Zabook: Lifted - Wendy Toliver

Lifted - Wendy Toliver

Simon & Schuster

Young Adult

ISBN: 978 1 4169 9048 2

Paperback: 309 pages

Back Cover Synopsis:

BEING BAD NEVER FELT SO GOOD.

Poppy Browne had never stolen anything in her life before moving to Pleasant Accres and meeting Mary Jane and Whitney. But when Poppy walks out of the mall with her two new friends and her first pair of stolen jeans, she's hooked.

Before long, Poppy is lifting whenever she gets the urge - it's never about the merchandise, it's always about the thrill. But when her secret gets out, the girl's in Poppy's clique turn on one another. As she watches her life collapse arond her, Poppy must decide where her loyalties lie... and how far she'll go to protect herself.

It it not often that I read a book from the Young Adult section of the library but I happened to see this on display at the library recently and as I had seen this book mentioned on several blogs I thought I would check the book out.

I am sure that this is a story line that many people would be able to relate to. Being the new girl in town, starting a new school, trying to fit in especially with the "cool" group, peer pressure, the thrill of doing wrong and getting away with it, you will find it all features within the covers of this book.

Poppy finds herself shifting with her mom to live in a new town. Her mother has enrolled her in a Christian school and is keeping a very close eye on Poppy and her grades as she wants to see Poppy be a high achiever and to do this she must study hard and be an A student.

When Poppy starts school she finds herself wanting to be befriended by three different girls. One is Bridgette, something of a loner who sings in the girls choir and the other two girls Mary Jane (unbeknown to Poppy, Mary Jane used to be best friends with Bridgette) and Whitney who are best friends and seem like two cool girls that Poppy would like to hang out with and get to know better. Conflicts arise as each girl tries to get Poppy's attention. She ends up befriending Mary Jane and Whitney. This leads them into tempting Poppy to join them in their shop lifting venture. They show Poppy how easy it would be to walk out of the store with a $200.00 pair of jeans she has been admiring but knows there is no way that she could afford to buy. Poppy is quickly drawn into the adrenaline rush she gets just after she has gotten away with walking out of the store with the stolen merchandise.

From then on Poppy's life starts to take some interesting turns. Her school grades begin to slip as the shop lifting addiction escalates and tends to take over her life until she can't help thinking about the next shop lifting challenge. Immediately after stealing she get the guilts and tells herself that this will be the very last time but finds that she really struggles and the addiction is hard to break. She can't sleep well for worrying about the shop lifting and how she can't seem to stop.

Interwoven into the story is also a romantic twist. Mary Jane and Bridgette try and get Poppy to attract Gabe's attention and set her up to invite him to the Sadies dance. Gabe agrees to be her partner. Little does Poppy know that Mary Jane and Whitney are setting her up as revenge to Bridgette as they know that Bridgette has always liked Gabe and intends inviting him to go to the Sadies dance with her. Poppy doesn't feel at all comfortable with the arrangement as deep down she feels an attraction to the preachers son David. Poppy doesn't seem to pay David much attention yet he still sticks around and patiently bides his time with her until the right opportunity presents itself and Poppy learns a valuable lesson in that even though you may have done wrong there are people that will forgive you and still be there for to see things through no matter what.

All in all this was a great read. One can easily relate to the main character Poppy and the different situation she is having to deal with. No matter what she faced she did her best to handle different situations and resolve them to the satisfaction of all parties. Yes something bad happened but she was able to take from that and move forward with it in a positive manner knowing that she had done wrong and had to fix it.

A very though provoking book and one I would recommend that others read.

Here is a trailer for the book.....