Good Girls

Audrey comes alive as a smart, funny, courageous person. After "the photograph," it is easy to imagine her reacting in all sorts of self-destructive ways. But almost without support, she mostly keeps it together and moves on with her life. The book is very explicit. It is explicit about first intercourse being painful for Audrey. It is explicit about Audrey having to show Luke how to wash her blood out of the sheets instead of cuddling after they have intercourse. It is explicit about Audrey loosing the support and respect of nearly everyone, including her parents, after the photo incident. It is explicit about Audrey's first pelvic exam being painful and terribly embarrassing. Yes, it is a very explicit book. Teens who have reached the point of being interested in the opposite sex should read this book. Especially "good" teens, even teens who are sure they will wait until they are married to have sex. Audrey didn't intend to do that, but she was a very good girl until her hormones overwhelmed her and she gave casual oral sex a a party. In today's world, most teens will have at least oral sex by the time they finish high school. Many will give or receive oral sex in middle school. It is foolish to think they won't. This book could give teens a realistic understanding of the dangers of casual sex without lecturing them or passing judgment on them.

Any girl or woman who's ever been called a slut will appreciate Laura Ruby's excellent Good Girls, which explores issues of sexuality, identity, gossip and friendship in the lives of teenage girls. She goes from the present, where Audrey winds up having her photo snapped at a party in a compromising moment (she's recognizable because of her unusual hair), and uses flashbacks to reveal how Audrey came to be in such a situation. Ruby has a wonderful way of describing these teenagers' approach to sexæcautious, curious, confused, and hopeful. She writes of Audrey's first encounter with a penis: "It felt like a warm and fleshy version of a video game control." The best thing about Good Girls is that it's not a morality tale. Ruby shows how the concepts of "good" and "bad," "virgin" and "slut," are often in the eye of the beholder, such as when one of Audrey's new friends, who she was sure was a slut, turns out to actually be a virgin. How Audrey deals with her family, her sortof ex-boyfriend Luke, and those around her as her reputation unravels is a fascinating read, and her resourcefulness and slowly-learned pride in who she is, is a triumph. It would've been too pat to come to a single, simple conclusion, and Ruby's plot twists and turns add a bit of suspense. Audrey is an extremely likeable character precisely because she questions herself and her motives, without the book devolving into the conclusion that she should be punished for her slutty ways. Also, there's plenty of humor here. Audrey goes to church and listens to "Pastor Narcolepsy" and gets treated by "Nurse Potato." Ruby shows that a single moment can brand a teenager, but she gives Audrey the power to reclaim herself and figure out what she wants from sex and relationships and friendships. Audrey's parents each deal with her dilemma in different ways, and her father's tension and upset over her sexuality is also very realistic. This is a must-read along the lines of forever and while it's YA, adults will also appreciate its message. I could see this book getting passed around amongst teenage girls the way Judy Blume's Forever was, because Ruby doesn't ever talk down to or lecture her readers. She's created a smart, gutsy heroine in Audrey, one who owns up to her own desires (her descriptions of desiring Luke's body never fall into the "I did it because he wanted me to" trap) while trying to figure out where things went all wrong. Ruby deals with the sex scenes without downplaying them but without overly hyping hem, and with Audrey's group of friends at varying levels of sexual activity, gives a glimpse into the range of reasons why girls become sexually active and the various outcomes their activities can lead to.

All she wanted to do was have a little bit of fun before she dumped her "friend with benefits." She wanted to take control and make him squirm. Unfortunately, Audrey ends up in the hot seat when someone snaps a pic of her in a compromising position and the pic gets spread to the worst possible sources (Um, hello, parents? I mean, ew!) and her reputation is shot to pieces. I LOVED the voice in this novel. Audrey is snarky, smart, funny, honest, fresh, and she draws you right into her world from the first line in the book. Good Girls touches on many things: loyalty, friendship, jerks, sex, even a little bit of Christianity. There is talk of the double standard of sluts vs. players, and how it affects the way girls interact with the guys they're around, and the way adults see them. Audrey is a complex girl in a complex situation, but Laura does a good job of meshing it all together to create Audrey's world. If this book has taught me anything, it's to expect the unexpected.

