I read Go Ask Alice when I was in tenth grade. It was the first and only book (until now) that held me eerily bespelled while I read. This weekend I finished reading Amy Reed's debut novel Beautiful and it had the same effect. I was unable to put the book down or look away, yet I had knot in my stomach as I watched Cassie, the main character and narrator sink further and further into her downward spiral.When Cassie moves from the tiny town where she has always lived to a suburb of Seattle, she is determined to leave her boring, good-girl existence behind. This is Cassie's chance to stop being invisible and become the kind of girl who's worth noticing.
Stepping into her new identity turns out to be easier than Cassie could have ever imagined...one moment, one choice, will change everything.
Cassie's new existence both thrills and terrifies her. Swept into a world of illicit parties and social landmines, she sheds her virginity, embraces the numbness she feels from the drugs, and floats through it all, knowing that she is now called beautiful. She ignores the dangers of her fast-paced life but she can't sidestep the secrets and the cruelty.
Cassie is trapped in a swift downward spiral tinged with violence and abuse, and no one—not even the one person she thought she could trust—can help her now.
Beautiful is a truly amazing novel, and Cassie is the kind of character you'll yearn for, hoping and praying that she'll be able to turn things around before the end of the novel.