Not bad. Nothing phenomenal. ( )

This book was awesome! :D
I absolutely fell into it and wasn't able to get out until the last page was turned.
Too cute and loveable. ( )

Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.com

Although I sometimes get irritated by the label of "chick lit" as a book genre, I'm going to be my own oxymoron and say that PLAN B by Jenny O'Connell is, indeed, teen chick lit. And that I also really liked the book, thoroughly enjoyed it, in fact, and can now no longer say "chick lit" with my previous snobbish sneer.

Vanessa has her life all planned out. All she has to do is survive the next nine months of senior year at the prestigious and private Cabot Academy, ace her SATs, and then spend a year touring Europe with her best friend, Taylor. After that, she'll be more than ready to enroll at the same college in Connecticut that her boyfriend, Patrick, attends, and life will be perfect.

Except life isn't perfect, and it's the definite fault of Reed Vaughn, Hollywood "It" guy, the most good-looking hottie to have graced the planet with his existence in the last several years. Taylor is already ga-ga over him, and although Vanessa can appreciate his good looks, she's not entirely sure about his appeal. Appeal is the last thing on her mind, though, when she finds out that there's more to Reed Vaughn than meets the eye--he's actually her half-brother, the son her father never knew he had.

As if a previously unknown sibling wasn't bad enough, Reed is coming to stay with her family in Chicago. Even that wouldn't have been so bad, if not for the fact that Reed is also a senior, will also be attending Cabot Academy, and will, without a doubt, ruin her life as she knows it. Now school is going to be as messed up as her home life, where tensions are running high between her parents and the lack of regular phone calls from boyfriend Patrick is driving Vanessa insane. How can she possibly survive this last year of high school with a celebrity brother, a maybe-cheating boyfriend, a disgruntled mother, and a shell-shocked father? All the plans she's worked so hard on getting perfectly arranged might just have to go out the window--and it will be time to put PLAN B into action.

This is a fun story about friendship, family, love, and loss that will have you remembering the ups and downs of having a sibling, and the trials and tribulations of getting ready for college. PLAN B is an engaging, entertaining read from a talented new author, and you won't go wrong by picking up a copy. ( )

Vanessa has her life all mapped out. She'll finish her senior year at her private high school, spend the summer traveling across Europe with her best friend, Taylor, then join her boyfriend Patrick at Yale, where the two will continue their wonderful relationship as if the year-long separation had never happened.

What Vanessa doesn't plan on is learning that she has a half-brother who is not only coming to live with them, but just so happens to be a famous television actor. To say that Vanessa does not look upon this new development with excitement is an understatement.

While this book read quickly, I found Vanessa to be a somewhat annoying heroine. From the moment she learns that her brother Reed is coming to live with her family, she holds an irrational hatred toward him. Other than the fact that he is disrupting her only-child status, I was never sure why Vanessa held such bitterness towards a guy she'd never met before. And this bad attitude only improves in small degrees by the end of the book, her feelings toward Reed changing only begrudgingly.

Too, the premise of a famous actor coming to live with you and disrupting your life was given short shrift. Reed remained pretty much a background character - we never got to know much about him. Why he had to be a famous actor rather than just some random guy was never quite fleshed out. I felt this area of the story was left unexplored.

In the end, this book was only okay for me. I'm not really sure what the point of the story was. While Vanessa learned that sometimes things that you don't plan on can turn out to be okay, the beginning premise was never played out to its fullest. ( )

This novel was a great story about how sometimes life doesn't have to be so controlled and planned out. Sometimes, the best things in life happen when we choose not to plan, or when things don't go our way. That is definitely what happens to Vanessa and though she struggles and freaks out about all the changes.. which is completely understandable. I don't think I could ever grasp the concept of a half brother but then again, I don't have such artistic parents or that kind of lifestyle to begin with. But still... it's a fun story about life of a senior in high school. And for those who still remember those days, or living it now... well we know how stressful they can be without so many other unexpected changes thrown our way. O'Connell proves to be a great writer who knows how to get at the things that teenagers worry about and reassures us throughout it. ( )