How can one mistake earn honors student Audrey a reputation as a slut? In GOOD GIRLS, characters explore why some girls are so-called "good" and some are "bad" in the eyes of their peers, teachers and even their families. Audrey has been hooking up with super hot Luke at parties throughout the fall. While he jokes with and teases her, she sees him talking to other girls as well. Nevertheless, they do have a great time making out in closets, rooms and outdoors. At school, though, Audrey ignores him because he's such a big flirt. She isn't ready to be another brokenhearted girl pining after him. The hookup relationship is soon not enough for her. She resolves to break it off with him, but before doing so, she decides to have one more makeout session and to do something she's never done with him before. They get so carried away that they don't hear the door open or see the flash of the cell phone camera. By Monday the picture is sent all over school --- and even to Audrey's parents! While faces cannot be seen, Audrey's beautiful blonde hair is spread out over Luke's legs, and there's no doubt who she is. Luke gets teased but is seen as a stud, while people whisper and point at Audrey. Audrey's father will not talk to her, while her mother wants to take her to a doctor. School faculty members express their shock to Audrey and refer to the picture. Audrey becomes so upset that she hits a boy who will not stop talking to her about it. She finds that even local teens who work in shops make inappropriate comments to her about the infamous picture. Her best friends, Ash and Joelle, are supportive at first. They ask what really happened with Luke during the fall, and learn all about the makeout sessions and how far Audrey actually went with him. Joelle still defends Audrey and vows to hurt the person who distributed the picture. Ash, on the other hand, changes her mind about Audrey, implying that Audrey is a slut just like school bad girls Pam and Cindy. After a big argument Audrey befriends Pam and Cindy, and discovers that the reputations they've acquired are unfair and somewhat untrue. Soon, Ash and Joelle rejoin them; the girls make up and get ready to change the impressions of the school. They wage a campaign that ends with a fun Prom night surprise. Not everything can be fixed, though, and Luke still seems to be mad at Audrey. What really happened between her and Luke? Audrey is forced to think about impressions and unfair judgments as she realizes that he's hurting too. Could she have been wrong about him? How can one picture change the way people think about someone? A picture may be worth a thousand words, but in this case it tells nothing about the point of view of the two people involved. Because of a hasty hormone-fueled party decision, Audrey goes from honors student to bad girl, whereas Luke is somewhat of a hero. The person with the cell phone is only the first of those to blame for a series of damaging acts inflicted upon Audrey. Th

Audrey Porter is a good girl. The kind that works hard to keep up her grades, spends weekends working in her dad's store, manning the cash register, and basically just being a good daughter and a good friend. Things change, though, when she falls for Luke DeSalvio, a guy known around Willow Park High School as a player. Audrey's best friends, Ash and Joelle, had warned her from the beginning not to lose her heart to Luke. But unlike her dedication to schoolwork and good grades, there's something about being with Luke that turns her brain to mush and her normal level-headedness to idiotic levels. After Audrey hears that Luke has been with another girl (as if all of his constant flirting wasn't bad enough), she decides to call off their friends-with-benefits, not-really-boyfriend-and-girlfriend relationship. Unfortunately, she decides to do this after one last hurrah with Luke, one last make-out session at a party that puts her in a very compromising situation. A situation that someone captures on their cell phone camera and proceeds to distribute among the student body. She could have ignored the millions of instant messages on her computer calling her a [...] and a ho, she even could have ignored the leers and jeers of the guys in the halls at Willow Park. What she can't ignore, though, is the fact that someone has sent the picture to her father's work email address. Or that Mr. Swieback, the principal, found copies on the library computers. Or that even Ms. Godwin, the drama teacher, seems to think Audrey is some type of sex maniac. Humiliation complete, Audrey must come to terms with her new social status, which has nothing to do with being a good girl. Along with Ash and Joelle, who have stood beside her, she forms a new, tenuous friendship with Pam and Cindy, two girls who had previously held the title as school [...]. But as Audrey realizes that she may have been wrong about the girls, especially Pam, she also realizes that being a good girl doesn't mean always being perfect. I really enjoyed GOOD GIRLS. This is a book with heart and emotion, with true-to-life characters who don't preach or moralize, but who work hard at being the best type of people they can be. There are girls like Audrey, Ash, Joelle, Pam, and Cindy in every high school--just as there are boys like Luke and the insufferable Chilly. This is definitely a book for your keeper shelf.