Customer Reviews

Be Strong & Curvaceous (All About Us Series, Book 3)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I thought this was a really cute book. I enjoyed reading it and I would recommend it to any young lady. I found the book easy to read and the storyline interesting enough to keep my attention even though it is geared towards younger women. I have not read the entire series but this book was good enough that I think I would like to read them all now!

When we are teenagers, sometimes a little younger, we tend to pretend we have things that we do not have; unless you really do have it and flaunt it in people's faces. It is not to be better than anyone else, but to fit in. Be Strong & Curvaceous by Shelley Adina helps one to clearly see it is not always easy to juggle the real you and the one you allow others to see.

Carly Aragon is a scholarship student at Spencer Academy. She is offered the chance of a lifetime to be a part of the Design Your Dream committee. In order for her to make the type of dress she envisioned, Carly had to do something none of her friends were aware of and her father was against. It was this secret that would come in handy when Mac, her roommate, shared with her some disturbing emails. When Mac makes Carly promise not to tell anyone, Carly relies on God for his instruction on what she should do. Would Carly be able to hold onto to all the secrets she is keeping or will she explode from it all?

Be Strong & Curvaceous is the third book in the All About Us Series by Shelley Adina. This was the first book I read in the series but I did not feel like I was missing anything from the other books; except that I am curious to read what other adventures the students at Spencer Academy have experienced. I recommend this book to teenagers and adults. There is a lesson in there we all need to learn.

Jennifer Coissiere
APOOO BookClub

Review by Jill Williamson

Carly Aragon gets the chance to help with the big school fashion show. Since her dream is to be a fashion designer, she does everything in her power to make this work. But that means getting a part time job to pay for the fabric she'll need to make the dress. But she doesn't want her friends--or enemies--to discover that she's a scholarship kid. When a stalker starts harassing her roommate, will Carly be able to do what's right and keep her new friend?

This was my favorite All About Us novel so far. I related to Carly because I was a poor scholarship kid and I wanted to be a fashion designer. But that wasn't all. Even though Carly struggled with it, she remained true to herself despite what anyone said or did. I liked her character a great deal and was so glad I got to see more of her in the fourth book! Way to go, Shelley Adina. What an awesome series this is! Highly Recommended.

Perfect for : Personal reading, book club read

In a nutshell: This is a great book for adults and young adults alike. Carly Aragon is instantly likable, and her room-mate Mac has a quick wit about her. As a reader we learn that she is a talented fashion designer, and that she is at the Spencer Academy in San Francisco on a scholarship. She returns from break to find that she has a new room-mate, and later finds that her room-mate has a secret, and is in need of a friend and some help! Throw in a little faith, a little romance, and a little intrigue and action, and you have a perfect story!

Extended Review:
Characters: You've got the girl who deserves to be there, her close and supportive faith-filled friends, the new-girl, the popular girl, the cute guy, the nice boss, etc! The characters in the book have been written and developed in a way that makes you feel that they have come to life.

Story-Line: Carly struggles to hide the fact that she is at the school on a scholarship, and that she needs to earn money to pay for extras. Crushes and popularity issues abound throughout the book, and are something everyone can relate to, no matter where you went to school! Carly also struggles to hide the fact that she is a scholarship kid, her dad is "no one" and she is not privileged like some of the other kids (expensive vacations, top brand name clothing, etc). When her new room-mate arrives, she learns to be a better friend, and must make some important choices that will impact the life of her new friend.

Readability: A fun and quick read - very enjoyable!

Overall: A great book for any age, but probably something a young adult girl would love as she would see that other people experience the same things . . . minus the Prada and LV high fashion items!

The Review

In the continuing reviews of the It's All About Us Series, this is my review of the 3rd book in the series. The first book is It's All About Us, the second is The Fruit of My Lipstick, and the fourth is Who Made You A Princess?.

All of our favorite characters are here in this story and we get to meet a new one, Mac. She's true European Royalty! But, despite the "gang," this is Carly's story, how she becomes a Christian and how she grows in her relationship with God. Carly shares with us:

"It's not the brain," I said quietly. "It's the heart. I felt like mine was going to explode. And not in a cardiac-arrest way." I waggled my hands, trying to gather the right words. "A love way."

As Carly struggles with her popularity, parents' divorce, and financial difficulties, she turns to God to help her with each hurdle. What Carly remembers to do and reminds the reader is showing thanks for God's grace. Here she prays:

"You are here with me, Father. Thank you for helping me see that. Thank you for this class and for letting me discover something that I really love to do."

She learns to see the big picture and how God has a plan for her life, even to the smallest details. One thing that I was reminded of today is that God loves a challenge and we can trust him with those big hurdles and the little details. In this book, Carly's adventure reflects just that!

As I've commented in the other 3 reviews of this series, I appreciate Shelley Adina's efforts to provide our tweens and teens with a positive message and good, clean read! She puts God at the center of the hearts of her heroines and nothing can be better than that!

On Sher's "Out of Ten Scale:"


I love love love this series and for my review of this Fiction: YA-Christian, I am going to rate this book an 8.5 OUT OF 10.

