Leftovers

I love Laura Weiss, she is so true to the teenager heart it is amazing. I love how she can absolutely capture an emotion and write it in a way that you can't help but feel these girl's pain.The story line is sad, and it will pull at your heart strings, make you want to save all the little girls in the world and take away the problems. But at the same time its reality and it's brutal and it will piss you off.The most tragic part of this book is the parents, how they aren't here for these 'not-so-grown-up' young adult girls. How they ignore their needs and wants and put their own needs and wants and happiness ahead of their children. While both girls have very different needs they have the same issue with not being able to get it from the people they look to for it. So instead they find it in each other when they have no one else. And when something terrible happens to Blair, Ardith is right there to help pick up the pieces. Only this time Ardith's raunchy older brother is the cause of Blair's pain. After the incident with Ardith's brother you slowly watch Blair change. Becoming a more.. no nonsense type of girl filled with spite.Blair is forbidden to see Ardith after a late night of binge drinking together and Blair's mom walks in to find booze all around the house. With Ardith 'the trouble maker' out of Blair's life they force an annoyingly naive young girl on Blair and practically force her to become 'best friends' with the girl in order to gain access and favoritism with her important parents. And Ardith finds a boyfriend she begins to believe she loves. Even though their lives are changing and they seem to be pulling apart they still are there for each other and still have a bond that cannot be broken. And so a plan is hatched between the two girls to give Ardith's brother what he deserves. Only an innocent girl is going to get hurt in it all. So it makes you wonder... what is the cost of it all? And will it be worth it in the end? Are they satisfied with the results? Are they doing the right thing?Those questions are left up to you to figure out after you read the book. It is truly moving and it makes you wonder what you would do in the same situation.

Different kind of story and very relatable

Everyone overlooked the power that best friends have as a combined power. Blair and Ardith are from opposite lifestyles, but that is never an issue, until one night. Ardith has alcoholic parents who allow her brother and his friends to party at their house, so they can be seen as "cool". Blair is an only child. Her mother is not stopping until she becomes a judge. Blair's mom is all about appearences. Mom goes too far. The only person who actually sees them as who they are is Officer Dave.Read this book, then go back and read the beginning again. This is a book you just can't put down.

This is one of those books that no matter what your age, gender, views, anything you will read this book and feel something. The book speaks a lot of truth to what it's like to be a girl in this day and age. Some parents reading it may be surprised to read such things go on but overall the book is an amazing story of two girls trying to find their way through their tough teenage years. I couldn't put it down just like every other Laura Weiss book. You'd think the book would become confusing following these two girls but it's extremely well written and easy to get into. Recommend it for everyone.

I really enjoyed this book. It kept my attention and I wanted to get back to reading it as soon as I could find time. I gave it 4 stars rather than 5 because of the ending. I was disappointed in how it ended. It was abrupt and basically dropped the reader without enough feed back at the end to give that feeling of a really satisfying read.

This was a pretty good read. I really liked the writing style of Laura Weiss, how she jumps back and forth from person to person. She made you feel like you were standing right there with the story. I almost wish it were longer... once I started reading it I couldn't put it down. I stopped myself several times so the read would last longer.

I essentially read the entire book in two days. I'm an adult; however Weiss' vivid depictions of the stories heroines took me right back to my own middle school and high school years. There is a striking accuracy and realness about the main characters that really resounded throughout. I highly recommend this book to others...after finishing it I was moved to read everything Laura Wiess has ever had published. Absolutely stunning: five stars!

I fell in love with Laura Wiess' writing with "Such a Pretty Girl" and instantly started buying more of her books. She accurately captures the torture felt by young adults in tough situations, transitions, divorces and alcoholism. Laura puts you in the shoes of these girls and allows you to feel every turn of emotion. By the end of the story you're sad to let them go.It's definitely worth the read, and the money. You'll want to read this again.

LEFTOVERS [By Laura Weiss]. In theory, not a novel that I would gravitate toward: American, and I tend to make a conscious effort to avoid American fiction these days; they may speak English but they are not like us. YA, Young Adult or more accurately New Adult because there are real sex scenes in it. A bit dated: it was published in 2008 and therefore pre-twitter and pre-phones with cameras so pre-sexting. Every imaginable trope: poor little rich girl and boys from the other side of the tracks. The worst kind of empty American lives.But it is terrific. Can’t praise it enough. She has completely and I mean completely, caught the argot of a fourteen-year old American girl. There is a character in the novel called Kimmer Ashton; I mean, where do you find a name like that?She addresses the reader, something my own creative writing tutor always said was a complete no-no, but it works. Drags you in. I think this is the secret of good YA Fiction: talk to your audience. Writes in the second person, which is unbelievably difficult to do, ‘so you go home and you put your key in the lock; you open the front door . . . . ‘. Here she is talking about the realities of life [for her] in an American High School: ‘. . . .we all inhabit low rungs on the loser ladder . . .’ Lovely. She takes risks with her prose, never ducks what is really happening, what people are really thinking behind the smiles. She is a real writer; this isn’t thrown-together fast-buck teen fiction. Here she shows not tells more or less all there is to know about her mum, while being driven home from visiting her grandparents at Thanksgiving: ‘You wonder who’ll mend the antique tablecloth when your grand-mother dies and realise no-one will. It’ll be thrown out because it’s imperfect and a pain to take care of’.Super book. It has something like 2500 five-star reviews on American Amazon.

Enjoyed this although sad when it is true

Good quick book for young fiction