Hidden Gem was a great book! Queen Bee is an international popstar in Europe, Asia, and Australia, So when she goes back to states to begins high school as junior, she's Gemma Hunter. Very few people know who her true identity is. On the first day of school she meets Madison who's beautiful and popular and they hit it off right away. She soon becomes friends with all of Madison's friends and they really click. Gemma also begins crushing on Lucas, her supercute next door neighbor, also known as Madison's boyfriend. When Lucas starts to show interest back, Madison can't help but feel threatened. Problems begin to arise between Madison and Gemma and it gets tense. Aside from that, Queen Bee is gaining popularity in the states because American Superstar Hottie Tyler Chase starts seriously crushing on her and a majority of teen girls across the nation are heart broken! So now, everyone is wondering who Queen Bee really is and why she's hiding her identity, including Gemma's friends. Through all of this Gemmma needs to learn how to bring Queen Bee's fiery confident personality into Gemma's shy personality and not lose sight of Gemma and who she was before her fame!
I think that a lot of her friends needed to stick up for her. Especially against Madison! They all just let her be bullied by Madison and it kind of pissed me off. Lucas didn't do much of anything either! It was kind of frustrating! Sometimes I just wanted Gemma to reveal her true identity and put Madison in her place!
Overall, I really enjoyed this book! 5 stars! It's definitley a good book and it's only 99 cents! So what the heck right? Buy it! Hidden Gem
The price was the real reason I got this book along with a few reviews. After the whole Hanna Montana thing, I wasn't sure about the plot itself. Luckily this was so well written and easy to connect to, that I really see it as its own story. I loved that the story was unpredictable and real. I think there are some things that were a little confusing at times, too many dot dot dot type situations that never resolved. Other than that I look forward to the next book in the series.
This book was enjoyable and I loved every part of it. It is a YA Romance with great characters, wits, flairs, and lots of fashion labels! I agree with other comments so no need to elaborate it again here. Go on, buy it and enjoy it like I did. Will definitely buy more books in this series!
Wow, I hope the author got paid for all the product placement in this book, it was waaaaay over the the top. There were certainly a lot of Paris Hilton types attending this public high school. Gemma's first day of school outfit, chosen because she didn't want to "flaunt" it was a silk t-shirt by the row, hudson jeans and jimmy choo boots. Oh and let's not forget the vintage leather jacket and stella mccartney tote. That's a $3000 outfit, hey but don't flaunt it. I'm not quite sure how the poor boy contractor's son next door got to live in this neighborhood.
One of the disturbing things in this book however is the main characters belief that only the beautiful girls deserve a boyfriend. There is nothing about intelligence, personality or personal achievement. So mom's don't let your average looking, athletic, science fair attending daughters read this it will give them an inferiority complex. Oh, also mom's these high school kids have fake ID's, go to bars, drink, swear and have sex. I was a very liberal parent when my daughters were teens, but I'm not sure I would have suggested they read this book.
So, why would I give it 3 stars, because between all the miu-miu, hermes, channel, alexander wang, vita-coco, bmw, valentino, etc. etc. etc, the writing and the story line were pretty good, but not great.
Ok, so first thing I will say is, that cover is totally cool. I loved it from first glance, totally. Yes, I know, you all knew I was going to say that, right? I'm a bit on edge, slept very little in the last 24 hours, so if I'm ranting, well more then usual I mean, don't say I didn't warn you. So, considering my zombie-mode while reading it, this (e)book was actually surprisingly entertaining. When you haven't slept much, you tend to be agitated, very, very, very easily lose focus and interest in whatever you're doing, that sort of thing, you know? So I was just planning to sort of glance at the writing, just to have a teaser for the after-sleep reading session. And then, somehow, after my furtive glance, it's hours later and I read the whole thing and I'm in a good mood, a very uncharacteristic manifestation for this stage of my sleep/wake cycle. The blurb left me sort of wondering about just what in the world I'd be in for. After reading it I have two very conflicting emotions about the characters. The strongest, I will admit, is I pretty much hate in degrees, dislike in degrees or have no feelings about, basically, most of them. Except Gemma, and her brother who was just too funny to dislike, some of the "kids" seemed spoiled brats, cruel little pieces of very shiny dirt. Don't get me wrong, they are very well written, but that's what they are. Shallow, tag-oriented, snotty little brats. In this regard, reading this felt exactly like watching episodes of those awful creatures in monstrous "reality TV" shows up on MTV or whatever other place. I've never been part of their target audience, watching snotty brats has never ever been anything but highly irritating to me, regardless of their parents' financial status, their looks or whatever else.
Of course, this is a very personal view. All the signature stuff floating around was also bleh to me; I'm very much into pretty things, but very little into brands. Very, very little into brands, and very, very little into people that pay them a lot of attention, really. Now, considering my above and beyond confessions, the fact that I enjoyed reading this says a lot about the writing of the novel, really. The fact I disliked, would have liked to throttle, or just shove down a long, long flight of stairs some of the characters involved, also says a lot about the fact that I did, all in all, enjoy reading this novel. A big part of it is Gemma, and I loved her darling little heart. I really, really like Tyler, too, though there was precious little of him, and from the spoiler chapter of the next novel in the series, I get high hopes I'll see more of him. Damian was cool too.
I would, however, merrily watch Madison choke on a cactus, and I disliked Lucas even more then his high-airs/high-maintenance girlfriend, probably because there's little that grosses me out more then whipped boyfriends.
The plot wasn't incredibly sinuous, but angsty, well orchestrated, thus entertaining. The writing was good, fun, and I really liked the way it focused on particular moments, and sort of blurred over others. This is a page-turner read, no doubt. Now, my actual rating would be more a 3.5 then a 4, but I like Gemma enough to give her a + 0.5. I say give it a shot, it's interesting and entertaining, and sets the stage for really awesome next books in the series, I think and hope. - Crush - Young Adult - Jealousy - Fame'
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