Revell Blog Tour: Perfectly Ridiculous

Author: Kristin Billerbeck
Publication Date: July 1, 2012
Publisher: Fleming H. Revell Company
Series: Universally Misunderstood # 3

Daisy Crispin is at a crossroads. In one direction lies the Promised Land--life at college, away from her embarrassing and overprotective parents. In the other direction is reality--her strapped bank account, an ailing father, and family priorities. Daisy knows the "perfect" daughter wouldn't have to think twice. But maybe Daisy was never really perfect on any level, because she does not want her life to look the way her parents think it should. She won't let that stop her, though. Now that she has been given an exciting free trip to Argentina before going to college, she's thrilled--until her parents decide to go along with her. Hilarious and all too true to life, Perfectly Ridiculous gives teen girls more of what they want and love to read from Kristin Billerbeck.

I love how the title is an oxymoron in itself! How can something be perfect and ridiculous? Love it! The sunglasses are the awesome finishing touch! What more evidence do you need on the cover of a book to tell you that it is in fact a summer read? If you look closely in the lenses of the sunglasses you can see beautiful buildings and huge palm trees; the icing on the cake. I love books where the main character leaves the state or in this case the country. I just love reading about all of the culture that the characters see and become a part of!

I am still trying to decide how I felt about this book as a whole. There are parts that I loved about it and parts that I didn’t care for so much. The storyline was very realistic and could happen to any recent high school graduate. Daisy Crispin is about to head off to college and wants to have one lasting summer before she has to plunge into the books again. She thinks that going to Argentina will be the ultimate experience before her freshman year of college, until she learns that while she is there she must complete an entire week’s volunteer work for her college scholarship. She, like most teens, begrudges this at first but doesn’t quite see the beauty in it until her week is almost up.

Daisy and her best friend, Claire, go to Argentina looking to socialize and get something other than what they bargained for. Daisy is forced to volunteer in a rundown town on the outskirts of Argentina. She witnesses life as it really is for the famished and homeless there. This is an eye opener for her as it would be for anyone. She sees children who are abused and people who barely have food to eat. This was one of my favorite parts of the book because Daisy was put into a situation that was new to her and her character was allowed to grow and expand. This was a maturing process for her. She learned to cook and even though it was morbidly awful the starving townspeople could have cared less. She really grew as a person through her experience.

Daisy is also in the middle of two guys. One that she wishes would stop disappointing her and actually hold true to his word and the other who she meets while on her trip. I did not like the first guy at all, Max was his name. He seemed to have a lot of family issues and that took up a lot of his time, but I still did not like the way he handled things with Daisy. He lied to her when he had no reason to. J.C. is who she meets while in Argentina and I absolutely loved him! I think he helped to bring out the best in her. I can really appreciate that in a male character.

Now for what I did not like about the book. Well first off, Daisy’s parents insisted that they accompany her on the trip. And yes, I understand that they are only concerned for her daughter and what could happen to her, but really I believe that she should have had this experience on her own. Secondly, throughout the book Daisy would pause and the font would change to what I suppose was her handwriting and she would enter her thoughts into her diary. She was already narrating the book! I did not think it was necessary, neither did I like it. Some parts of the book were enjoyable, but there were others that I just could not get on board with.

Available July 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

***A copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for my honest review***