Emily (who used to be Teagan’s close friend) as she seemed genuinely nice (albeit a little too nice) but the focus was solely on Teagan. The implied possibility of a relationship between Teagan and the DJ towards the end of the story was predictable and didn’t quite make sense as both characters didn’t have chemistry. It was also baffling that no one seemed to bat an eyelid at her unexplained transformation.

Overall, ‘Sweet 16’ was unrealistic and forgettable.

[Nicole Peterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Going into this I thought Teagan was gonna be like Blair from Gossip Girl. She is so much worse! This girl is a bitch, there is no other way to put it. She is rude, mean spirited, self consumed, and dismissive of everybody else's feelings. I started off despising her from the get go.

The book revolves around Teagan's Sweet 16 Shindig. She is absorbed with throwing the best and never to be topped party. While at the party, during one of her huff's she goes to go down some cellar stairs and one of her Jimmy Choo heels gets stuck in a knot in one of the wooden stairs. It breaks the heel and sends her ass over teakettle, knocking her head on the hard concrete at the bottom of the stairs. Yes, I was mean enough to think she got what she deserved. Karma kicked her in the ass.

It then spins into a very Christmas Carol-ish feel. A ghost comes to visit her and show her all of the things she needs to see to have her changing her evil ways. By the time she comes to, she is determined to start living her life in a kinder light.

I wasn't sure if I was gonna like this in the beginning with how much I disliked the main character. But with karma stepping in and kicking her ass, I did like it by the end. I just didn't like the Christmas Carol-ish feel. Dickens was genius for writing it originally, but it has been copied way too much. Maybe something other then a ghost would have had me liking it a little more.