Mates, Dates, And Designer Divas (Turtleback)

This book is about three best friend girls. Their names are Nesta, Lucy, and Izzie. Nesta is on a three-hour train ride. However it takes longer than Nesta had planned. She was dreading the ride because there was nothing for her to do. Until she spots a guy that she takes interest in. She goes into the lady¡¯s room and when she comes out her seat is taken by an old grandfather. Nesta feels sorry to ask the grandfather to leave, therefore, she stands for the two-hour drive to the next city. When the train reaches the city, people start to leave. She notices that there is an empty seat across of the boy she had taken interest in. She goes over to the seat and she accidently trips and lands in his arms. She apologizes and she sits down. The boy's name is Simon Peddington Lee. They start talking and they start to like each other. Afterwards, when she finally reaches home, she told Lucy and Izzie all the details. Simon asks Nesta to go horseback riding with him. Nesta quickly replies, ¡°great.¡± When she gets to the stable, she sees Simon. However, he wasn't alone. He came with his sister and his friend. His sister's name was Tanya and the friend was Cressida. Cressida looked like some kind of stink was under her nose. From there on Cressida has been ruining the good feeling that Nesta had felt when she was with Simon. Nesta also overheard Cressida saying that Simon was only in a relationship with Nesta because Simon wanted to be different. He felt different because he was with a Jamaican and half Italian. Nesta really felt sad. She also has been competing with Cressida because Simon and Cressida are from a high-class rich family. It was hard for Nesta to catch up because of her budget in her wallet and the financial problems at home. Later she finds out that a relationship is based on trust and love not money and the things she buys or has.

I liked this book because it showed you the regular teenage problems and how you are able to solve it. For example, how Nesta asks her mother for money and her mother turns her down. Nesta's solution is to go and get a job. Which of course she was unsuccessful. Also these girls have the same problem that most of the girls right now have. Something like, what am I going to wear when I see him or how does my hair look when none of that is important. Sometimes girls have hope that boys will look at them for their accessories, but they find out that they don't.

The quotes that I took interest the most is," Trust me to go and fail for someone who lives on the other side of the planet." This was on the back side of the book. Another quote that I took interest in was," I felt full of hope. Possibilities." This was on page 127.

My favorite part of the story was when Izzie, Lucy, and Nesta are friends again after a quarrel. Then they realize friendship is too hard to lose over a guy or anything else that seems unimportant. My least favorite part was when Cressida said those mean things about Nesta in the ladies room. Also I did not like how Nesta danced in front of everyone and how she made herself the center-of-attention when that day was Izzie's moment. I thought that it was pretty selfish. I understand that she was drunk but she should have taken responsibilities for her actions. Other than that I thought that this was a great book to read for one's pleasure.