Number of Book #4
Date Began and Finished 1/18- 1/20 2008
Genre - Teen Fiction
Year It Was Published - January 2008
Publisher - Simon Pulse
number of Pages 225
paperback
Reason for reading: Review request by author
Rating 4/5 stars
Blurb or Synopsis: This was one of my rare ventures into the world of YA books and Teen Fiction. When i was first offered to read this book, I had no idea and I'm glad i wasn't told because I would have refused the book.
Instead, I got to read a really funny yet somewhat poignant story about a teenager, Ren (Lauren) who is learning to deal with life with a single Dad, moving to a new city , going to a new school, and trying to fit in.
Ren's mother was a writer who happened to be killed by Harry Potter - a stack of Harry Potter books fell on top of Ren's mother and killed her.So, instead of continuing life in New York, Ren and her writer father are in the suburbs of Connecticut, very boring in comparison to New York.
Farrin is the most popular girl in school. Ren and Farrin "connect" when Ren is forced into the cheer-leading squad (since Ren was a failure at all other sports). They also have some of the same classes, and it's during one of these classes that Ren learns an awful secret that Farrin has been keeping, and it's so bad that Ren's life changes because of it. Farrin has been secretly communicating with an older man via the Internet, and Ren is afraid that Farrin is about to make a big mistake. Farrin figures out a way to impersonate Farr in on line to intercept the pervert, but the "joke" is on Ren when she finds out who this pervert is that Farr in is about to meet!
The book is told from Ren's point of view, along with letters and email communications between a girl (Sexgurl) and an older man (FDA), and Ren's letters to her mother, who she confides with and misses terribly. At times Ren seemed a lot older than her years and i wasn't sure if this was the author's intention, but if you have seen JUNO, i imagine Ren to be a somewhat milder version of the title character of that movie, who also seemed wiser than her teenage years and spouted off words of wisdom that had the audience laughing.
SECRETS OF MY SUBURBAN LIFE is populated by all sorts of people typical to the average teenager. Ren's got a best friend, Shannon, who she left behind in New York and misses a lot. Shannon, however, has moved on with her life, and has some secrets of her own. Ren's got a crush on Jack, who unfortunately is dating Farr in. jack and Ren strike up a friendship, and secretly Ren is hoping Jack may start to have feelings for her. But the competition is pretty fierce. what guy wouldn't want Farr in as a girlfriend? Lucky for Ren, she manages to get involved with jack's family by mentoring his little sister Amanda, a girl who is as obnoxious as they can get. Ren can't believe that the two are even related.
Ren's making new friends at school, in particular T'Keyah who's related to a famous basketball player, but the two don't hit it off right away.It's a lot of work being the new girl in school, and Ren wishes that her mother never died.
I'm going to recommend SECRETS OF MY SUBURBAN LIFE because it was such a delightful surprise. I enjoyed it a lot and am glad i had the chance to read it.
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