Feb 21, 2013

Blog Tour: Review & Giveaway -- Barbie Girl by Heidi Acosta

Barbie Girl by Heidi Acosta (Baby Doll #1)
Publication date: November 1st 2012
Genre: YA Contemporary Romance
 

Synopsis

The only thing that 17 year old Barbie Starr wants to do is graduate high school so she and her little brother, Everett, can get out of Alabama. She doesn’t care about the rumors that are spread around about her like wild fire. Rumors are nothing new to her. Sure, maybe she could change her reputation, but why bother. She is leaving Alabama as soon as she can. That is, if she can pass algebra and graduate.

The only thing Dylan Knight would like to do is go through high school unnoticed; he has had enough of the drama that is high school. He took the whole of last summer to bulk-up: finally he is not being called names or being shoved into lockers. He wants to remain on the outside of the circle of constant rumors that surround the so-called popular kids who get all the attention. He would not, however, mind if his long time crush Katie took notice of him.

But it is Barbie who notices Dylan and she offers him a deal he can’t pass up: if he helps her pass algebra, she’ll help him get the girl of his dreams. Dylan agrees, but, as it turns out, nothing is simple when it comes to Barbie. Somehow, she can’t help but draw attention to herself — and to him. Soon Dylan finds himself tossed into the whirlwind of rumors that seem to follow Barbie everywhere. Can he save his reputation and still get the girl of his dreams? Or will Barbie be the one to break through his carefully-built facade.

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My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Background: Told from the point of view of two completely different high school students, Barbie and Dylan. Barbie is a girl from the wrong side of the tracks and the lifestyle that comes with it. She is just trying to finish high school, grab her younger brother, and get out. Dylan is a high school nerd just looking to get through another year, when Barbie needs a math tutor to pass her class. He is swept into her crazy life and they bond when Barbie tries to repay him by trying to hook him up with the girl of his dreams.

Review: This book held a lot of ups and downs. Acosta did a very good job putting this plot together. The storyline makes the reader think and love and hate and laugh very easily. I have been reading more contemporary YA romance stories lately, and this one was a very fun one to read. The characters are entertaining. They are snarky and sarcastic and trying to shield themselves from the dangers of high school and the cliquey groups that exist in them.

I found the beginning very slow moving and the boy/girl alternating point of views a little confusing. I read this as an e-version and I am not sure if later there are subheadings to tell readers of the changes, but I would begin reading a chapter in her voice and realize it was not Barbie at all but really Dylan. I think this was my only issue and it made me go back and re-read a bit.

Barbie Girl is a book about learning about others and perceptions about others. I think that the romance and the YA drama were all kind of afterthoughts to this main aim of: don’t judge a person by rumors and their appearance. It was very thought provoking.

Book Trailer




 

Giveaway #1

One (1) ebook copy of Barbie Girl. Open internationally. You may let your winner know to expect their prize the week of March 11th.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway #2: Grand Prize

The giveaway is for a swag pack of goodies that relate to the book.
a Rafflecopter giveaway


About the Author

Heidi Acosta was born on Long Island, New York. Moving around a lot when she was younger, she has lived in New York, Arizona, New York (again), Washington, Georgia, and Florida, in that order. Each place offered her something special, but she will always consider New York her home.

Heidi started writing as soon as she could spell. When she was three, Heidi’s mother gave her a copy of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House in the Big Woods; thus beginning her lifelong love affair with literature.

Writing soon also became a form of therapy for Heidi, when she realized that no matter what was happening in her life, she could find emotional escape while writing. Some of her earliest stories featured her as a princess who explored new worlds with her horse Buttercup. If it sounds romantic, it wasn’t, there was no prince charming in those fairy lands (boys where yucky).

Heidi now resides in Florida with her husband, very active daughter, one hyper Chihuahua, two sweet cats, and one very fat moody cat.

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