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liralen's review
2.0
I'm still a sucker for boarding-school books and ballet books, and although this turned out to not really be either (the boarding-school element is useful only in that it explains the lack of parents; Dani ignores ballet in favour of ballroom dance in this book, and the ballroom dance isn't actually described at all; it's all about the mystery that some incredibly idiotic fourteen-year-olds are trying to solve), I'd be okay with the direction this went in if the characters were...well...not as dumb as a bunch of boxes of bricks. Dani's fourteen and away from home for the first time, at a performing arts school that just so happens to be hosting a reality show. She auditions, and because at fourteen she's the best dancer the school has ever seen, she's immediately offered a spot...
And then the accidents start. A girl is injured and forced to drop out. Dani has an allergic reaction to peanuts from Thai food. There's a fire. There's a fake bomb. There's a teen star who Dani has a crush on and for whom she sets aside, you know, all of her personality/desires/likes/dislikes, because omg! Cute boy! Famous cute boy!
(Gag.)
So Dani's chosen for this show, which she doesn't bother to tell her parents about, because it's not like minors need permission for this sort of thing, right? She and her friends, who aren't distinguishable except that I think one of them is a racial minority (this is supposed to pass for diversity), run around sticking their noses in things and slut-shaming the bitch character (who, similarly, has no distinguishing characteristics except that she's a bitch...oh, and apparently a slut). Dani lands in hospital because of the peanut thing and her mother barely remembers to send her an instant message the next day to see if everything's okay. The police describe arson and multiple people ending up in hospital as 'childish pranks...not truly dangerous' (117). Dani is diagnosed, by her fourteen-year-old friends, with an eating disorder, whereupon she throws a hissy fit...until her roommate, who has pretty much never spoken before, cries about her sister who died of anorexia, and Dani realises that oh gosh, she should eat more! Cause like omg! And then she runs out of the room to go on her date and eat carbs without so much as an I'm so sorry about your sister. No, worse. She runs out of the room to primp and then comes back:
And then the accidents start. A girl is injured and forced to drop out. Dani has an allergic reaction to peanuts from Thai food. There's a fire. There's a fake bomb. There's a teen star who Dani has a crush on and for whom she sets aside, you know, all of her personality/desires/likes/dislikes, because omg! Cute boy! Famous cute boy!
(Gag.)
So Dani's chosen for this show, which she doesn't bother to tell her parents about, because it's not like minors need permission for this sort of thing, right? She and her friends, who aren't distinguishable except that I think one of them is a racial minority (this is supposed to pass for diversity), run around sticking their noses in things and slut-shaming the bitch character (who, similarly, has no distinguishing characteristics except that she's a bitch...oh, and apparently a slut). Dani lands in hospital because of the peanut thing and her mother barely remembers to send her an instant message the next day to see if everything's okay. The police describe arson and multiple people ending up in hospital as 'childish pranks...not truly dangerous' (117). Dani is diagnosed, by her fourteen-year-old friends, with an eating disorder, whereupon she throws a hissy fit...until her roommate, who has pretty much never spoken before, cries about her sister who died of anorexia, and Dani realises that oh gosh, she should eat more! Cause like omg! And then she runs out of the room to go on her date and eat carbs without so much as an I'm so sorry about your sister. No, worse. She runs out of the room to primp and then comes back:
I spun around to model for Bev. "How do I look?"The reader beats her head against the wall and prays never to read a girl this oblivious in real life.
Not surprisingly, she didn't bother to look up, let alone answer, which was kinda sad, given what we'd just shared. But really, what did I care? I had a date with Nick! (245)
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