Everytime I read a book in this series, I really wish I could have gone to boarding school for my high school years. At the very least, I wish I could have lived the live the girls at Spencer Academy get to enjoy. It sounds majorly fun with designer clothes, never ending spending accounts, glamorous lifestyles. At the same time however one gets worried that the characters could end up superficial for being used to that lifestyle. That being sad it was really nice to see that there was one girl among them that lived a rather normal lifestyle. Carly is at the school on scholarship plus she has to get a job in order to support the lavish lifestyle she wants to keep. She's ashamed that she can't afford the same things her friends do so she keeps it a secret from them. I wish though she had been a bit more open to her friends. I don't think they would have condemned her for what she had to do although it's very understandable that teens are worried about what their friends think of them.

This was probably my favorite book of the series so far. The mystery and suspense sequences in the book were written wonderfully and really held my attention throughout the story. Mac's stalker was really scary. It's very frightening to think that situations like that happen all the time. I really liked seeing Mac's character grow throughout the book. I also loved how she's the only one that was able to put Vanessa in her place.

In addition to the great clothes and the fun lifestyle, there's also once again a great sense of diversity in this book which I love. I wish more books in the Christian fiction genre were like this without resorting to typical stereotypes. Also while there's a Christian message within the story it is neither preachy or pushy. The girls share their faith but respect that not everyone will be open or accept it all the time. These girls are a total blast to be around. It's really one of the best YA series that's out there today, Christian or secular. VERY HIGHLY recommended.

Although this is the third book in the All About Us series, each book is a novel in itself. Be Strong and Curvaceous was my intro to both the series and the author and what an intro it was! By the time I had read to the end of chapter two, I loved Gillian, Lissa, and Carly and knew I would have been thrilled to have been friends with them as a teen (or just had this series to read). In this particular book, Carly Aragon is the focus and we're given a peek into her mind and heart.

I have to say that the author did an excellent job with the characters - when it came to Carly, I felt for her and with her as she struggled with being the odd one out in a school full of rich kids.

There's nothing boring about Be Strong and Curvaceous. Besides dealing with the social and roommate drama, Carly finds herself in the situation of being the confidant of a girl who is being stalked and is receiving some pretty creepy and disturbing emails. Her newfound faith in God may be tested much sooner than she expected.

I think any teen girl would love this series - it's one of the best clean YA chick lit books I've read, ever! Definitely comparable and much better than some of the secular young adult chick lit that is so popular right now. I highly recommend it! And don't feel guilty about reading and enjoying it yourself. :-)

Be Strong and Curvaceous is the third book in the 'all about us' series - but it was also very good as a stand alone. The hardest thing about reading it first was just getting the cast of characters set in my mind. Carly, Lissa and Gillian are all students (juniors) at Spencer Academy in San Francisco. They have just started the spring term and upon arriving back at school, Carly discovers that she has a new roommate - "Mac" who we later discover is Lady Lindsay MacPhail, daughter of the Earl of Strathcairn. Mac isn't at the school long before she publicly humiliates Vanessa Talbot (the "it" girl at the school) and puts up a wall that Carly isn't sure she wants to negotiate. Adding to Carly's confusion is that she just became a Christian and is sure that this isn't the Christian thing to do! Mac could also help her reach her goal of designing a dress in the Design Your Dream Event - if only she hadn't taken on Vanessa. To make matters worse, in seems like Mac also has her eyes on Brett, Carly's crush!


This book has romance, rivalry, responsibility, friendship, adventure, and most importantly God! I want my daughter to read it so that she can see that she can talk with God in any and all circumstances - even boys! This would be a great read for a teenage girl. I can't wait to get the first book!

Be Strong and Curvaceous by Shelley Adina is the third book in her It's All About Us series. The series takes place in an elite high school, Spencer Academy, in California that is attended by the children of the rich and famous. Carly Aragon was admitted as a scholarship student to boost their minority quota, but she doesn't want the friends she's made to know the truth about her financial troubles. Carly's troubles are just beginning when she gets a new roommate named Mac who just happens to be a titled Lady from Scotland and has a royal sized chip on her shoulder. Throw in the upcoming fashion show for which Carly wants to design a dress which will hopefully get her an internship with a fashion designer and catch the eye of school hottie Brett Loyala, and you have a jam-packed plot. Carly is a terrific protagonist. She wants to honor her parents, but she doesn't always agree with their ideas, so she struggles with respecting them. She's also recently come to faith in God which is giving her some must needed self-confidence. Mac quickly zeroes in on Carly's insecurities, but as the story develops, so does Carly. Adina gives this story additional depth with a stalker storyline and moves this above and beyond your standard young adult chick lit fiction. It's a quick, terrific read.

Be Strong & Curvaceous is a fun book for any teenager to read. I only wish there had been books like this when I was young. The Author, Shelley Adina has a B.A. in Literature, an M.A. in Writing Popular Fiction, and countless manuscript pages. Shelley is a world traveler and pop culture junkie with an incurable addiction to designer handbags. She knows the value of a relationship with a gracious God and having Christian friends.

Be Strong & Curvaceous is a story about a girl who is no afraid to stand up for what is right and wrong. This is the type of book that any teenager would enjoy reading. It will keep them entertained from page one to the ending. This book is about love, friendship, importance of good grades, respect for parents, love, and most of all about a relationship with God.

The book takes place in a boarding school where each day is new and exciting. A great book to help you escape into another world...but learn very important things every teenager needs to know.