Party by Tom Leveen

I cannot stress to you how good this book is. This, my friend, is my type of book! BOOKSALE has been a real sweetheart to me, got this for only 60pesos. Read it last night, slept, woke-up, read it some more, had lunch then finished it just a little while ago. It's 1:30PM right now.

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11 high school students, all going to this end of the school year party. Different reasons, different goals.

1. Beckett:
A troubled pasty girl who is rather shy and keeps to herself. She plans on going to the party to see if anyone recognizes her. She's going to the party for a last goodbye. You see, Beckett is planning on dropping her senior year and just work for a living. She's been living by herself for 5 months now. Her mother dead due to cancer, her father left earlier when her mom was still alive. This party is her last chance of redeeming her teenage life she deserved to have.

2. Morrigan:
Your typical teenage girl who is mischievous and got a lot of angst towards her parents. Except, she has deeper issues with them than the others. Her parents don't quite know how to make Morrigan feel loved and taken care of. It's the reason why she does a lot of her naughty antics, to catch their attention. This night of party is an opportunity to mess with her parents once more. She sneaked out of her bedroom through her bedroom window and had her BFF Ashley pick her up. With her parental issues and an ex-boyfriend who doesn't want to sleep with her, this night will indeed be a long one for Morrigan.

3. Tommy:
He and his group of five. They're all about brotherhood and having their backs for each other. Tommy is looking forward for the time of his life tonight. This party means everything to him but one of his bro Josh who is killing the vibe by being all depressed and stuff is making them agitated. Josh was dumped by Morrigan because he doesn't want to have sex with her yet. He wants it to be special and though he doesn't drink or smoke, he never bothered the gang with lectures about it. He's cool like that. So whatever happens, Tommy and the boys will have to look out for Josh.

4. Brent:
Skater boy, that's who Brent is. He and his best friend Max already graduated high school and this party is their last chance to see everyone before having their lives figured out either by college or work. Excited for the party, he is quite annoyed by Max's enthusiasm and decision to finally talk to his 3-year crush, Beckett. The decision was solely made after Max having his 13th cup of coffee that was free from his Lucky 13! promo card, you drink 12 cups of coffee and the last one is free. The night was rendered special and it couldn't be any more annoying to Brent for his best friend had 3 years and instead he relies it now to the last night of high school.

5. Daniel:
One of the 5. At the party, Daniel's goal was just to have a good time but the drama unfolds in front of him. His boys keeping a watchful eye on Josh, a possible catfight between Ashley and Beckett & drunk Morrigan yelling to her parents on the phone. Everything of that and more, all the while checking Ashley out.

6. Azize:
His name pronounced as ah-zeez, an Arab boy from Turkey whose family migrated to America is working his last shift at the pizzeria. He is a good student and a hard-worker. Of course, as any of the teenagers in the vicinity, his plan was to go to the party too. Being different made it hard for him to make friends with anybody but this night, he is hopeful. But then he got himself into something awful at the party, Anthony, a popular school jock attacked him for no logical reason.

7. Ryan:
Another dude from the gang of 5. Ryan is the player of the group. He sleeps with everybody, that is his reputation. After having sex with Bethany who is said to be fat, he lay in the bed naked and alone for a while. A few minutes later, Morrigan arrives throwing herself at him. He refuses with all his might but Josh enters the room and it paints a very different picture. Soon enough, Ryan is facing this dilemma with Josh.

8. Anthony:
Anthony, very good with his sport but the last few seasons were a failure. He's at this party with a clouded mind. His brother just arrived from the army, his brother was amputated. The situation made Anthony depressed. Taking swigs on the bottle of Jack Daniels his friend Morrigan brought, he then became violent. He went on and picked a fight with Azize. Blaming the Arabians for what happened to his brother. When Azize was very much injured, something in him says that he should make things right.

9. Josh:
After seeing Ryan and Morrigan in a very vulgar position, he went out and left the party. Josh who is very enraged is starting to lose control. Unusual events on the road unravel but the very point of this scenario is he just really wants to know if it's definitely over between him and her or if he still has a chance because he would do anything to have her back except have sex.

10. Max:
Max who tried to stop the fight between Anthony and Azize is now sitting a little far away from the party. Losing hope on seeing Beckett arrive at the party, a voice suddenly speaks to him while the cops and the ambulance arrived. His best friend Brent told him that 13 is an unlucky number but now he's sure that it don't work on him that way.

11. Ashley:
Blonde and cute, that's Ashley. Her night is a total hassle because she had to take care of drunken Morrigan and make sure she gets home safely and that eliminates the idea of her having fun and getting drunk herself. This night she finally have the chance to ask Beckett why she never kept in touch with her and Anthony for the past couple years.

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I just love things that intertwine. People will have the sense of familiarity as the story goes on with every character. I cannot fathom how good this book really is. I love it very much.

The characters were so genuine. I believed every bit of their tale, flaws and desires. I liked every one of them too. Wow. They all seem to be good people despite their group of friends or issues. I think maybe we are all good people in this world that are just tainted badly of our problems.

I have nothing else to say but hunt this book down and READ IT!



2 comments:

Helen's Book Blog | October 11, 2012 at 10:51 PM

This book has been really popular at the high school where I teach, especially since it is set in our town!

Loraine | October 12, 2012 at 9:28 AM

To Helen: Really? wow! I wish there would be a book that has our town as the setting. Thanks for dropping by and commenting. Have a nice day! =)

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