I still find myself tempted to read the covers of the gossip magazines at the grocery store, to watch another cookie-cutter, uninspiring chick flick or to read the mindless quick-read books. And often the pull doesn't go away once you turn 20 and aren't a teen anymore. Remember reading the teen magazines, hearing all of the celebrity gossip (not to mention your own school gossip), trying to dress well and be 'cool?' Maybe you were better than I was and didn't get pulled into that, but most teens are. YouTube | Blog | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Snapchat what I wrote on my book club blog about Pretties, and the whole series: Westerfeld knows that he's writing to teens, so he's trying to address a LOT of issues that teens face. I really enjoyed her tone and inflection.

Read by Emily Tremaine - and this was a fabulous one to listen to. I think he really did a great job of fleshing out the Pretties and their society - and note to this world, we really need to up our hoverboard game. Notably, Pretty slang is scattered throughout the book (aka bubbly!) but instead of being a sore thumb, I think it really helped immerse me in this novel. I like how different Westerfield made this one from the first. “Their reasons don't mean anything unless I have a choice.” And finally (in typical YA fashion) we have a love triangle shoe-horned in to keep the everyone guessing at who is Tally's true love. That they must fight back in any way they can. Then (in typical YA fashion), our heroine meets a bad boy who convinces her that yes, this revolution is truly worth it. Everything is foggy and is so difficult to maintain alertness. Only, when Tally becomes Pretty, it's becoming harder and harder to remember why she fought so hard to keep her mind. There (might) be a cure to the lesions and there needs to be a test subject.

They nearly killed the planet with their pollution and strip mining.humanity is a disease, a cancer on the body of the world.Tally Youngblood, despite being horrified at what was done to the Pretties, undergoes the operation herself. It only takes a twist to lock in that part of their personalities.” This operation was deemed necessary to save the remains of society - just look at the 'Rusties' - aka everyone who used fossil fuels and started wars. Everything is 'bubbly' and 'happy-making.' “Being pretty-minded is simply the natural state for most people. These lesions made Pretties incapable of anger, meanness and anything that required difficultly. Well, until (in typical YA fashion), she learns that her loving and kind government actually inserted lesions into the brain thus neutering the population. What happens when perfection isn't good enough? Undergoing the Pretty Operation - aka the mandated set of operations at age 16 designed to make everyone as beautiful as possible - was all that Tally ever dreamed of.

The pretties scott westerfeld