A Forever for the 21st CenturyPublication Date: 1st May 2007 Price: £6.99, paperbackI drop down in front of him. I can’t make him listen or understand or care, and I don’t even want to. But I want to do something. Make him feel me. Make him beg me. Make him be the naked one. And so, I do.With Luke’s low groan in my ears and my eyes shutting out the world, I don’t hear the door open behind us, I don’t see the flash of light.Imagine your most intimate moment…Imagine someone else was watching and took a photo of you…Imagine the whole world saw that picture…
This is the nightmare situation that faces Audrey Porter who, until now, was always considered a ‘good girl’ – a good student, daughter and friend. No-one expected her to be with a player like Luke DeSalvio, but when she’s caught with him doing something good girls don’t do, her whole world begins to fall apart. A humiliating picture of her one colossal moment of bad judgement is spread via mobile phone and email through her school, and even reaches her parents’ inbox.
Now Audrey must learn that although life is not how she pictured it, it goes on no matter what…
Good Girls tells the sensationally gripping story of how Audrey deals with the stares, the sniggers, and her dad insisting she see a gynaecologist. It celebrates the unbreakable bonds between best mates, reveals how priceless new friendships can emerge from unexpected places and, above all, challenges the stereotypes of what it means to be ‘good’ while exploring what it means to be true. Why is this photo the most important thing in everyone else’s life? And why is Luke considered the hero while Audrey is seen as the slut?
Good Girls is an un-put-downable emotional roller coaster of a novel – frank, fearless, funny and touching. You’ll laugh hysterically at the scene with Audrey, the doctor and the ‘salad server’, and cry shamelessly when she finally makes up with her dad. This incredibly brave story sizzles with passion, insight, humour and wisdom, and is one every girl can relate to; we’ve all dealt with wanting to be liked, with being gossiped about, ignored, jeered at – Audrey’s struggle for self-respect, love and acceptance is every girl’s struggle.
Raw, powerful and bold, yet so beautifully written it will leave you breathless, Good Girls is a Forever for the 21st Century. Sexy but not exploitative, brimming with girl-power and utterly life-affirming, this book is a must-read for teenage girls who know what it’s like to be young and talked about.
Some people would say this is the story of a photograph. How it was taken, and what happened to me after the whole world saw it. And it is.
But it's also the story of a lot of other things. A boy so beautiful he's like a punch to the throat. Best friends – the outrageous old ones and the out-of-the-blue new. It's about fishnets and eyebrow rings and a chick named Hamlet. Crying in cars and gazing at stars. Mistakes, misunderstandings and misconceptions. Good girls, bad boys, and everyone in between.
So, look at the picture all you want. I am so much more than what you see.
Audrey X
Laura Ruby grew up in the wilds of suburban New Jersey in an era predating mobile phones. She spent much of her misguided youth writing angry, angsty poems and dyeing her hair lots of colours not found in nature. She now lives in Chicago with her husband and stepdaughters. She is also the author of two books for younger readers, Lily's Ghosts and The Wall and the Wing. Before becoming a fiction writer, she held such illustrious jobs as a steward in a public library, where she and the other stewards often had races with the book trolleys, a waitress in a restaurant called "Stuff Yer Face", and a copywriter for a ‘collectibles’ company, where she waxed poetic about such treasures as porcelain fairies, Pooh bear picture frames and swivel-hipped Elvis ornaments. When she’s not writing, Laura spends her time reading everyone else’s books, chasing her cats, talking to squirrels and pestering her husband. Currently, she is working on several thousand projects, drinking way too much coffee, and searching for new tunes for her iPod. Good Girls