Hannah Lee

Hannah Lee
Winter White
Jen Calonita
Realistic Fiction
Just Right
Just Finished

1. The ending of the book was unexpected, just like in Belles. Both Mira and Izzie end up attending cotillion even though they were planning on not going after another fight erupts between them and their dad. They go to cotillion and Izzie is surprised when Brayden is called out as her escort even though they are fighting. Throughout the book, Brayden hasn't been standing up for Izzie when his mom verbally attacks her. In my mind Izzie's anger is justified but it's not all his fault. His older sister Dylan, a troubled teen has been meddling in their relationship and seems to set them up for failure all the time. At the dance though, when Izzie sees Brayden standing there and realizes he finally stood up to his mother as she wanted him to take family friend and Izzie's enemy Savannah, she forgives him for the most part. Mira on the other hand is faced with the tough thought of appearing at cotillion with an understory escort instead of Kellen, her crush and only friend at the moment. She accuses Kellen earlier in the book of selling a painting of hers to a newspaper to ruin the family's already tainted image. Kellen is really offended of her accusation even though she only said that because she was upset and confused. When it is revealed that Callista, her dad's campaign manager is the one who actually is leaking everything to the press, Mira does her best to apologize but it's not enough to get her former escort back. The night of cotillion someone tells Mira to go to room 14 where she finds Kellen waiting for her, and he agrees to be her escort. The last straw that finally makes Kellen forgive Mira is when she paints a picture and asks the barista at the coffee shop he frequents to hang the art up for him to see. He sees it and surprises her at cotillion where they have a great night. The book ends with a bang though as the family is preparing for Christmas and Kellen surprises Mira with the news that he might have to move to Detroit if his dad's work is relocated there. Both of them are very upset. As the family collects outside to turn on the Christmas lights that had been hung outside, a woman walks up to them, a woman who looks nearly identical to Izzie's mom. Izzie is stunned when the woman claims she is Izzie's aunt, which is where the book ends.

2. I really loved this book. I liked even more than Belles, which I loved as well. I couldn't put it down and it was full of surprises and plot twists. I think that one of the main reasons I loved this book was because of how understandable the character were. Even though all of the characters made mistakes, they pretty much always redeemed themselves. It shows that their hearts were in the right place when they made whatever mistake they made and tried to make up for it. With the exception of Callista who is a terrible person for trying to ruin Bill's career and destroy their family. Even though when she leaves she tells Mira that a magazine is interested in her modeling, she doesn't really show any remorse for doing what she did. Another reason I loved this book is because it always kept me guessing. I never expected what happened next which is something I really like in a book because a lot of books I read are really predictable.

3. I think a main theme of the book is forgiveness. Every single one of the characters in this book do something they regret, and they try to earn other people's forgiveness. Mira breaks Kellen's trust when she accuses him of selling her painting because money is tight in his house. Callista breaks the whole family's trust by selling their stories to tabloids to make them look bad. Even though the family doesn't forgive her, I think that if they gave her the chance, she might try to gain their forgiveness. Brayden is constantly trying to earn Izzie's forgiveness each time he messes up and doesn't stand up for her. In the end Izzie forgives him because she's a naturally forgiving person even when she probably shouldn't have. The biggest person trying to gain forgiveness is Mira and Izzie's dad. After all the scandals that the family is exposed to, he does his best to earn Mira and Izzie's forgiveness. It's not accepted right away and it actually takes longer than it should have but more things happen that cause the girl's to be less inclined to forgive him, like all of the rumors that are passed through the press.

4. My favorite character is probably Kellen. He's a great guy, and someone who I never would have pictured Izzie being with but I think that they're a really good pair. They're really different people but share a love of art which really inspires a great relationship. I don't really imagine them being a couple for too long as they're a little too different to get along well, but I like Kellen as a person. He is constantly forgiving Mira for judgmental things she says or does. It was also really sweet for him to surprise her with a rose and tux on the night of cotillion. He didn't have to forgive Mira for all the terrible things she says but he does, which makes me admire him a lot.

5. My least favorite character in this book was Callista. She was super sneaky but I only disliked her at the end. She pretended to be the girls' friend and confident when really she was taking all the things they said in confidence and used it against all of them. She ends up ruining Mira and Kellen's relationship and almost destroying Bill's career and relationship with his daughters. I think that what she did was really despicable. Everyone trusted her and she broke that trust and used it against them. I pretty much liked her for the whole book but when the girls figure out that it's been her I was really upset that someone would be that devious.

6. The ending was kind of random, at least the part where Izzie's aunt comes. It came out of nowhere and was completely unexpected. I wonder what kind of impact she's going to have in the third book, but I'm guessing it's going to be a big one. I didn't expect Kellen to have to move either, even though as I look back now clues were dropped a bunch of time. Kellen is acting odd previous to the announcement, and earlier in the books he talks about how his dad's work might have to move their family to Detroit. I hope he doesn't end up moving because I really like his character and him and Mira as a couple. I was expecting the both Mira and Izzie to get their boy's back, as they both really love each other, it's just they've had a lot to deal with. All in all this ending was a mix of expected and unexpected, similar to the ending of Belles.