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Friday, September 16, 2011

Review: Rival by Sara Wealer

Rival
Rival by Sara Wealer
What if your worst enemy turned out to be the best friend you ever had?
Meet Brooke: Popular, powerful and hating every minute of it, she’s the “It” girl at Douglas High in Lake Champion, Minnesota. Her real ambition? Using her operatic mezzo as a ticket back to NYC, where her family lived before her dad ran off with an up and coming male movie star.
Now meet Kathryn: An overachieving soprano with an underachieving savings account, she’s been a leper ever since Brooke punched her at a party junior year. For Kath, music is the key to a much-needed college scholarship.
The stage is set for a high-stakes duet between the two seniors as they prepare for the prestigious Blackmore competition. Brooke and Kathryn work toward the Blackmore with eyes not just on first prize but on one another, each still stinging from a past that started with friendship and ended in betrayal. With competition day nearing, Brooke dreams of escaping the in-crowd for life as a professional singer, but her scheming BFF Chloe has other plans. And when Kathryn gets an unlikely invitation to Homecoming, she suspects Brooke of trying to sabotage her with one last public humiliation.
As pressures mount, Brooke starts to sense that the person she hates most might just be the best friend she ever had. But Kathryn has a decision to make. Can she forgive? Or are some rivalries for life?
Published: Feb 2011
Source: Library

My Review:
   There are two sides to every story and boy does this book prove it. I was all geared up to completely side with Kathryn because she sounds more like me--shy and not part of a-list crowd, but as the story progressed I felt more and more for Brooke too and her story and voice was able to shine. I feel like I am more able to understand some of the workings of popular crowd and that it's not as shiny as it may seem from the outside.  
   I also found it enlightening being in both character's heads-what they saw as weaknesses or flaws were admired or never an issue for the other.
   Though music is a big part of the story and the character's lives, I feel like everything was realistic and the details, even if unfamiliar, never distracted me or turned me off for the plot or character, instead it made me have a deeper appreciation.
   This is a beautifully written contemporary with gripping star characters as well as developed secondary. I highly recommend.
I'd love to hear what you think of the book and/or my review!

1 comment:

  1. I sided with Kathryn at the start too but Wealer helped turn my opinion around with her writing and compassion for both sides of the story.

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