Beautiful Americans by Lucy Silag (Review by Angela)

Summary:

PJ: Penelope Jane’s fluent French comes from being raised near the Canadian border, yet now this troubled, stunning waif will use it to escape forever.
Olivia: She may be a born dancer, destined for success. But that doesn’t mean scholarship-worthy grades and long-distance boyfriends are easy. What’s that saying about best-laid plans?
Alex: With a tough-love New Yorker mom and absentee dad, this snarky fashionista is anything but innocent. While seducing the guy of the moment, she could be in for the worst fall of her life.
Zack: Now that he’s away from his conservative Southern upbringing, lovable, handsome Zack can have almost anything he wants in Paris. But what if what he wants most is…another boy?

Review:

This book was ok, but not one of my favorites so far this year. Beautiful Americans is told equally by each of the main characters, so the reader gets to see the thoughts of PJ, Olivia, Alex, and Zack. The book seems like it might go well when the four arrive in Paris. They meet at school and form a loose friendship, with Alex and Zack becoming immediate best friends and PJ always unsure whether to hang out with them or not.

However, the book goes downhill from there. Alex becomes totally unbearable, as she is shown to be a complete narcissist with no regard for who she is hurting or how much she is spending. Her whole story involves whining about some preppy boy not liking her and how her mother cut off her credit card (she is used to getting whatever she wants). I’m not even sure how she got into this “study” abroad program, as she always has to get Zack to say things for her in French to waiters and others. PJ has a more intriguing story line (she gets to live with a famous, rich, dysfunctional French family), but she is stuck in the past. She is the character with all the secrets, and she is constantly reflecting on them and mostly ignoring anyone who tries to be nice to her. The reader gets little pieces of PJ’s secrets throughout the book. Olivia is the goody-goody turned rebel who at first misses home and her boyfriend back in the U.S., but soon starts keeping secrets from her parents and possibly falling for another guy. Zack is a mostly likable character who doesn’t really do that much. Like Alex, he’s worried about getting a boyfriend, but that’s about it. The one character I like, Jay, isn’t in the book much but seems like a genuinely caring and understanding guy.

The characters do a lot of partying and hanging out. It seems like they’re there more for vacation than to actually learn anything (I know this is true for Alex). However, the story does get a little better near the end, accelerating to a mild cliffhanger involving PJ. For a debut novel, Beautiful Americans is actually pretty well-written. Hopefully the sequel (out in fall ‘09) will make the characters a little more likable and have a better story line as well.

~Angela

You can buy Beautiful Americans here.