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The Debs (2008)

by Susan McBride(Favorite Author)

3.14 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0385735197 (ISBN13: 9780385735193)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Delacorte Books for Young Readers

series

The Debs

review 1: Each year, the exclusive Glass Slipper Club of Houston selects ten girls on their senior year of high school to become that year's debutante crop and become a Rosebud, as the debutantes are called.Laura has always wanted to be a Rosebud, her mother was one and usually that would mean she's one shoe in, but her standing comes into question since she's a size 12 rather than a 2 and though she's pretty and rich, one just never knows. To add to that, there is Avery, a boy she loves and whom she thought loved her back... only that he never seems to stick around.Mac - one of Laura's best friends - isn't so sure about being a Deb, she knows that's what her decesed mother wanted for her, but she's having a hard time bringing herself to care; especially since it would mean spending... more a lot of time with her new stepmother Honey (a former beauty queen).Laura and Mac's other best friend Ginger is having some trouble of her own, namely the fact that she always seems to pick the wrong guy and land in trouble.Then there is Laura's nemesis Jo Lynn who will stop at nothing to make sure Laura won't make it to this year's debutant list. Jo Lynn is a former pagenet queen who loves to win, win, win. And hates Laura - mostly for being a size 12 and not caring about it, which I found kind of ridiculous - she also has a bit of boy trouble... could it be her boyfriend, Golden Boy Dillon just doesn't find her attractive anymore?Well, that's that settling for The Debs, taking place in the days before the official Rosebud list goes out. I didn't like this book much. I felt some of the characterizations were week, and I was seriously pissed off at the characterization of the guy Ginger likes - a Mexican transplant who aparently never learned correct use of Spanish because he said the most random and stupid things in Spanish (for the record, Mexicans don't talk like that) - but the overall writing of the book isn't bad.It did leave me half intreaged about some things, I might read the second book Love, Lies and Texas Dips.
review 2: Take the high end brand-name dropping and excessive teenage drinking of Gossip Girls, add the feel-good girl bonds of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, mix with a dash of casual sex then serve up in chick-lit style with an evil queen bee on the rim and you have McBride’s series for teens. In Houston, the most privileged high school senior girls wait breathlessly to be selected as Rosebud Debutantes for the Glass Slipper Club. Best friends Laura, Mac, and Ginger are all daughters of former Rosebuds as is their arch-nemesis, Jo Lynn. The story unfolds in chapters told in third person from one of the four girl’s perspective. Laura is an attractive and confident size 14, but allows herself to be run around by her love/lust for hunky Avery as well as the dirt Jo Lynn holds over her. Mac has no desire to be a deb, but is pushed along by her friends, her late mother’s dream, and her well-meaning albeit annoying step-mother. She’s more interested in books and understanding the changing nature of her relationship with the boy next door. Ginger plans to debut in her grandmother’s gown, but her passion for environmentalism and a college guy put her in a compromising position. Meanwhile, Jo Lynn’s pettiness and insecurity keep her busy trying to undermine Laura, the daughter of her mother’s best friends. The author’s adult fiction roots show here as both Laura and Jo Lynn often sound more like world weary 29 year-olds than 17 year-olds facing their senior year. Fortunately Ginger and Mac are both realistically drawn and appealingly sympathetic. The unique setting, intriguing storylines and gossip-lit trappings will keep teen girls clamoring for more, though more conservative communities may not respond as positively. less

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