BARBARA VENKATARAMAN
Stats for my copy: Pdf, Next Chapter, 2023.
How acquired: Received from the author.
First line: “Don’t tell me you actually believe this stuff?” Megan said dismissively, tossing her long blonde ponytail over her shoulder in true drama queen fashion.
(Goodreads synopsis below.)
My thoughts: This was a quick and entertaining read. Five fourteen year old girls get their fortunes from a new arcade game at the mall. None of them are particularly impressed with their fortune, but from that moment on their friendships begin to erode after a series of misunderstandings between them. Which, as teenage girls are prone to, they each overreact to and read far too much into the actions, inactions, and believed slights of the others.
I don't read a lot of young adult fare, but I enjoyed the author's Jamie Quinn mystery series, so when she offered this to me I accepted. I found myself wishing my granddaughter was old enough to share this with to get the reaction of someone in the intended target's age, but at five, despite loving books, she's not quite ready for this story.
Oh, how I do not miss my own daughters being at the age of the girls in this book! Teen girls are just a bundle of emotions, and the author captured that perfectly in the five girls, as they moped and internalized and dealt with problems both real and perceived. And in the end everyone's story line wrapped up quite satisfyingly, with me even starting to tear up just bit as one mom rushed to her daughter's side after an allergic reaction.
I would say if there is a fourteen year old in your life, this would be a nice book to recommend to them, but I know from experience that girls of that age don't always take kindly to any kind of recommendation from an adult. Especially a parent.
*received from the author and voluntarily reviewed*
Goodreads Synopsis: When five fourteen-year-old girls get their fortunes from an arcade machine just for kicks, it turns their world upside-down and their close-knit group of friends starts to fall apart.
Misunderstandings
abound as allegiances shift and outsiders start to come between them.
The fortunes seem to be self-fulfilling prophecies - whether the
girls believe in them or not.
Do our beliefs color our
perception of the world? Do we ever see ourselves the way others see
us, and why is change so hard?
Budding romance, angry bees, teenage fashion influencers, and parents who just don't get it make Barbara Venkataraman's 'Five Fortunes' a fun story you won't soon forget.
