Book Review: Take a Bow

NOTE: This is completely unrelated to any of my ARCs that I try to review. But I'm going to do it anyway.

So this book is called Take a Bow. It's by Elizabeth Eulberg. If her name sounds familiar, that's because she's also written Prom and Prejudice and The Lonely Hearts Club. This book is about four people at a very rigorous prep school for performing arts-talented teenagers.

There's:
Carter, a former child star that longs to be normal.
Sophie, a performer who will do anything to be a star.
Emme, a shy songwriter who lives in Sophie's shadow.
And Ethan, a close friend to Emme with a darkness inside his head he can't shake.

So some time ago I read Prom and Prejudice and I absolutely loved it. Then I read Lonely Hearts Club since I was developing a serious writer-crush on Elizabeth Eulberg. Then Take a Bow came out.

I decided to read it. And while I read it, I kept my standards ridiculously high. Eulberg's new book was not allowed to be a flop. It was to be perfect.

And guess what?

It was. I could not put the book down. I read it in 2 and a half hours when I should've been studying for the test in one of the classes I probably had.

Of all the many numbers I could probably list of amazing things about this book, here are 3:

*Character bashing and slight spoilers, maybe. Ye have been warned.*

The first thing I loved was the way Eulberg made me feel about the characters. I instantly sympathized with Emme and being constantly put down by a frenemy. I pity Carter for feeling like he was trapped in a life he doesn't want. I worry about Ethan and all the darkness he thinks he can't escape. And I flipping hate Sophie and every inch of her snobby guts. Every time the point of view shifted to her, I was all:

Not at Eulberg, but at Sophie. Since I hate her.

The second thing was the secondary characters and how they added that extra OOMPH to a story. For example, there were the two members of the band "Teenage Kicks" Jack and Ben, along with Emme and Ethan. Jack known for "predicting" their future after they graduate and Ben for being the straight man (pun because he's gay) to Jack's eccentric nature.

The third thing was the fact Eulberg made each of the character's POV chapter different than the others.  For example, Carter thought his out in script-form and Sophie had self-centered dialogue. It gave each of the characters a voice I found interesting.

So yeah. I give this 5 billion bitch-slaps-to-be-delivered-to-the-character-that-shall-not-be-named out of 5 billion.

Always awkward,
Owyn