Customer Reviews

Who Needs Boys?

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

 

 

Ali is beautiful, and she knows how to handle boys. However, her confidence is shaken when her father unexpectedly cancels her trip to his place in California for the summer. Suddenly without plans, Ali decides to join her friends working at a farm stand. There she meets Tad and his older brother Rand. Tad is her age, and treats her with disdain. He thinks she is a prissy little princess who doesn't know how to work. Ali doesn't care-she prefers his older brother, Rand. When Ali goes on a camping trip trip with Rand, Tad, their family, and her friend Natalie, she finds out what a jerk Rand really is. Is it possible that Tad....a mere boy....might be the guy for her?

At first, the chance to spend the summer working on a farm holds no appeal to Ally; after all, she is going to go see her dad in LA, finally, and she is so not into dirt, even though there might be the chance to see boys. For a girl in an all female school, that's a big deal. Then, her plans crash and burn, so Ally is forced to either face a summer all alone while her friends work on the farm with boys or finagle herself a job with them, despite all the slots being filled. Her finagling is successful, therefore, Ally soon finds herself teamed up with the best worker on the farm, who happens to be the younger brother to both her teacher and the hottest of the guys there and has a real attitude problem in regards to her. Tad seems to consider her fluff, and a waste of his time. Well, that's okay, his very fine brother likes her, even inviting her on a family camping trip with him. Despite not being an outdoors person, Ally accepts. Then, a chance comment or two, a bet, and a bit of kindness change everything.

**** Like Ally, the book itself is more than it seems. Her lostness and neediness will speak to the young readers who are in a broken home, and her triumph will give them hope. With the feeling of an old fashioned romance from years ago, Ally and Tad's story is heartwarming on multiple levels. ****

Fourteen-year-old Allie Morrison is ecstatic about leaving boring Massachusetts behind, and heading to hot, celebrity-filled Los Angeles to spend the summer with her father. Sure she'll miss her three best friends, Frances, Blue, and Natalie - all whom have summer jobs working at their Latin teacher, Sam Novak's, shop Sam's Farm Stand - but getting to see her father is going to be a blast. That is, until Allie's father calls to say that the trip is cancelled due to his pregnant wife's latest ailment, leaving Allie on her own for the summer, with no father, or mother - seeing as how her so-called loving mother isn't ever around for more than 5 minutes at a time. Luckily, Allie is able to find a position working alongside her friends at Sam's Farm Stand, where she is quickly assigned to work with Sam's fourteen-year-old brother, Tad, who is nothing more than a turd. Allie prefers Rand, Sam's eighteen-year-old brother, who makes her mouth water at the mere sight of him. Now, if he would only start to notice her.

Stephie Davis has a knack for creating characters that every teenage girl can relate to. Her true-to-life situations bring each story she tells to life, and make the reader feel as if they are reading about themselves, or their best friend. Her hip prose will appeal to pre-teen and teenage girls, as they will feel as if they are being spoken to, rather than spoken down to, which is always a plus when choosing books. A fabulous book that MUST be read by all.

Erika Sorocco
Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper

In Massachusetts, fourteen years old Allie Morrison looks forward to spending the summer with her father in Los Angeles. Since her parents divorced, she rarely sees him. For that matter she never sees her mother either though she lives with her. Mom is too busy at work or on dates so Allie lives on frozen pizza. While she is in California, her best friends, Blue, Natalie, and Frances all have jobs at Sam's Farm Stand, run and owned by Latin schoolteacher Sam Novak.

The day before she is to fly to the West Coast, her father cancels the trip claiming his pregnant wife is ailing. A despondent Allie has no mom around to empathize with her. Allie manages to get work at Sam's Farm Stand. Sam assigns her to work with his younger brother Tad who is Allie's age. He is nasty to her besides being too young; his eighteen years old brother Rand is much nicer towards her and the right age. As Allie adjusts to field work from being a teen Fashionista, her three friends bet stuffed bras as to whether she becomes the girlfriend of the younger brother.

WHO NEEDS BOYS? is a fabulous young teen angst tale starring a terrific lock key protagonist. The story line focuses on Allie, inadvertently abandoned by her parents, but the consequences of feeling discarded are powerful and deftly described in her philosophy of life: be dumped or do the dumping rather quickly. Though a confrontation with mom deals to easily with the estrangement, young adults will appreciate Stephie Davis' fine tale that requires Natalie the runner needing a boyfriend, preferably a non-athletic nerd.

Harriet Klausner

I loved this book!! I loved everything about it. I think that the author did a really good job with it. I look forward to buying this book. This book comes highly recommended from me!! You wont be left disappointed..trust me!! Enjoy!!

Blue, Frances, Allie and Natalie are best friends who each tell their story in the four book series "A Girlfriend's Guide to Boys." Young teen readers will surely see and feel their own uncertainties and triumphs in the adventures of these appealing girls as they explore relationships with family, friends, adults, - and boys. Rowe's voice dances lightly with humor, mischief and compassion as each girl tangles and untangles her emotions and missteps and longings. But the tone darkens in Allie's story. Of the four friends she seems initially the least likeable. She is beautiful and knows it; she is preoccupied with clothes and manicures and the idea of boys; she's doesn't like to study; and worst of all she is oblivious to how superficial she seems to other people except her friends.

But her glamour and determined cheerfulness are a front; her protection from more rejection. Her home and her heart are broken. Alone, she struggles mightily to keep her pain inside, unable to see that she is surrounded by good people who do care about her, even her Mom. And Tad. Lot's of conniving, including a hilarious camping trip with Tad's extended family, is required for Allie to see beyond the "hot dude" and bee stings, and trust the good stuff that ends the book.

Rowe cleverly enlists Allie's buddies to show her that she doesn't need white shorts and lipstick to be happy - and yes, a really nice boyfriend helps, too. Rowe deals quietly and honestly with divorce, and presents Allie's fear of rejection with sensitivity. Allie's gradual transformation from annoying loser to genuine girl friend should inspire all teens who are touched by divorce. A great read for all young teens!

This was a cute read...it's part of a series though. and is the second to last.

This was the first book I've read in the little series thing with these 4 friends and their boy problems. I enjoyed but it's not like my favorite book or anything. I would, however like to know more about Frances and Blue's boy issues, you know? Before they got the older men, what was the foursome like? So I might decide to read the other books that belong in this series, but I'm not sure yet.

Not worth the time or money at all. The plot is very pointless with nothing interesting or exciting. The story is about a spoiled brat who gets everything from her absentee dad and dating-holic mother. She is the type of girl who doesn't believe in long term relationships and likes older "men". Until, of course, she meets Tad and falls in love with him.
Terrible! don't waste your time with this one.

I guess it's ok since the book at least has a story but omg, it was SOOOO bland. it's like drinking soup but realizing it's just a bowl of plain water with maybe a tad of salt. i didn't finish the book because i was bored out of my mind. i tried SO hard to stay awake and focus on this horrible book, but it didn't last... omg... it's just so horrible