ARC Review: Searching for Beautiful by Nyrae Dawn

Title: Searching for Beautiful
Author: Nyrae Dawn
Publication:March 4th 2014 by Entangled Publishing
Genre: YA Contemporary
Source: Provided by the kind publisher..
Goodreads

Before, Brynn had a group of best friends, a loving boyfriend, a growing talent for pottery. She had a life. And after…she had none.

When Brynn lost the boyfriend who never loved her, the friends who feel she betrayed their trust, and the new life just beginning to grow inside her, she believes her future is as empty as her body. But then Christian, the boy next door, starts coming around. Playing his guitar and pushing her to create art once more. She meets some new friends at the local community center, plus even gets her dad to look her in the eye again…sort of.

But can Brynn open up her heart to truly find her life’s own beauty, when living for the after means letting go of the before?

-- My Rating --

3/5 Oscars: Liked it

-- My Thoughts --

     I didn't know what to expect when I started reading this book. It's my first experience with the author, but she is quite famous. And I am glad that she lived up to her name.
     Brynn was in love with Jason. Until she found out the other side of him. Now, she's alone and in shame and out-casted by all her friends. But then, there's Christian. The boy next door. And he might just be the one Brynn was looking for all along.
     The world building in contemporary novels is not quite present. But there's the scenery development, the background of the story. I found that Nyrae Dawn concentrates more on the characters themselves, not on their surroundings. Even though there wasn't much description present, I still liked Nyrae's writing style. It's simple and delicate and delivers everything to-the-point.
     Then, there are the characters. There are ones you love and ones you hate. I didn't like Brynn. She never connected with me and that is the main reason why my rating of this was knocked down a bit. She was stupid, and she fell for every single sweet thing every guy ever said to her. It felt so wrong, and I don't think someone as naive as her could exist. She reminded me of Bella, from Twilight.
But Christian was a character I LOVED. He was truly one-in-a-million kind of guy. He had his flaws, yes, but altogether, he was as perfect as you want the love of your life to be.
     The plot was a very interesting concept. I liked that the author added a lot of different subjects into one whole big one. There is abuse, pregnancy, dead parents, broken friendship, gay/lesbian society. Everything. The plot never failed to entertain me and I loved that about this book.

     The ending was a happy one. I liked that it didn't give much about the future, but it stayed to the point and gave us a joyful moment. I liked Nyrae Dawn's book and i am definitely going to be checking out her other ones.