It Started With a Dare by Lindsay Faith Rech
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS
Addition: Review e-book from NetGalley
Genre: Young adult chick-lit
Rating: 3 out of 5
Synopsis:
Self-proclaimed nobody CG Silverman sees her move to an upscale new school as her chance to be somebody different. Her devil-may-care attitude attracts the in-clique, and before CG realizes it, a routine game of truth or dare launches her to iconic status.
While this rebel image helps secure CG’s newfound popularity, it also propels her through a maze of unprecedented chaos, with each new lie and every dare opening doors that, in most cases, were better off left shut.
CG is on a collision course with disaster. Will she be able to keep up the façade? Or will the whole world find out she’s a fraud?
I read this book a little while ago, and to be honest, not a lot of it has stuck with me. This is a book that I easily read in a day and have not thought about since.
CG moves schools and by accident – a comment muttered in response to a teacher lands her in the “in-crowd”. All of a sudden, she has a façade to keep up. This leads to lies and lies – and then more lies. She becomes out of control – lying about how she used to be an alcoholic – even though she is 15! – and how far she has gone in relationships. She starts an online relationship with an English teacher and things just spiral out of control. Of course, once the web of lies is spun so deep the only way out is the truth – and inevitably this is what happens. CG’s parents find out what she has been doing and saying and the world is put to rights again.
Like I said at the beginning, this book hasn’t really stayed with me since reading. It is a simple story, that took me an afternoon to read. I didn’t really like the characters – I can’t stand lying and I never like the “popular” characters. They are so fake and cruel. Why did I keep reading? I guess because I wanted to see what would happen. It was not surprise that the truth came out and CG was humiliated – part of me thinks she deserved it – that is one lesson learnt. I didn’t like CG really. She started the story with an I-don’t-care attitude and transformed into something hideous.
Does this reflect school? Not the crowd I hung around in! I don’t know – I went to school in the UK and was not in the “cool crowd” so I don’t know if people acted like this. From what you see in American TV shows/films e.g. Glee and Mean Girls, one gets the impression that high school is all about being popular. If that is really the case than CG’s attempts to fit in are realistic. I couldn’t believe the lies she told – especially about being an alcoholic. How could anyone believe that?! From that aspect, this book isn’t particularly life-like.
I’ve given this book 3 out of 5 because it was a story that gripped me to the end – I just wanted to see how Rech would finish the story. Sadly, not the greatest book but if you want a light, teenage read this is for you.
