The Green Review and Giveaway

The Green by Karly Kirkpatrick
★★★★☆
Release Date: January 15, 2012
Publisher: DarkSide Publishing
Age: YA, Mature YA
Genre: Contemporary, Drama, Romance, Realistic Fiction, Drugs
Format Reviewed: ebook
Source: Author
Buy it: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Smashwords

Other books by Karly: Bloody Little Secrets, Into the Shadows, Darkness Rising (Into the Shadows #2), Eight

Seventeen-year-old Ariceli Pisa is a senior at the prestigious Cambridge High School and has her sights set on Northwestern University. She's a cheerleader, a member of the National Honor Society, and a drug dealer. That’s the secret she has to keep from her best friend Naomi, in addition to the fact that she’s madly in love with Naomi’s ex-boyfriend. Trying to balance her life at Cambridge High with her new demanding job keeps her teetering on the edge of disaster.

Nancy Botwin has some competition. Weeds is one of my favorite shows and when I saw an email in my inbox about a book for review that featured a Weeds-esque storyline (similar in a way, but very different) I knew I had to check it out. And, I loved every second of the drama.

Ari isn't the typical bad girl, in fact she's quite the opposite. Taking the plunge into the dark side isn't a choice she made lightly but after encountering some family drama and learning that her mother needed the help she made the decision to start dealing. She's a normal high schooler with friends, one of which I can't stand, she's easy to relate to and Karly does a wonderful job making sure the reader knows where she's coming from. Unlike the others at her elite school she's not privileged and doted on. Her mother works night and day to ensure that Ari can go to a great school and has the things she needed.

Ari and her mother's relationship is strained, distant and sad. Her mom has no idea what is going on in her house because of how hard she is working for the life they have. It's a powerful message and a rather depressing home life. I'd say the biggest part of the story is Ari's life, drama, school, family, and boy problems. The story is set up like any other contemporary, with the minor detail that Ari's chosen profession is pretty taboo and illegal, which makes it an interesting read.

The Green is a great book featuring a deep plot, suspenseful and dangerous situations, an adorable love story, plus a pretty awesome main character. Ari does what she has to, some might say why didn't she just work at McDonalds or somewhere like that but really for the money she was making and the hours she was working there was no way she'd make that green at a fast food place. Plus, Ari is a devoted NHS member as well as other activities and clubs, she had a reputation to keep up and working long hours wouldn't work. When it comes down to it, I think she made the decision that seemed right for her, it's a journey she travels and learns hard to handle lessons but in the end they build on her character and make her even stronger than when the book begins.

I am pretty attached to this story. Karly did a magnificent job creating a realistic fiction that I hadn't read before, about something too real and familiar to a lot of us, and she successfully made it feel that real and more nonfiction than fiction. It's a great book for anyone looking for a little drama and action.

Giveaway

Karly, the wonderful author, has been kind enough to offer 5 ecopies of The Green to 5 Lucky Winners!!

This is International, but as always 13 and older to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Also!

Into the Shadows

the first book in Karly's Paranormal series is FREE

Get it on: Amazon

 

Paivi Anderson has it all - friends, a spot on the varsity basketball team, wonderful parents, and quite possibly, her first boyfriend. It was everything a freshman in high school could ask for. Her perfect life begins to crumble when she discovers her name on a list distributed by a power-hungry presidential candidate. How could anyone think of Paivi as an Enemy of the State? Could it be because of her special powers? No one was supposed to know about them, but the mysterious messages in her tater tots say otherwise. In INTO THE SHADOWS, Paivi quickly learns who her friends are and is forced into a reality she didn’t see coming.

Thank you so much to Karly for the chance to read and review The Green and for hosting the giveaway!