Project Sweet Life

Despite the improbable hole in the story (none of the boys' parents know exactly where their sons' "summer jobs" are other than Dave's job at the pool), this is a caper just right for lightweight summer reading.

Dave, Victor and Curtis' dads insist they get summer jobs. At age 15, the boys were hoping for one more summer of sweet freedom. They create an elaborate plan ("Project Sweet Life") to lie about the jobs they got while coming up with schemes to make $7,000 by the end of the summer without actually working. In the end their assorted and hilariously unsuccessful schemes cost them more in labor and effort than if they'd had real jobs. For the experience though, their bonds of friendship are tighter and Dave better appreciates the show more integrity they share. Well, the lying and deception aside. show less

Reviewed by Sarah Bean the Green Bean Teen Queen for TeensReadToo.com

This was going to be a great summer for Dave, Curtis, and Victor - until their dads decided they needed to get summer jobs. Everyone knows that fifteen is the last chance you get to enjoy your summer before you turn sixteen, and summer jobs are pretty much required. A summer job at fifteen is just unfair!

So instead of working, the friends decide on Project Sweet Life. All they need to do is somehow raise the money they would have gotten by working all summer, and once that's done, they get all summer to enjoy the sweet life.

But making $7,000 isn't as easy as it seems. Can they manage to hide their non-existent summer jobs from their parents? What happens when they want show more to visit? And can they make their money without breaking the law or working too hard and still have time to enjoy the sweet life?

When I first read the summary on the back of this book, I immediately thought of my brother. He's fifteen and this sounded exactly like something he would try and plan. I had high hopes for this book - and it didn't let me down!

This book was hilarious and had me turning pages to see what the next Project Sweet Life plan would be. There's plenty of mystery and adventure packed into Dave, Curtis, and Victor's summer. The best part was that none of it ever felt like it was unrealistic - I really believed that the crazy adventures and money schemes could actually work!

Author Brent Hartinger has the perfect voice of teen boys. His characters sounded exactly like the ones I know. This would make a great pick for reluctant readers, but is a treat for anyone. The story will have you laughing and cheering for the boys to get their sweet life.

PROJECT SWEET LIFE is a must-read! show less

Dave and his friends Curtis and Victor are fifteen, which is the last age when having a summer job is optional. However, when all their dads insist that they get summer jobs, they know that their last summer of freedom is now officially over.

Enter Project Sweet Life, the three friends’ attempt to make their dads THINK they have jobs while they are actually simply going to raise enough money to not have to take real summer jobs! Raising seven thousand dollars can’t be that hard, right? But as their end-of-summer deadline looms and they’re forced to lie even more to their parents, it seems as if even more and more of their schemes fail.

Will they be able to raise the money they need to have one last work-free summer, or will they show more punished by never being allowed to see one another ever again?

PROJECT SWEET LIFE is fast-paced, funny, and a bit over-the-top ridiculous. But what can you expect, when the novel stars three hyperactive, slightly ADD, and overdramatic adolescent boys? Their frenetic scheming and failing occurs at a rapid-fire case that occasionally gave me headaches, but despite the too-fast-for-my-liking plot, I found myself cheering for Dave and his friends at the end.

Not everyone may share my problem with the plot and pacing, but I found myself too suddenly thrown into the story, into these crazy boys’ minds and actions. In the course of about 40 pages in the beginning, the boys have already gone through about three tried-and-failed moneymaking schemes. The speed of their plotting made me dizzy at first, but it got better once the story settled down into the exploration of their city of Tacoma, Washington. And by the end, I was definitely caught up with what was happening to the boys. PROJECT SWEET LIFE has a fantastic finale, the kind that is not too predictable and yet sweet enough to make readers smile and nod and say, “Yes, that is what you deserve.”

Dave, Curtis, and Victor are like the Three Musketeers, each with their separate personality. Curtis is the outgoing and talkative one, while Victor is the quieter, more geeky friend, and Dave is somewhere in between. Their different personalities don’t show themselves as well as other, similar group-of-male-friends-as-protagonists novels, but since the focus of this book is on its plot, it worked out alright in the end.

So I didn’t really like PROJECT SWEET LIFE, as too-fast pace and ridiculous schemes concocted by teenage boys are not really my thing. However, this book would make a great present for a middle school boy, one who can relate to the hyperactivity and drama of three male friends scheming to make money and thwart their parents. show less

The boys continue to devise more money-making ideas that range from catching bank robbers to guessing the number of jelly beans in a jar. Each time, the Fates look down upon them and cackle with evil glee!

I rooted for the boys with each page turn, and my heart sank as they came up empty-handed in cash (though definitely overwhelming full of wild stories!). My favorite part of the story is when Victor would make up saint names to exclaim his frustration, including:

* Holy Parsimonious, patron saint of tightwads
* Holy Saint Lysol, Our Lady of Kitchen Grease

Brent Hartinger created a charming story that I quite enjoyed - unlike the raunchy Boy Minus Girl that I read a while back - and, though their schemes and lives became more and more show more outrageous, I cannot help but harbor the belief that it really could have happened! show less

The summer you're fifteen is your last summer of freedom. Legally you can get a job, but you don't have to - or so Dave and his friends Victor and Curtis thought. When their dad's gang up and insist they get jobs, the lads come up with a plan to get summer job money without getting jobs. Adventure and improbable coincidences abound as they spend the summer trying to get money without working for it.
I didn't really get a sense of any of the characters, but the hilarity kept me engrossed in this one. I'd give it to kids 12 and up looking for a funny story, fans of Gordon Korman's funny books will like this.

Fifteen-year-old Dave and his best friends Curtis and Victor are excited to spend their summer relaxing. However, then their dads throw them a curveball–all three of them must get a summer job. Dave, Curtis, and Victor believe a mandatory summer job is outrageous for fifteen-year-olds. A mandatory summer job should be reserved for sixteen-year-olds and up.

However, then the trio thinks of an idea. The three of them will have fake summer jobs. Under Project Sweet Life, they will earn $7,000, which is what they would have made if they have gotten summer jobs. However, earning $7,000 is not quite as easy as it sounds…

Project Sweet Life was an entertaining read. Every time Dave and his friends were close to earning the $7,000, something show more unfortunate would happen, and they were back to square one. The first two times this happened, I was frustrated, but after that, reading about their failed attempts became entertaining. In fact, each one was more entertaining than the last! Without spoiling it, the end included a failed attempt that completely fit the rest of the novel too. Another thing I enjoyed was how Hartinger cleverly weaved in the history of Tacoma, Washington, which is where the boys live. I found the history to be fascinating.

I had one problem with Project Sweet Life. I think Hartinger created the idea of fake summer jobs to be over-the-job, just like the rest of the schemes Dave and his friends get into. However, that does not mean that it did not bother me. Dave, Curtis, and Victor are fifteen. What 15-year-olds go through the trouble of having fake jobs?! I found the fake jobs to be a stupid and childish idea. I can’t even refer to the trio as ‘teens’ because it just does not feel right. I can only call them boys. The trio’s refusal to get a summer also made the boys seem spoiled. Is a summer job really that bad?

Despite the ridiculous factor of the fake summer jobs, I still thought the book was good. It is fast-paced, interesting, and a great read during summer. =) show less

This book is so fun! When three boys are told they must get jobs for the summer, they come up with alternate ways to make money so they can just hang out. Nothing ever goes off as planned and they have to work much harder to maintain the lie.