7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Burnt Orange, February 26, 2006
This review is from: Burnt Orange: Color Me Wasted (TrueColors Series #5) (Paperback)
"Hello, my name is Amber Conrad," I say in my most serious voice, "and I'm an alcoholic." is the first and last sentence of the teen novel Burnt Orange by Melody Carson. Amber Conrad, a senior in high school, has always led a very religious and sheltered life due to the fact that she is a preachers daughter. She is the perfect model of perfection to many people from her church. But what do they really know?
She has never been to a true "high school party" in her life, until her senior year. Where she just has a few drinks to fit in. After that one party Claire Phillips, a popular girl in school, begins to try to be Amber's friend. A lot of people don't like Claire because they think she is an alcoholic, her step dad is rich, and she gets what she wants. As they get closer and closer and go to more parties, Amber's drinking habits begin to spin out of control. Amber gets a fake ID, goes to wild parties, and doesn't act like herself at all. At the same time she strays from her faithful life that has always been dedicated to God.
Simi, Amber's best friend since day one, begins to realize that Amber is changing and begins to get worried about her. Amber has never missed church and all of a sudden she is hardly ever there, so Simi knows something is up. She tells Amber to stop, and Amber insists that a few drinks every now and then don't hurt, and she assures her that she knows what she is doing. She also says she is hanging out with Claire because she thinks Claire needs help and needs God. Is Claire really the only person who needs God, or does Amber need him too?
Finally after a lot of hangovers, rough nights, and driving drunk, Amber begins to realize she does have a drinking problem. She cuts back, and tries to get Claire to also. It doesn't work. One night after Amber goes on a date with a popular guy, Slater, from school. She gets more wasted than ever before. After spending the night with her new best friend, the toilet, she realized that she needs God more than ever. She sees that she should not being drinking and neither should Claire. She also sees everything they both risk by driving drunk.
Does Amber find her way back to God? Do they stop drinking? Does everything work out to be the best? Simi is working hard to see that all of these things happen. This book is written in language for teens to understand, and is the way many people in high school live, but ends in a way that no one would ever guess. After reading Burnt Orange no teen will look at underage drinking as they did before.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lets Party!, September 28, 2005
This review is from: Burnt Orange: Color Me Wasted (TrueColors Series #5) (Paperback)
This book is about a girl named Amber Conrad. Her dad is a preacher so Amber has lived a pretty religious and sheltered life. She is a senior in high school and has never been to a party. One day she decided to go to one even though she the parties were knew for drinking. She ended up drinking one or two drinks. She told her best friend Simi about how she drank. Simi became worried because that was unlike Amber. Amber than becomes friends with a popular girl from school named Clarie. Clarie drinks all the time and she get Amber into lots of drinking too. Amber addicted and she starts turning away from God. Will Amber stop her drinking habits? Will she loose her job? Will she keep her best friend Simi? You have to read the book to find out.
I thought that this book was awesome. It was one of them books that you can't put down. This book was never boring. It was exciting from beginning to end. I thought that Amber's friend Simi was a great friend. She was so caring and she listened to everything Amber had to say. She was also one of the only ones that was worried about Amber and her drinking.
I think that most girls that are into books about teens and their problems would like this book. I also think people who like books about people that change and make new friends would like this book.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Burnt Orange, February 16, 2007
A Kid's Review
This review is from: Burnt Orange: Color Me Wasted (TrueColors Series #5) (Paperback)
Living a life as a preacher's kid is pretty much like living a sheltered and religious life for Amber Conrad. But her life twists and turns as she starts ditching Simi, her best friend, and starts hanging out with Claire, the most popular girl in school. It starts with one little party then it turns into lies, and fake IDs to get into clubs and drinking. This perfection of Christianity is not-so-perfect with her out-of-control drinking habits. Even though she's straying away her faithful life with God, in the end, it all comes to bite her back and make her regret these things more than she ever wanted to.
My favorite part in this book is when Claire and Simi gets into a wreck on the road while Amber was driving up to where she was going to meet Claire. Yea, I know, I'm twisted. It was my favorite part because the car accident helped Amber realize what can happen to her with her alcoholic obsession. Who should read this book? I think teens who have or had drinking problems should read this book because teens who have or had drinking problems can relate to her and it will totally change any person's mind about under the influence of drinking.
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