Howdy YAL!

To see full review click here.I got this on a whim via Amazon. It was free and I was trying to get to sleep.It did the trick.This isn't necessary a horrible book. Well, the first three fourths aren't horrible. It's just sort of meh.You know what your'e getting. The unexpected Cinderella story that only illegitimate spawns of celebrities get to experience.You know, somehow I don't think that's how it works. Having a celebrity dad who doesn't acknowledge you all your life and then rushing to pick you up from Child Services just managing to get you out of there without any paperwork or having to get a lawyer involved....Oh, wait, what did you say Stephenie Meyer...Yeah, it's fiction.Okay...Logic aside though, this book was sort of mess for other reasons.Like the fact that it has no plot. At first I thought cool, this story will be sort of like What a Girls Wants the father daughter relationship will be developed with a cute romance on the side. But nope, all we got was a start at these things then the dad acts like a complete tool (and yeah, he's a complete tool, no explanation other than that) and the love interest is, well, remember Josh from The Princess Diaries, well, imagine him as your hero.The romance turned out to be the lamest attempt of a romance in YA. The characters lack chemistry and half of the time I expected there to be some sort of Cassandra Clare incest twist there that just made me want to barf.Yeah, I thought they were siblings even though it was reiterated throughout the book that they weren't.That's sad people.It's still gross though mainly because of what her dad does with....Not going to spoil it.Really, the only likable adult character here was the Rachel Zoe stepmom and that's kind of iffy at best since at one point she was characterized as being super nice and the next wow....super bitch.But she honestly was the most stable influence that Taylor had in her life and that's sort of sad.What's really sad is the fact that Taylor seems to except the fact that the instability from her mother and father is okay.I really had issues with how Duffy whitewashed the mother's abuse.While it was true she didn't hit her kid, her mother was a bad parent. I mean, seriously, she drained her kids college account for plastic surgery. And instead of trying to let her daughter have a relationship with her father, she essentially sabotaged it. And we're told that's okay? Great parenting?Sure, I didn't think Chase was that great of a parent either, though you'd think otherwise till the last fourth of the book. I really thought he was trying and then....I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting a cookie cutter ending. I get that families can be dysfunctional. I expect it. And I actually applaud Duffy for not ending everything tied up with a big bow. But (and this is a huge but) dysfunction shouldn't be pimped. The parental figures weren't good. In fact, they were pretty terrible and saying that the mother was mother of the year material after all that shit...well, it made a fairly mediocre rating go to the dogs.Best Feature: Fluff Concept. I love books like this. The summary is perfect to read when you have insomnia and want something to get your mind off of aWorst Feature: My Drunk Mother Who Stole All My College Tuition and Lied to my Face is Mother of the Year. Um, yeah. That's pretty much the little life lesson we learn in this book. Let me be frank, I thought Taylor's mom and her dad to a degree were abusive. Sure, they didn't hit her, but they did neglect her. And her mother spent all of her college money on plastic surgery and keg parties. I'm sorry, but no. Just no. And why wasn't her dad more involved? Couldn't he like get the court involve and say she wasn't using her support payments the way they should be. Ridiculous. Just ridiculous. And the big lightbulb moment at the end that the woman who died because she drank too much when she threw a party like she was Hugh Hefner or someone-minus the bunnies-was really a great mother because she kept Taylor away from her dad (who really isn't that bad for a celebrity) just had me rolling my eyes. Taylor, your mom wasn't a strong independent woman she was a selfish bitch.Appropriateness: There's teen drinking, drug use, an OD, dads sleeping around, and men over the age of thirty wearing leather pants. Pretty PG-13.