Review : My Life Undecided by Jessica Brody
Summary (from Goodreads)PLEASE READ THIS! MY LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!
Okay, maybe that was a bit melodramatic, but I’m sorry, I’m feeling a bit melodramatic at the moment.
Here’s the deal. My name is Brooklyn Pierce, I’m fifteen years old, and I am decisionally challenged. Seriously, I can’t remember the last good decision I made. I can remember plenty of crappy ones though. Including that party I threw when my parents were out of town that accidentally burned down a model home. Yeah, not my finest moment, for sure.
But see, that’s why I started a blog. To enlist readers to make my decisions for me. That’s right. I gave up. Threw in the towel. I let someone else be the one to decide which book I read for English. Or whether or not I accepted an invitation to join the debate team from that cute-in-a-dorky-sort-of-way guy who gave me the Heimlich Maneuver in the cafeteria. (Note to self: Chew the melon before swallowing it.) I even let them decide who I dated!
Well, it turns out there are some things in life you simply can’t choose or have chosen for you—like who you fall in love with. And now everything’s more screwed up than ever.
But don’t take my word for it, read the book and decide for yourself. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll scream in frustration. Or maybe that’s just me. After all, it’s my life.
Okay, maybe that was a bit melodramatic, but I’m sorry, I’m feeling a bit melodramatic at the moment.
Here’s the deal. My name is Brooklyn Pierce, I’m fifteen years old, and I am decisionally challenged. Seriously, I can’t remember the last good decision I made. I can remember plenty of crappy ones though. Including that party I threw when my parents were out of town that accidentally burned down a model home. Yeah, not my finest moment, for sure.
But see, that’s why I started a blog. To enlist readers to make my decisions for me. That’s right. I gave up. Threw in the towel. I let someone else be the one to decide which book I read for English. Or whether or not I accepted an invitation to join the debate team from that cute-in-a-dorky-sort-of-way guy who gave me the Heimlich Maneuver in the cafeteria. (Note to self: Chew the melon before swallowing it.) I even let them decide who I dated!
Well, it turns out there are some things in life you simply can’t choose or have chosen for you—like who you fall in love with. And now everything’s more screwed up than ever.
But don’t take my word for it, read the book and decide for yourself. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll scream in frustration. Or maybe that’s just me. After all, it’s my life.
Personal Thoughts
When I started My Life Undecided, I expected to read a funny and enjoyable book. The premise of the book sounded so original and entertaining that I decided to give it a shot.
Brooklyn Pierce, the main character, is pretty famous. That's because when she was 2 years old, she fell from a mine shaft and her rescue was aired on national TV. Everyone knows her as "Baby Brooklyn".
Thirteen years later, Brooklyn is still a disaster. She cannot help getting into trouble. The poor girl keeps making bad decisions. On the night of her parents' absence, Brooklyn throws a party at one of her mom's model homes. However, the party ends up in a fire and Brooklyn is sentenced to community service. Brooklyn realizes that she has poor judgement and starts a blog and ask her followers, who are complete strangers, to make decisions for her.
Thirteen years later, Brooklyn is still a disaster. She cannot help getting into trouble. The poor girl keeps making bad decisions. On the night of her parents' absence, Brooklyn throws a party at one of her mom's model homes. However, the party ends up in a fire and Brooklyn is sentenced to community service. Brooklyn realizes that she has poor judgement and starts a blog and ask her followers, who are complete strangers, to make decisions for her.
Brooklyn, according to me,was a selfish main character who thought about herself the entire time. She whined and complained and at times it became really annoying. There were times I honestly wanted to slap her because her constant bratty attitude frustrated me. Towards the end of the novel, she does change, but it took her a lot of time and by then I had already made my mind on Brooklyn : I didn't like her. It was very difficult to connect with her for the above reasons.
The book consists of two love interests. Firstly, there's Brian, the cute nerdy guy who accepts Brooklyn and becomes her friend when everyone including her so-called best friend, Shayne, abandons her. I really liked Brian. He was cute, shy, adorable and extremely likable. I took an instant liking to him. I liked how shy he could be around Brooklyn. I loved how nerdy he was. I loved how sweet he was to Brooklyn and it seemed that he truly did care for Brooklyn although she couldn't initially see it.
