Elizabeth Craft

What’s the ultimate sin a college-bound teenager can commit? How about ditching college to pursue their dreams? Look over your shoulder…yeah, that’s your parent twitching in horror.

In Bass Ackwards and Belly Up, four girls find themselves with some decisions to make right before going off to college. The dilemma begins with Harper, who isn’t going to college because she wasn’t accepted at her dream University (and hadn’t applied anywhere else). But that isn’t what she tells show more her three best friends or her family – too ashamed to admit she didn’t get in, she instead tells everyone that she’s going to stay home, move into the basement, and work on the next great American novel.

Her “decision” prompts some deep thought in her friends and two of them decide they need to follow their hearts as well. Sophie decides to move to Beverly Hills to try her hand at acting – she’s got the attitude and the looks and the burning desire to be a star. Then there’s Kate, the one you’d think would be least likely to change her plans and do something daring…which is exactly why she decides to travel Europe and find herself instead of going off to Harvard.

Only Becca finds herself sticking to the original plan and leaving home to attend college at Middlebury. But she’s been tasked with a huge life-altering goal as well: fall in love. Coming from a very dysfunctional family, letting herself go and letting someone in is harder than you’d think.

Each chapter focuses in on a different girl as she tries to fulfill her dream and overcome obstacles that at times seem very intense. Readers will turn the pages eagerly (I know I did) to find out what will happen next. Will Harper get together with Mr. Finelli (her former teacher and longtime crush)? Will she get past her writer’s block and self-imposed writer’s blindness to actually complete her novel? Will Sophie accept second-class treatment from a rising movie star (who, admittedly, is really, really hot) or will she stick up for herself? Will Becca fall for Stuart or languish in unrequited love for Jared (formerly Kate’s boyfriend)? Will Kate find the strength to find herself in Europe or will she give in to her parents and become the “perfect daughter” again?

I feel like I’m reducing this great book down to some silly clichés, but that’s what you get sometimes when trying to reduce a book down to a short review. The book itself is NOT riddled with trite situations or phrases, though it easily could have been. Instead, it is a true pleasure to read with an honest, real-life feel. I really enjoyed this one and I think you will too. Recommended for readers aged 12 and up. Some sexual situations are included, but nothing overly explicit and not at all gratuitous. show less

I grabbed this book as something quick and mindless to read before I got back into the other series I am reading and it was suprisingly enjoyable. I didn't think I would like it as much as I did. It is compared a lot to the sisterhood of the traveling pants series, which I had no interest in reading so I didn't expect much out of this, but it draws you in. It is inspiring and kind of depressing. Everyone had dreams but not everyone has the means to be able to make these dreams come true. I show more feel as though the girls in the book were able to try to achieve their dreams too easily. It makes me kinda of wish I had done something like that when I graduated high school. But its never too late and I look forward to reading the sequal. show less

I thought this book was quite awesome - it was like The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, but more mature. I liked the differences this one had from the Sisterhood books - that it was a few months long and not during the summer, that it was post-high school, that the girls all had to go their separate ways into the real world, for good, and that it was about going after their dreams, no matter how difficult it may have appeared to be, which is something that I and many other people can show more relate to. The story was funny and real and inspiring. show less

This book follows four best friends after they graduate high school. Initially, these girls all planned on going to college, but this changed when one of the girls, Harper, gets rejected from NYU. Instead of admitting to her friends that she got rejected from the only school she applied to, she tells them she is purposefully taking the year off to pursue her dream of writing the next great American novel. This sparks a revolution among her friends, and soon Kate and Sophie don't want to go show more to college either. Kate, the perfectionist, doesn't have a dream yet, but she plans on finding it as she spendss the year backpacking around Europe. Sophie, ever the dramatic one, goes off to LA to pursue her dreams of being a famous actress. Becca, the only one still going to college, is given a dream of her own to accomplish: she must fall in love. So what if they turn their lives completely upside down? They always have each others backs.

I've heard that people say this is the "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" for older readers, and I agree with that statement to a certain extent. The premise is certainly similar, but this book seemed to lack the spark that made the "Sisterhood" books so wildly popular.

I enjoyed this book. It was a good way to spend time. But I still never felt anything for the characters. They were nicely developed, with faults and strengths, but I lacked an emotional connection.

I would have to say this book is forgettable. While reading it, you don't notice anything lacking, but when you finish and reflect, you realize it wasn't that great. I might read the sequel though, if I'd happen to come across it. show less