Review/Giveaway: True Colors by Krysten Lindsay Hager

True Colors
Landry Albright enters a modeling competition with her two best friends, but runs into jealousy when she advances to the next level without them. Enter the gorgeous Devon, who also makes the first cut of the modeling contest. Devon seems like the perfect new best friend, but can their friendship survive the competition? Throw in a new boy, jealousy and loyalty issues, and insults from hair stylists. How’s a girl to deal?

Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Smashwords

My Review
As I started reading this, I had to wonder--how old is the author anyway? Is she spying on my life? How can she possibly be spot on with all of this?! I thought Landry's voice was very realistic and true to a typical 8th grader. I have a 14 year old girl who just wrapped up her 8th grade year not long ago. I don't know how that happened, since I was just a 14 year old not too long ago (so it seems). All the details about everything from what she was thinking to what she was doing was so 14.

This story brought back so many feelings and experiences for me, such as the fickle friends, the insecurities, the fear of not being accepted, the impossible crushes, the day-to-day and on-again-off-again friendships and relationships. I remember all too well having friends who were mad at me for some silly reason and I couldn't understand why. A few days later, things were back to normal again...with no explanation. Thirteen and fourteen is such a tricky age and I felt that Ms. Hager captured the feelings and experiences very well. I think so many girls this age deal with these feelings and it makes it hard to be happy for your friends. Jealousy causes a lot of these issues.

I enjoyed watching Landry learn and grown through this difficult year. I loved the way she handled her friends--she was a pretty mature girl in some ways. Although she wanted to sing and shout about her successes, she was sensitive to her friends disappointments and tried hard to please them all. There were times when I wanted her to stand up to them, especially Ericka and Devon. She often let them dictate her decisions. Actually, that reminds me a lot of how I was, so maybe that's why I enjoyed the growth so much.

This is a fun, coming-of-age story for the young and young at heart!

Content: nothing really of note. Clean!

 

 

Excerpt #3

“Landry, they’re having modeling tryouts to be on the American Ingénue show,” Ericka said, showing me the ad she had torn out of the Grand Rapids Press. “The Ingénue judges are trying to find local teens to compete on their reality show.”

I watched every second of the last show. Talisa Milan won and got a Little Rose cosmetics contract and was on this month’s cover of Bright and Lively magazine. She was also a host on Hot Videos Now, a music video show. Melani Parkington, the runner-up, was the new spokesperson for Bouncy Hair conditioner. You were almost guaranteed to be famous if you made it to the final round of the contest.

“First you have to win in your city, and then your state, and then the regional competition,” Tori read. “Then you get to the tough part of the competition where they vote off someone new each week on national TV.”

“It’s an amazing opportunity to get discovered,” Ericka said, checking out her reflection in her spoon.

“Yeah, except for the fact the judges are known to be brutal when they’re honest. Like when they told Melani her gorgeous face was too pinched, her forehead was too low, and her eyebrows were too high,” I said. “They also told one girl she was pretty, but her lips looked like she had walked into a sliding glass door.”

“Well, they did,” Ericka said shrugging. They were holding auditions at the Perry Mall, which was the smallest mall in Grand Rapids. There weren’t a lot of stores there, so you usually just saw old people mall walking around there. Still, it had a decent bookstore and a cute clothing store, so I said I’d go watch while they tried out.

“No, we’re all trying out,” Ericka said, grabbing the ad back from me.

Author Biography Krysten Lindsay Hager is an author and book addict who has never met a bookstore she didn’t like. She’s worked as a journalist and also writes middle grade, YA, humor essays, and adult fiction. Her debut novel, TRUE COLORS, will be out June 17th from Astraea Press. She is originally from Michigan and has lived in South Dakota, Portugal, and currently resides in Southern Ohio where you can find her reading and writing when she’s not catching up on her favorite shows.

Website * Facebook * Twitter * Pinterest

Blog Tour Giveaway $25 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash Ends 8/15/14 Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader and sponsored by the publisher. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.
a Rafflecopter giveaway