Secondly, there was Hunter. Hunter is the hot new guy at school. Brooklyn becomes instantly infatuated with him. Hunter was also a nice character according to me. Of course, he had that bad boy thing going on with him, but he was still likable. However, we don't get much information about him or his personality throughout the book, which is why, out of the two, I preferred Brian.
The secondary characters also include Brooklyn's best friend Shayne. Shayne was such a terrible friend. I hated her. She was the gorgeous pretty girl at their school. I hated how Brooklyn let Shayne manipulate her when it was pretty clear that Shayne was using her as a means to become more popular than she already is. Overall, Shayne was a horrible character.
One secondary character I really liked was Mrs Moody. Mrs Moody is a senior citizen at the elderly home where Brooklyn does her community service. Mrs Moody's name is pretty self-explanatory of her character. Nevertheless, she is the one who indirectly helps Brooklyn throughout this book.
Without knowing it, Brooklyn develops a sort of relationship with Mrs Moody.
The plot of the book was original and refreshing. I thought that the idea of readers making your decisions was unique.
Also, the book is mostly about realizing that you make your own decisions, but you have to learn to make the right ones.
It involves a lot of growth on the part of Brooklyn, but she eventually does grow and become a better person.
Friendship, love, personal growth, responsibility and making the right choice forms a huge part of this novel.
The writing was simple and easy to follow. Jessica Brody has written a great book with a creative and unique plot. Although I didn't like the main character, I did enjoy the story.
Overall, My Life Undecided is a cute light book with a simple message that I think is important that all teenagers realize.
The book consists of two love interests. Firstly, there's Brian, the cute nerdy guy who accepts Brooklyn and becomes her friend when everyone including her so-called best friend, Shayne, abandons her. I really liked Brian. He was cute, shy, adorable and extremely likable. I took an instant liking to him. I liked how shy he could be around Brooklyn. I loved how nerdy he was. I loved how sweet he was to Brooklyn and it seemed that he truly did care for Brooklyn although she couldn't initially see it.
Secondly, there was Hunter. Hunter is the hot new guy at school. Brooklyn becomes instantly infatuated with him. Hunter was also a nice character according to me. Of course, he had that bad boy thing going on with him, but he was still likable. However, we don't get much information about him or his personality throughout the book, which is why, out of the two, I preferred Brian.
The secondary characters also include Brooklyn's best friend Shayne. Shayne was such a terrible friend. I hated her. She was the gorgeous pretty girl at their school. I hated how Brooklyn let Shayne manipulate her when it was pretty clear that Shayne was using her as a means to become more popular than she already is. Overall, Shayne was a horrible character.
One secondary character I really liked was Mrs Moody. Mrs Moody is a senior citizen at the elderly home where Brooklyn does her community service. Mrs Moody's name is pretty self-explanatory of her character. Nevertheless, she is the one who indirectly helps Brooklyn throughout this book.
Without knowing it, Brooklyn develops a sort of relationship with Mrs Moody.
The plot of the book was original and refreshing. I thought that the idea of readers making your decisions was unique.
Also, the book is mostly about realizing that you make your own decisions, but you have to learn to make the right ones.
It involves a lot of growth on the part of Brooklyn, but she eventually does grow and become a better person.
Friendship, love, personal growth, responsibility and making the right choice forms a huge part of this novel.
The writing was simple and easy to follow. Jessica Brody has written a great book with a creative and unique plot. Although I didn't like the main character, I did enjoy the story.
Overall, My Life Undecided is a cute light book with a simple message that I think is important that all teenagers realize.
Rating
Cover : 4/5
Plot : 3/5
Characters : 3/5
Writing : 3/5
Characters : 3/5
Writing : 3/5
Sounds like a cute fun read but I think I'm more in a mood of darker stories right now instead of cute ones.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great review, glad that there was a cute lesson to learn from this one. :)