Review: "ttyl" by Lauren Myracle

Review by Ariel for The Librarian's Bookshelf

This funny, smart novel follows the friendship of three 16 year old girls as they experience some of the typical pitfalls of adolescence: boys, queen-bee types, a flirty teacher, beer, crazy parents, and more. Lauren Myracle has a gift for dialogue and characterization, and the girls emerge as three distinctive and likable personalities through their Internet correspondence. This light, fast-paced read is told Entirely in instant message format, the first book ever for young adults to be written so.

I loved the format of this book! I don't usually read books in different formats, so this was a nice change of pace. However, this book kind of disgusted me. I don't normally dislike a book so strongly, but it bothered me how much these girls were being ridiculous. The one girl was only focused on sex, and dating the "perfect" guys. Another girl started flirting with a teacher even AFTER both of her friends said it was a bad idea! And all three of them were just plain catty when they started fighting. Basically, I feel like teenagers are painted terribly in this book. But I do plan on reading the others in the series in the hopes that they will improve!

Release Date: April 1, 2005

Publisher: Amulet Books

Genre: YA Fiction

Series: Internet Girls #1

Pages: 234

Format: Paperback