Author: Ann Redisch Stampler
Publication Date: December 31, 2013
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Goodreads
From Goodreads:
Emma is tired of being good. Always the dutiful daughter to an overprotective father, she is the antithesis of her mother -- whose name her dad won't even say out loud. That's why meeting Siobhan is the best thing that ever happened to her...and the most dangerous. Because Siobhan is fun and alluring and experienced and lives on the edge. In other words, she's everything Emma is not.
And it may be more than Emma can handle.
Because as intoxicating as her secret life may be, when Emma begins to make her own decisions, Siobhan starts to unravel. It's more than just Dylan, the boy who comes between them. Their high-stakes pacts are spinning out of control. Elaborate lies become second nature. Loyalties and boundaries are blurred. And it all comes to a head at the infamous Afterparty, where debauchery rages and an intense, inescapable confrontation ends in a plummet from the rooftop...
This explosive, sexy, and harrowing follow-up to Ann Redisch Stampler's spectacular teen debut, Where It Began, reveals how those who know us best can hurt us most.
“I made you and I could undo you in three minutes. Two online.”
Reading Afterparty is like watching a train wreck in front of my eyes. We know that things will go bad, like very bad , yet we can only watch it without doing anything.
Emma, the ultimate good girl, is the new girl in Latimer, school for the riches in California. She has trouble fitting in with the rest of the school, except with the other new girl, Siobhan. Siobhan is wild and borderline crazy, but she is the perfect best friend for the new Californian Emma. However, their friendship becomes more dangerous as Siobhan spins out of the control, and Emma can’t help but getting carried in. When lie becomes the second nature, sneaking out of night is a given, and her best friend becomes a stranger… Emma must confronts herself on the choices that she makes.
In the beginning of the book, we get a passage of fastforward Emma on the rooftop confessing to the readers that she just killed her best friend. I must give brownie point for Miss Stampler – what a brilliant way to open the book with a bang! Then we are introduced to Emma and Siobhan’s first meeting and the beginning of their toxic friendship. Peer pressure at its best.
Siobhan. You will wish that you’d never get into her bad list. Self-destructive and insane at times, it’s clear that Siobhan needs professional help. This girl is losing her grip and I can’t help but feel sorry for her sometimes. She tries to protect herself so bad by clinging onto promises with her friends, the ‘pacts’, and pretends that everything is a game. The queen of denial and self-destruct.
The characters are very well-thought, with their flaws, values, and imperfections. While I didn’t really connect with any of them, I did feel sympathy towards some of them. The main plot nicely progresses although the sub-plots didn’t really work for me. The whole drama with Emma’s extended family in Canada felt a bit pointless because there is no real resolution in the end. Personally, I feel that the story could do better with resolved subplots of the side characters, but I understand that the whole book intends to put spotlight on Emma and Siobhan’s friendship.
Fans of Go Ask Alice would love this book. Overall, what I enjoyed the most are the fun, strong voice of the main character and the original plots. If you go for Afterparty looking for excitement and crazy ride, I think you will have more luck with this book.
If things aren’t looking a whole lot better for both of us by the end of the year, we should jump off a tall building.”
“Sign me up.”
“You’re in,” she says. “Pact.”
Reading Afterparty is like watching a train wreck in front of my eyes. We know that things will go bad, like very bad , yet we can only watch it without doing anything.
Emma, the ultimate good girl, is the new girl in Latimer, school for the riches in California. She has trouble fitting in with the rest of the school, except with the other new girl, Siobhan. Siobhan is wild and borderline crazy, but she is the perfect best friend for the new Californian Emma. However, their friendship becomes more dangerous as Siobhan spins out of the control, and Emma can’t help but getting carried in. When lie becomes the second nature, sneaking out of night is a given, and her best friend becomes a stranger… Emma must confronts herself on the choices that she makes.
In the beginning of the book, we get a passage of fastforward Emma on the rooftop confessing to the readers that she just killed her best friend. I must give brownie point for Miss Stampler – what a brilliant way to open the book with a bang! Then we are introduced to Emma and Siobhan’s first meeting and the beginning of their toxic friendship. Peer pressure at its best.
Siobhan. You will wish that you’d never get into her bad list. Self-destructive and insane at times, it’s clear that Siobhan needs professional help. This girl is losing her grip and I can’t help but feel sorry for her sometimes. She tries to protect herself so bad by clinging onto promises with her friends, the ‘pacts’, and pretends that everything is a game. The queen of denial and self-destruct.
The characters are very well-thought, with their flaws, values, and imperfections. While I didn’t really connect with any of them, I did feel sympathy towards some of them. The main plot nicely progresses although the sub-plots didn’t really work for me. The whole drama with Emma’s extended family in Canada felt a bit pointless because there is no real resolution in the end. Personally, I feel that the story could do better with resolved subplots of the side characters, but I understand that the whole book intends to put spotlight on Emma and Siobhan’s friendship.
Fans of Go Ask Alice would love this book. Overall, what I enjoyed the most are the fun, strong voice of the main character and the original plots. If you go for Afterparty looking for excitement and crazy ride, I think you will have more luck with this book.
If things aren’t looking a whole lot better for both of us by the end of the year, we should jump off a tall building.”
“Sign me up.”
“You’re in,” she says. “Pact.”
3 cups of tea!
Love the crazy ride, but could be better.
