Overall rating: 3.38/5

 

Individual ratings:
You are the Prom Queen, Dance Dance Dance by Elizabeth Craft: 4/5
All She Wants by Cecily von Ziegesar: 2/5
In Vodka Veritas by Holly Black: 3/5
Your Big Night by Sarah Mlynowski: 3/5
Off Like a Prom Dress by Billy Merrell: 4/5
"Mom called, she says you have to go to prom" by Adrienne Maria Vrettos: 5/5
Better Be Good to Me by Daniel Ehrenhaft: 4/5
Three Fates by Aimee Friedman: 5/5
The Question: A Play in One Act by Brent Hartinger: 5/5
Shutter by Will Leitch: 2/5
Geechee Girls Dancin', 1955 by Jacqueline Woodson: 1/5 - really weird, couldn't finish
How I Wrote to Toby by E. Lockhart: 3/5
A Six-pack of Bud, a Fifth of Whisky, and Me by Melissa de la Cruz: 3/5
Primate the Prom by Libba Bray: 1/5
Apology #1 by Ned Vizzini: 3/5
See Me by Lisa Ann Sandell: 3/5
Prom for Fat Girls by Rachel Cohn: 4/5
Chicken by Jodi Lynn Anderson: 3/5
The Backup Date by Leslie Margolis: 4/5
Lost Sometimes by David Levithan: 4/5
The Great American Morp by John Green: 5/5

Donnie’s life is falling apart at lightning speed. His mother and father fight constantly and Donnie and his sister retreat outside to hide from the noise. His friends at school, well can we really call them friends if they use him and abandon him? His mother and his sister are his only life-lines and the tension there is mounting. His sister has anorexia and she is literally disappearing before his eyes. His mother is wound tighter than a drum and is on constant guard. His father ends up moving closer to his job and comes home sporadically which causes more tension in the home. Welcome to Donnie’s life. His sister Karen tries to hide her eating disorder but when her mother finds out the tension in the house explodes and Donnie’s life becomes invisible. Who really has problems and whose problem is worse: Donnie’s or Karen’s? In reality, they both have issues but they both deal with them in different ways but only Karen is getting her parent’s attention. Why is that and is that the way it should be? Donnie is trying to survive and maintain his status in society while his sister is dying to stay alive but why all this pain?The idea behind the book was superb, how we have a brother and sister both dealing with issues under the same roof at the same time while at the same time the parents are exploding and not seeing their own children vanishing before their own eyes. Donnie views are twisted at times as he thinks about far-fetched situations and his part in them but they fit the book as he is trying to cope with the situation at hand. The relationships in the book are stretched and brought back together so many times, like a rubber band, you wonder as you read when these relationship will just snap

I WANT TO READ THIS.

The beginning of this book really drew me in with the intense feeling of something bad yet exciting about to happen.Told from the perspective of Donnie, this story was interesting. The idea was pretty interesting because it wasn’t told from Karen’s perspective, but from Donnie’s and how it effected him. Some of the characters were funny and easy to read about while others were boring. It felt like a toss-up between them and which one I would be reading and liking. The ending didn’t seem good to me since it was so typical and bland I didn’t care for it. I wished Adrienne Vrettos could have done something unexpected for the ending.Skin was a disappointment because some of the funny parts weren’t that funny and the sad scenes weren’t sad at all.Everytime there was a flashback,I was waiting for information about the first chapter. I wish that Donnie stood out more because it didn’t seem like there was anything special about him or what he was doing for his family. I didn’t like that half of the characters didn’t have that much background and weren’t well-organized.The writing style didn’t bother me which was a good thing. I liked how she described the beginning with Karen and Donnie and the ambulance all huddled around Karen’s body. It was so intense, I loved it. Skin is a book that started in the middle of the story then goes back to the beginning and then back to the middle and then the end. I loved that it started in the middle since not very many books start there. The relationship between Karen and Donnie is like most relationships between siblings with the constant fighting and unpredictable moves. I would recommend this book to anyone who knows someone with an eating disorder. Also for people who feel like they disappear silently into the background, lost forever.

This book is odd, we start out with a girl waking up on a subway with no idea how she got there or how she ended up in a costume and make-up. But slowly she starts to retrace her steps trying to figure out what happened to her, and where is her friend?

First let me say that this book is rather small and a quick read. Which can be a good thing depending on the book but this book felt too fast, like we where rushed through it. It's told in a series of flash-backs mixed with present day trying to figuring out what happened. For the first half the story is very believable and okay, but the second half is much less believable but much more exciting. So a descent read, I wouldn't buy it (at least for the price their currently asking), but if your library has it check it out.

I received this book through the Goodreads.com's Firstreads Program.