Teen rebellion, young love, and a lot of secrets, all describe Bliss Cavendar’s life. This novel, published and released in 2009, is about a young girl, who against her parents will, does whatever she feels like doing. Even though she seems to be responsible enough to handle herself, she may not know what’s good for her in the long run.

Overall Cross did a spectacular job writing this story, with all of her “out there” characters. One of the best characteristics of this book, is Cross doesn’t care what people think her novel. She goes out of her way to make the book stand out from others. With all of the sarcasm Bliss, the main character, has, there is no way a teenager would not like this novel. This is one of those kinds of books where you could read it all in one sitting. Cross tends to talk about the things teenagers do, but probably shouldn’t.

Shauna Cross also writes a little “Hollywood” for some peoples tastes, knowing that she’s also a screen writer; people understand why she writes as she does. Cross does a decent job writing as though she’s a teenager, because no matter what, Bliss always does what her parents don’t want her to do, just as a teenager would. In my personal opinion, Cross couldn’t have done anything different to make this novel better except make it longer. I also feel like the ending of this story should have been different because it seemed a little too perfect. Throughout the entire book it seemed like Bliss was struggling through her teenage years so much and then at the end it seemed as though it ended with a cherry on top.

In my opinion, I feel like she writes with a lot of style that most people don’t have. She tends to get into the mind of a teenager more than I’ve seen from other authors. I like the way Cross uses a lot of dialogue in the novel because it really gives you some more ideas about how these characters really are. For example, when Bliss says her random facts and other weird things, you really get the feeling that she is a punk teenager that loves to have fun.
Cross has also written another book called “Derby Girls,” which is also about roller derby. It consists of all of the same characters but written at a different time. Some people tend to steer away from these two books because they think they’re “raunchy” in a way. In all honesty, I would recommend these book to readers over sixteen because there are parts that some kids under this age may not get, or understand.

I would definitely read another one of Cross’s books if she were to come out with one because I feel like she really gets and understands what teenagers like myself like to read. It’s one of those books that you can sit down and read the whole thing in one sitting. It’s not because it’s short, but it’s a very well written novel.