Lipstick Apology by Jennifer Jabaley (reviewed by Emily TenCate)

Emily's parents just died in a tragic plane crash, and the only thing the firefighters found intact was a tray table with the words "Emily, please forgive me," scrawled in bright red lipstick. So what does Emily do?

If you guessed anything besides a full body makeover (say, for instance, trying to figure out what her dying mother's final message meant), you're wrong.

Emily's next move is, of course, to become popular queen at her new high school, speedily attracting the attentions of the two cutest boys in school. Our endearing, two-dimensional protagonist then proceeds to spend the rest of the book trying to figure out what boy she actually wants.

I suppose a person less fundamentally opposed to the genre of fluffy teen romance might call what Emily is doing "moving on." All I'm seeing here, though, is a desperate, grasping attempt by the author to make your typical high-school romance a tad more interesting than usual. That's a tall order, as it turns out, but throw in a gay hairdresser, (and absolute must when you're trying to avoid cringe-worthy cliches!) a couple of backstabbing friends, and a super rich and famous relative and you've practically got the whole novel mapped out in front of you.

And here I was expecting a mystery story. In 284 pages, the book manages to mention Emily's mother's dying message a grand total of 4 times, dealing conveniently with the issue by letting Emily find a journal explaining everything in less than a chapter of the novel. This, of course, allows Emily to pursue more suitable interest - namely, boy-chasing. The only real mystery in this book is the strange, out-of-context appearance of blatant moralizing -- and, of course, why any self-respecting hairdresser (even a fictional, gay one) would speak the words, "Owen is a hot-boy name!" I'll be cringing for the next three weeks.

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OUCH EMILY, TELL US HOW YOU REALLY FEEL!!! ^__~

Big thanks to Emily for her amazing, completely honest, unvarnished review that pulls no punches. That's what I like to hear, people passionate about books!

Emily reviewed an ADVANCE READER'S COPY (ARC) of this book, meaning she got a chance to read it before it was published and she had a chance to let the library know if it she thought we should purchase it for our shelves or not.

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