Bass Ackwards and Belly Up

It is the time for their lives to truly take flight. Best friends Harper, Kate, Becca and Sophie have graduated high school and are going to separate colleges to pursue their separate careers. But to Harper's disappointment, her future is crushed when she received the rejection letter from NYU and rather than tell her friends the truth, she decides to spend the year writing America's next Little Women. Although her gambling journey was not to be taken alone, for Harper inspired both Kate and Sophie to chase their dreams as well. Sophie blindly stumbles into Hollywood in search of the perfect audition that will propel her into the movie business, but instead finds love with the wrong actor. Leaving home with only a passport and an open road, Kate bails out of Harvard to explore the world and its broad opportunity where she hopes her dream is hidden. The only one to stick to her plan, Becca hits the ski slopes on the Middlebury team content with the only thing she feels good at, which keeps her company when her friends are far. Love comes to each girl that year and with it decisions that could change their lives, and though apart, the four friends manage to find ways to hold each other close. Bass Ackwards and Belly Up, by Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fein, is a heartfelt novel that defines the love that is intertwined in the friendship of four girls who experience their first steps into the real world. Bass Ackwards and Belly Up is made up of the four stories of the four friends Becca, Harper, Sophie and Kate. The tales of each of their separate lives makes the book a more intriguing read, one that's difficult to put down. From each girl, the reader can sometimes relate and because there are separate stories, it is easier to compare with. Thorough the hard times, together or apart, the authors do a great job of defining each character by their experiences. For instance, when Kate is robbed and Harper finishes the first fifty pages of her book, each girl is changed and reacts a different way to the events. The characters are very well developed and it makes the story much easier to imagine. Bass Ackwards and Belly Up focuses on each friend's dream, whatever that dream may be. In this way, it gives teens the incentive to chase their dreams, but still to think out what this change may hold for their futures. Through this story, the authors send a great message for teens that shows you can accomplish whatever you wish if you just give it a try. This story of four friends and their adventures as young adults is an incredible story of love, determination and the freedom to make your own choices with the burden of the consequences. I highly recommend Bass Ackwards and Belly Up to teenage girls and young adults for I highly enjoyed it myself. E. Knipp

Best friends Harper, Sophie, Becca, and Kate have done everything together since elementary school. Now they've graduated, and are about to go off to college. True, they're all going to different schools, in different cities, but they're still all having the same experiences, just in different locations. Then, the night before Becca is supposed to leave for Middlebury, Harper drops a bomb. Instead of heading off to Manhattan, she's going to be staying at home in her parents basement and writing the next Great American Novel. In other words, following her Dream. Sophie and Kate quickly hop on board the "Dream Train," as they call it, going to L.A. and Europe, respectively. For Becca, joining the Middlebury ski team is her dream, but her friends tell her she should work on expanding her horizons by falling in love. As the girls' powerful stories alternate throughout the novel, you will be rooting for all of them to accomplish their dreams. True, there are obstacles: a bitter ski coach, skeezy guys, and writer's block, to name a few. But this Dream Train is full speed ahead, and it doesn't stop for anything or anyone.

I loved this book! I enjoyed it even at my great advanced older-than-dirt age, but it would especially be great for high school age girls and as a graduation gift for any girl. It is lots of fun, but also gives sound advice as well as good moral advice without any preachy talk ... just the facts in a storyline that will enrapture them and maybe make them think twice about consequences of actions. I particularly like that whenever casual sex entered the picture, the characters reflected their feelings of cheapness and disappointment afterwards. That says volumes to girls who might think they are missing something by not "giving in". I am eagerly looking forward to the sequel to these four girls' adventures.

I can't wait for the second book!! These four girls felt like my best friends... and not just by the end of the book, but by the end of the first chapter! I loved being privy to their innermost thoughts, especially their insecurities and fears. And then, to see them try to be brave in spite of those fears, especially after they totally fall on their faces-- how inspiring! The book switches point of view between each of the four main characters, and I think this way of telling the story makes it so much fun to read and does a great job of revealing how complex friendships are. Oh, and did I mention it's FUNNY? Laugh-out-loud funny, yet it still managed to make me sniffle on more than one occasion. Read this fabulous book, and you'll know why my new motto is, "I'm on fi-ya!"

I started reading this novel on an airplane, read the whole flight, and kept reading at every available moment until I finished it. Bass Ackwards switches between the stories of four best friends, three of whom decide to postpone their freshman year at college to pursue their dreams. Usually with books like this, with several main characters, you're engaged by some of their stories and bored by others. Here I was equally interested in reading about all four of the main characters. It's engaging and fun, but it's also well-written. I'd compare it to Ann Brashares's books about the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, but aimed at a slightly older group. College students or adults would like Bass Ackwards as much as teenagers.