The Green [Kindle Edition]

The Green reminds me of why I love to read. I read this book in a matter of hours as I could not out it down. The characters are relatable and well developed. Each had their own personality that made you love them or dislike them in some way.

Ari is a high school senior living with her mother and brother in the poor area of town. She attends a nice school and her friends are on the wealthy side. Ari gets good grades and is involved with extracurricular activities at school. Her mother works two jobs just to barely make ends meet.

Ari finds herself thinking about her future and trying to pay for college. She must find a job and gets involved with selling drugs. She knows this wrong and must hide it from her friends.

The world of drugs takes her on an unfamiliar journey of chaos. Her school and sleep are affected. Ari is living separate lives full of lies. She's lying to her mother, her friends and herself. She is forced to be someone she's not.

The Green is full of moral decisions, desire, fitting in and real life issues. This book will make you wonder what you would do to support and feed your family.

This book was: I received an e-book review copy from the author.
I rate this book: 5/5 stars
Publication Date: January 15, 2012
Summary: How far would you go to save your dream?
Seventeen-year-old Ariceli Pisa is a senior at the prestigious Cambridge High School and has her sights set on Northwestern University. She's a cheerleader, a member of the National Honor Society...and a drug dealer. That's not the only secret she has to keep from her best friend Naomi--she's also madly in love with Naomi's ex-boyfriend, James Bartlett. Trying to balance her life at Cambridge High with her new demanding job keeps her teetering on the edge of disaster.

My Review:
I absolutely loved this book. You found yourself rooting for the main character from the very beginning, hoping she earns enough to pursue her dreams, to finish her school year, and move on to the college of her dreams.
I was a bit skeptical about this at first, I was like, a book about a teenager dealing drugs, the good girl dealing drugs? Unrealistic. But I was sucked into this, and just got the review copy yesterday, so I sped through the story.
The story was told uniquely, on an issue that many books don't speak about- as i've said, a teenager dealing drugs so her family can stay in their crummy basement apartment.
I also liked the boy she liked, James Bartlett, I thought he was adorable, and very well-written- I could imagine him sitting in my living room, he was that real.
Overall, I loved this book, and reccomend it to everyone- sorry my review isn't longer, but it's hard to talk about this book without giving away things!
But I can tell you one thing: right now, buy this book. It's amazing. Although, you should be 14+ or mature, since it does have strong language&drug theme.

This book is definitely off the beaten path when it comes to Young Adult fiction. It's very different and I really enjoyed it. Ari is a honors student and a drug dealer. Both sides of her are completely different and completely unexpected.

Because of the heavy subject matter, I would caution readers. While this book doesn't really depict drug use, only drug selling, it still does discuss drugs. This is very, very mature subject matter and should be read thusly.

I think the most interesting part of the book is Ari's struggle to reconcile the two parts of herself. She has dreams of becoming a journalist and newscaster. She wants to go to Northwestern, a very prestigious university. She goes in to selling drugs in order to give her mom money so that they can stay in the apartment that allows Ari to go to a very good high school. It's a hard load to bear but Ari is strong and makes it work until everything crumbles around her. But, luckily, there is redemption and it makes the ending better.

There were a couple loose ends that it would have been nice to see tied up; however, the story matter is so compelling that the loose ends really don't take away from the book.

Bottom line: This is a good book with a very mature subject matter.