My Betsy and Joe by Maud Hart Lovelace Book Review on Goodreads

Betsy and Joe by Maud Hart Lovelace
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh, Betsy. I truly am worried about you. I did not like at all your behavior throughout this book so I think a more appropriate title would be Betsy and Tony . Oh Betsy! What went through your silly little frivolous head that seems to have been going crazy these past four years of high school.

Well, there's not really much to say besides that I hate how Betsy couldn't say no to Tony. Poor Joe! Betsy is just too much of a sucker for her Crowd! I was on edge and my heart was in knots the entire time she was with Tony. And that completely overshadowed any happiness I felt at the beginning about Betsy and Joe being together for a while, happy and romantic for ONCE. And then Tony had to destroy everything and Betsy acted like it was no big deal, so Joe was left feeling betrayed. Although I was mad at Joe at first, looking back I see that (as usual) Betsy was to blame. For the third time, oh Betsy! So sweet, yet so silly and stupid (occasionally).

The part that I really loved about this book was the first pages of the book that talked about growing up.

Quote 1: "...one was growing up so fast that one needed time to think, to correlate all the perplexing changes and try to understand them."

I, myself, can definitely relate to this because I often find myself confused with all the different things happening in my life as I grow up, and I just wish that I could stop my life for a while and make sense of all thse "perplexing changes".

Quote 2: "Betsy had clung to every phase of childhood as it passed. She always wanted to keep life from going forward too fast."

This is me. Wholly and completely. Every little bit of childhood I am concious of, and of its passing. And, unlike most people, I don't ever want to grow up. Because I see already what I will miss, what I already am missing, about happy, blissful, naive times that I would trade everything I have now for. I am so scared of life moving forward too fast. Time is my worst enemy, which is why I sympathize with Betsy when she says things like this.

Quote 3: " 'You grow older in spite of yourself,' Betsy thought resentfully..."

In spite of yourself. Oh were words ever so true. I resent time and life when, in spite of what I want and need, I grow older. And I hate that. I just don't understand why life has to bring so much that ytou don't want.

What's amazing to me is that, even back in a time when growing up didn't bring as many ocnsequences as our modern world, people still dealt with these problems and feelings, which at least makes me feel better knowing that it's not just being in the modern world that makes growing up harder. It always has been for people.

Overall, this book was bittersweet. It was wonderful when Betsy and Joe got together, terrible when for much of the book she was with Tony breaking Joe's heart, and wonderful when Betsy and Joe reunited at the end. Looking back halfway through the last book, I feel like this book was more of a transition for me in the series than anything. Writing this review now, I definitely don't remember much about this book and don't particularly care for it. Nevertheless, I loved this book because it was still, nevertheless, a Betsy-Tacy book. :)

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My Princess on the Brink by Meg Cabot Book Review on Goodreads

Princess on the Brink by Meg Cabot
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Well, I made the mistake of reading all the reviews for this book before I read the book. The only reason I regret doing that is that my opinions that I formed on this book were probably already prebiased as a result.

Well, they were all right. I can't help loving and hating this book. WARNING: DO NOT READ WHEN BUSY!!!!!! Not as enthralling as you might think, but still kind of hard to put down. Kind of.

For one thing, Mia was way too immature in this book. And stupid. And then I started hating Michael. And I hate Lily now. And now I just want Mia to be with J.P. The part that I liked best was where Mia asked her dad if her mom's neck smelled good to him. And that was how Mia knew that if she lost Michael she would end up like her dad, having lost her one and only true love.

Mia started really getting on my nerves and there were parts where I just wanted to kill her. That was the hating part. And there's not really much more I can say on that.

And yet I loved this book because it was still Mia. As much as she annoyed me, she was still Mia writing religiously in that little diary of hers.

Another small reason I hated this book might not even make sense because it contradicts what I just sad. You know in Harry Potter at the end books where you're really sad that Hogwarts will never be the same again? No more Dumbledore. Evil Death Eaters instead. Well, this book was like that except Princess Diaries version. Because the issues Mia dealt with were no longer just the high school girl crazy twists and turns. They were deeper. And there was no turning back. Which made you kind of mad because you lost all that made you love them in the first place. Now this ties back to what I just said. Now you have developed a love for Mia, so you're still tied on. And it's strange how she managed to shift the series without losing you entirely. Though she almost did.

Wow. I just downgraded my rating from 4 stars to 3 stars. But wait, that says that I liked it. Did I? Well, there was that neck thing with the Dad. But for the most part it was just OK, the qualification for 2 stars. Oh well, I can't bring myself to rate it lower anyway.

I don't know and I don't even really care anymore. Read the book if you insist. Do what you would like. I sure don't care.

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