Review of The Lipstick Laws by Amy Holder

Book:  The Lipstick Laws
Author:  Amy Holder
Published by:  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Pages:  240
Available:  April 4th, 2011

From Goodreads:  At Penford High School, Britney Taylor is the queen bee. She dates whomever she likes, rules over her inner circle of friends like Genghis Khan, and can ruin anyone's life with a snap of perfectly manicured fingers. Just ask the unfortunate few who have crossed her.   For April Bowers, Britney is also the answer to her prayers. April is so unpopular, kids don't even know she exists. But one lunch spent at Britney's table, and April is basking in the glow of popularity.   But Britney's friendship comes with a high price tag. How much is April willing to pay? 

This novel starts out with April's first day of her sophomore year.  She is lonely and friendless.  Somehow during gym class she gets paired with the most popular girl in the school.  Is it luck, or fate...well it doesn't matter because April is just excited to have some potential friends.  But after a while Britney becomes demanding and April realizes that Britney's standards seem a little outrageous, but it's worth it to be popular and have friends, right? 

I've heard a lot of people comparing it to the movie, Mean Girls and I'd have to agree with them.  No matter how much people try to deny it everyone wants to be 'liked' in high school.  You want to have great friends, a cute boyfriend (or girlfriend), a rockin social life, and it wouldn't hurt to throw a little popularity in the mix too.  But the question for those people, just like it was for April, is what are you willing to sacrifice for that popularity? 

This was a really fast, fun read.  The dialogue was witty and laugh-out-loudable.  Even though this was a cute read I think there was a deeper issue at hand --- bullying.  This is happening in a lot of schools lately and it's not just the boys, it's the girls too and they can be just as vicious if not more.   

I can't imagine ever being on someone like Brittney's bad side.  If Britney didn't like someone, she made their life miserable.  People even transferred schools just to get anyway from her.  I can't imagine someone so mean and hurtful, but I'm not naive enough to think that people like Britney are just fictional. 

Besides the bullying there were also other issues such as body image that were brought up.  One of the reasons I liked this book is that it talked about peoples insecurities.  This is not something most people talk about or want anyone else to know about.  I think it's important to see these things in books so that people realize they are not alone.     

At times I loved April and at times I wanted to smack her upside the head to knock some sense into her.  This didn't only happen at the beginning of the book, but also in the middle and towards the end too.  She was a nice, sweet girl, but sometimes her priorities were not in the right place.


 Overall I liked this book, but had some issues with how both of the main characters acted (I don't want to get into it too much because of spoilers).  I think this is a great read for people in middle school and high school to help them understand that popularity sometimes isn't all people hoped it would be.  

I'd give this book ★★★ 

Disclaimer:  I received an advanced readers copy from the publisher and from NetGalley for my honest review with no compensation.  This did not affect my opinion or review in any way.