Review: A Tale of Two Besties: A Hello Giggles Novel by Sophia Rossi

A Tale of Two Besties: A Hello Giggles Novel by Sophia Rossi
Publisher: Razorbill
Release Date: May 12th, 2015
Purchase: Amazon

Best friends. BFFs. Soul twinsies. Whatever you want to call them, Harper and Lily were born to be besties. With high school just around the corner, casual-cool Cali girl Harper and awkward, always-costumed Lily make sure to text each other every day about their bond:

Harper: I love you so much that I am going to sneak out of detention to pay that guy from Craigslist $100 to cut off all your hair for my secret collection.
Lily: I love you so much I’m going destroy everyone in your life that matters and force you to depend and love only me.
Harper: That sounds beautiful. I love you.

Not even the threat of different high schools could throw this BFFship off-course, even if Lily begs her parents not to send her to the “dreaded Pathways," a special school for creative types, while effortlessly-popular Harper attends Beverly High with the rest of their class.

But in a city where fitting in means standing out and there’s nothing more uncool than being cool, it’s the naturally charismatic Harper--with her blond hair and perfect bone structure--who finds herself fighting the tide of American Apparel’d teens who rule the school. Meanwhile, it’s the perpetually “gawkward” Lily--who accessories every ensemble with a pair of tattered fairy wings--who finds herself flying alongside the queen bees of Pathways. Can BFF-ship survive the tidal wave of HS drama, or does growing up mean leaving some friends behind?

My Thoughts:
A Tale of Two Besties is just that, a story about two best friends trying to survive high school.  What makes this story stand out, at least for me, is that it isn't about romance and first love.  This book is about friendship and how hard it can be to keep those friendships in high school.

Harper and Lily have been best friends for a long time and their freshman year where it should have been all about them being together is about them trying to navigate high school without each other.  Lily transfers to a new artsy school leaving behind her bestie and shield from the world.  Harper has always been the more outgoing one and so Lily knows her life is over.  They make a pact to always stay the same and to always be there for each other.  Unfortunately things don't go as planned and life takes the girls in two separate directions.

I really enjoyed this book.  I should clarify there is a romance, but it isn't the main focus which I appreciated.  I think younger girls need to see more stories about friendship.  It's so hard to keep your friends especially through high school and I think reading a book where they can identify with the characters is huge.  I wish I had had this book when I was in high school.  It might not have saved me from the fights or heartbreak, but it would have helped me understand that I wasn't the only one even if the other people were fictional characters.

The author did a really great job with the storyline.  I honestly never saw Lily as the one that would break away first and it was intriguing to see both POVs.  Was it all believable, no but that was okay because the core storyline was believable and one I felt emotion for.  I wanted Lily to stand up for herself and I wanted Harper to understand that life does move on.  And even though I wanted separate things for each of them I still wanted them to be besties for ever!

I had two problems with this though...1.The way Lily and Harper talked got to be a bit annoying and 2. Money   I'll start with 1.  I have always had a hard time with books that make their teenagers sound older than I am and this book does that.  I can't imagine myself much less a freshman in high school talking the way they do in this book.  It felt pretentious at times and just too wordy at others. I would have personally connected to each character better if their dialogue had been a bit smoother.  2. Money...These kids were rich and I mean it felt like Kardashian rich.  I didn't care for this and it didn't fit with the story in my opinion.  I would have preferred a simpler toned down story, it would have felt more genuine to me.  As it was I felt a bit disconnected when certain scenes would take place and a little uncomfortable.  This could just be me though. Maybe kids do talk that way and they have all kinds of money I don't know, but in my household we don't have either.  So for me I would have liked that all toned down.

Those two things even though they sound major didn't take away the story for me.  I still fell into this and liked it.  I overlooked a lot because the writing was really good and the story itself reminded me of how hard it is to keep friends and how we should all fight a little harder to keep the ones we have.

3 snowflakes