Ta Ta For Now - Review

Title:  Ta Ta For Now!
Author:  Bethany Lopez
Publisher:  through Amazon.com

Goodreads Summary:

Melissa begins her freshman year with one goal in mind, getting Brian Jackson to be her boyfriend. She will soon learn that things don't necessarily turn out the way you plan them, the value of true friendship, and the importance of family.

My thoughts:

First, I want to preface this by saying that I know the author - she is my friend and former college roommate.  However, I want to be an ojective reviewer, and I will not let the fact that she is a friend of mine cloud that. I am very proud of her for taking this scary step of writing a book and putting herself out there for the world to judge.

This book is a very accurate portrayal of what life is like for the average fourteen year old girl starting high school- such a transitional year, with changing friends, boyfriends, alternately hating your family and realizing they are the best thing that could happen to you.  And the main character, Melissa, has a rough freshman year, having to go through it all.  Bullies, friends who aren't really your friends, peer pressure- she is indoctrinated pretty quickly to the world of high school.  She manages to keep it together with the help of good friends and her family, who support her and love her, although she did find herself hitting some low points in between, such as fighting in school and with her sister. Her feelings about certain things were dead on to how a younger teenage girl would feel.   

There were a few typos.  Also, the scenes with the kids smoking, it seemed right out in the open where teachers or monitors would see them, such as the school courtyard at lunch.  Maybe I am too old to remember, or maybe it is because I work at a school and think that this would be noticed, I don't know. 

All in all, I think this is a great first book! Beth donated it to me for one of our school libraries, and I am going to send it to the middle school library.  I think this book is definitely one kids are going to pick up, read and enjoy!! 

You can check Bethany out at her blog, and follow her on twitter as well.