ARC Review: Where it Began

Author: Ann Redisch Stampler

Pages: 369
Format: ARC
Source: Simon Pulse (Thanks Ann)
Rating: 3.8/5

Summery:
Sometimes the end is just the beginning.

Gabby lived under the radar until her makeover. Way under. but when she started her senior year as a blonder, better-dressed version of herself, she struck gold: Billy Nash believed she was a the flawless girl she was pretending to be. The next eight months with Billy were bliss...Until the night Gabby woke up on the ground next to the remains of his BMW without a single memory of how she got there.
And Billy's nowhere to be found.
All Gabby wants is to make everything perfect again. But getting her life back isn't difficult, it's impossible. Because nothing is the same, and Gabby's beginning to realize she's missed more than a few danger signs along the way.
It's time for Gabby to face the truth, even if it means everything changes.
Especially if it means everything changes.

Review:
I've always believed that the ending of a book is the deciding factor as to whether it's a meh book or a good book.  This book was gearing up to be a meh book, but then ther was the ending.  And it completely changed my mind.

This was a good idea from the start, and while the writing wasn't the best I've ever seen, it was still a pretty good book.  It had a really, really good story line and the staging was amazing.  And the ending.  Wow.  Don't even get me started.  It has got to be the best ending ever.  And I've read a lot of books with really good endings.  But it wouldn't have been that great it Stampler hadn't staged it in the very beginning of the book, and you have to give her full credit for that.

In most of the books I've read, I usually like the moms.  In this one, I have to completely opposite feeling.  I hated Lexi's mom.  All she cared about was Lexi looking good and being popular.  Even when she was in the freaking hospital her mom wasn't worried about her, she was worried about people seeing her.  And while I will admit that Lexi did screw up pretty bad, she still deserves better than that.
Even with her obvious issues, I still really like Lexi.  She screwed up, and now she's trying to fix it, and I really respect her for that.
Now, if you have a severe aversion to hate, you might not want to read this next part.  Because I hate Billy more than I have hated anything in this world.  He is the perfect example of a boy you want to stay away from. He is the meanest, most controlling, self-centered *********** **** ********** **** I've ever seen (I didn't actually swear, I just held down the key randomly :P)

All in all, a pretty good YA debut.  This book really produced feelings I haven't felt in a while, pretty much the negative kind, because there are some characters in here I don't like at all.

Huge thanks to Ann Stampler for sticking with me when I was bugging her for an ARC of this book.  I really appreciate it and thanks so much. :):):)