This book was kind of a surprise to me. I saw it in Books-A-Million and I was drawn to the cover (it sparkles) so I bought it on a whim. After I bought it, I regretted it and almost took it back. My laziness, however, made sure that didn't happen and I figured I should at least give it a chance.
**SPOILER ALERT** Skip to the end if you don't want the book to be spoiled for you ;)
The book starts off with a twist. Autumn is cooking a meal for her father who is returning home from a business trip. She is attempting to make up with him after a big fight they've had about him moving the family to Florida to be closer to his mother. As the Falls family gets ready to leave for the airport, Mrs. F. gets a phone call and finds out her husband has been in an accident.
Flash foward and we find out that Autumn's father died in a car accident and her mother forced them to go through with the move anyways. Autumn is less than pleased about living in Florida and having to switch schools. She makes a friend, JJ on the way to school on her first day which is of course a relief for her. She embarrasses herself in homeroom by being a klutz and I strangely liked this. Clearly Autumn is not perfect. She's not some flawless girl who glides through life and let's everyone else fight for her. She's realistic. A cute guy in her homeroom, Sean, is kind enough to help her and is the only one there who is nice to her. Autumn makes friends with JJ's friends and things are looking up.
Unfortunately for Autumn, the attention she is getting from Sean makes her the number 1 enemy of the school's queen bee who was now determined to ruin her life. Autumn goes to visit her "crazy" grandma who gives her a "magical" journal which was a gift from her late father. Supposedly anything she wished for in it would come true- unless it just couldn't (like bringing someone back from the dead). She realizes soon enough that there is purpose for using the journal.
Personally I was nervous about the aspect of a magical journal, but it wasn't insane. Unicorns weren't running around town and crazy stuff wasn't happening. Autumn wasn't even sure for most of the book that the journal was magic. Almost everything it did could be explained as coincidence. I just like that it wasn't overly used. I like that there was a little bit of romance but it was completely believable for high schoolers. It's not like "oh I've found the love of my life who I'll be with forever," like in a lot of books. I also like that her love life is a mess. I mean what high school girls' isn't? I think some of the bullying was exaggerated and the fact that the queen bee would go through all of the trouble to make that website seems a little far fetched, but what do I know? But boy were these kids so mean to this girl when they just met her. Who does that?! It was kind of infuriating.
Also, I know Bella Thorne is dyslexic and I am really glad that Autumn is too. I think this is such a good forum for being open about dyslexia and encouraging those who have it and informing those who don't. I was really happy about that.
Overall, I think this book was a good read. It kept me interested and it was fairly fast paced. It ends in a way where there is closure, but there is also an opening for it to continue (which I hope it does). I'd really like to hear more from Autumn and her crazy group of friends.
I give it 4 stars and look forward to more from Bella Thorne.
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