YA Book Review (guest post): *The Fruit of My Lipstick* by Shelley Adina

Note from Dawn:  another guest review from my 12-year-old daughter.  This is fun – she discovered the pattern to the book titles, and, like mother like daughter, has a question for you at the end of the review!

Back of the book blurb:  New Yorker Gillian Chang starts her second term at posh Spencer Academy boarding school in San Francisco prepared to focus on her studies, her faith, and her friends. She plays a dozen musical instruments and can recite the periodic table of the elements backward. She’s totally prepared for everything–except love!

She’s falling hard for Lucas Hayes, who isn’t even a senior yet and is already aiming at a Ph.D. in physics from Stanford. The problem is, she never seems to be able to measure up and be the girlfriend he wants. He’s under a lot of pressure from his parents to achieve–maybe that’s why he’s short-tempered sometimes. But even a thick-skinned girl like Gillian can only take so much.

With her heart on the line, Gillian conceals more and more from her friends. So when she’s accused of selling exam answer sheets, even her girlfriends, Lissa Mansfield and Carly Aragon, wonder if it can be true. Gillian will need the power of honesty–with herself and with Lucas–to show what she’s really made of.

LW12′s Review:  The Fruit of My Lipstick, the second book in the “All About Us” series by Shelley Adina, was a surprise in many ways for me.  This book was written in Gillian Chang’s perspective (the previous novel was written in Lissa Mansfield’s view; Lissa is one of Gillian’s best friends).  I enjoyed having a different character narrate the story; I ended up learning more about Gillian than I did in the first book.

Before I started reading, I flipped through the pages and stopped at one near the beginning of the book, after the title page.  There I found a Bible verse from Hebrews 13:15-16:

 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.  But to do good and to communicate forget not:  for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

I then realized that the titles of each book must have been inspired by the verse that starts it.  The Fruit of my Lipstick (“the fruit of my lips”) tells of Gillian’s conflicts, and how she redeems herself by following her faith.  It’s All About Us  has a similar quote too.

Much like I could connect to Lissa, I found I could relate to Gillian, too. Like Lissa, she gets carried away and forgets her true friends, then is steered correctly with God’s guidance.  While this plot may be comfortably familiar to some, other readers might find the conflicts to be too similar to the previous book.

I did like how Adams incorporated an exam “cheat-sheet” scandal into the book.  It was interesting to see the messages that took place between members of Spencer Academy boarding school and the mysterious “source10.”  I especially enjoyed the surprise ending, too.

Overall, this is a very good follow-up to It’s All About Us. I think that anyone who has read or plans to read the first book should also read this one. I am excited to read the third in the series, Be Strong & Curvaceous. 

Can anyone guess what Bible verse might be in the front of this book?