Read My Lips

by Teri Brown

Popularity is as easy as a good secret.

Serena just wants to fly under the radar at her new school. But Serena is deaf, and she can read lips really well-even across the busy cafeteria. So when the popular girls discover her talent, there's no turning back.

From skater chick to cookie-cutter prep, Serena's identity has done a 180...almost. She still wants to date Miller, the school rebel, and she's not ready to trade her hoodies for pink tees just yet. But she is rising through the ranks in the school's most exclusive clique.

With each new secret she uncovers, Serena feels pressure to find out more. Reading lips has always been her greatest talent, but now Serena just feels like a gigantic snoop...

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Teen, Chick Lit, Disability, Young Adult Romance

238 pages, Paperback

First published June 3, 2008

About the author

Well behaved women rarely make history. Teri Brown lived that quote way before she ever even heard it. The two things she is most proud of, (besides her children), is that she jumped out of an airplane once and she beat the original Legend of Zelda video game. She is a novel writer, head banger, pet keeper, math hater, cocktail drinker, booty shaker, book reader, city slicker, food fixer, French kisser, rule breaker, wine sipper and word scribbler. She loves her husband, kitties and chocolate.

Reviews

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very creative spin to the whole girl-wants-to-be-popular story. A girl who is deaf finally has the chance to fit into school, but only if she’s willing to read lips and gather all the gossip. Besides the interesting twist, the same Popularity plot is there:

1. The protagonist is the New Girl who wants to fit in. In her entire existence, something (or someone) has hindered her route to popularity.

2. There’s a group who rules the school, AKA the bitches and/or the sluts.

3. Protagonist falls in love with either the Golden Boy—who, in most scenarios, is the (ex) boyfriend to Queen B—or Lonely Boy. Lonely Boy is usually smart, moody, and sarcastic. Lonely Boy also likes to ridicule said protagonist’s new group of “friends”. Lonely Boy also has a heartbreaking or troubling background i.e. his parents are dead and he used to get into fights.

4. Some sort of party—without parental supervision—always happens.

5. Embarrassing First Day of School.

6. To expand on number five, protagonist always BUMPS into her Dream Boy (whether he happens to be Golden Boy or Lonely Boy) and spills her drink or lunch (something very messy and can stain easily, like spaghetti and meatballs) all over him.

7. Boy and Girl fights over popularity issue. Usually, in one big confrontation where Boy goes: “You care more about those friends of yours more than me. What do I mean to you? Are you embarrassed to be seen with me? That’s it, isn’t it?” And then Girl tries to reassure Boy that it’s not the case, but Boy stalks away anyway.

8. Girl apologizes and realizes that popularity is overrated.

9. Oh yes, I almost forgot the most joyous part: the Bitchy Villain of the story gets beaten by the protagonist as they banter witty conversation. Bitchy Villain says: “You are so going to regret this. By the time I’m through with you, you’ll REALLY be nothing. Right, girls?” And while she throws her head at her supposed friends, said friends will look away, to the ground or to the walls and say nothing. Bitchy Villain’s face will turn an embarrassed red upon realizing she no longer has her trusty sidekicks, and therefore, stalk away angrily. And miserably. But still plotting her revenge.

10. P.S. They all live happily ever after. END SCENE: Smooches. Very typical.

If only real life was like that.

[Oliver · Rating 1 out of 5]

IT WAS SO BAD. IT JUST KEPT GETTING BAD. WHY WAS THERE AN ANGSTY UWU FAKE WATTPAD GOTH PICK ME GIRL FOR THE MAIN CHARACTER?????????????????????????

i cant be into goth girls now.

also, why in gods name was i reading this for asl.

i never want to hear my asl teacher read a makeout scene again. never again. this is the 9/11 of my life.

[Amelia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gave me some serious headaches but not so much that I stopped reading. It's just that it contains the bouts of insecurity often found in teenagers and it nearly killed me! Serena is likable and can be really funny, but she's also an idiot most of the time in her decisions. However, I was rather fascinated by the ending and I absolutely loved the last page. I loved the romance, even though Serena nearly screws that up, too. It's believable and I loved this fresh new twist to stories. It's the first I've seen of a deaf girl who reads lips.

Definitely worth a shot. There's plenty of humor, emotion, and drama. I loved Teri Brown's imagination.

Cover - To me, there's nothing truly interesting about the cover but it's a good concept in relation to the book. It's very literal and I love the font.

First Line - (technically, first two lines) What the heck? I stared at the small person waving her arms like a referee.

A nice opening because it leaves you hanging. You have to keep reading to find out what the heck the author is talking about. There's nothing immediately funny or deeply intriguing but it does meet the requirement of drawing the reader in.

Pages - 238

Tidbits -

* there is swearing, but it's not every page and it's what you'd expect from a teenager
* the descriptions for the kissing scenes are awesome
* keep going, even when Serena is being an idiot. She makes up for it.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is nothing particularly wrong with this book, but it just failed to stand out from other teen books to the point where it deserves more than 3 stars. Cute plot, cute writing, and a quick read, but there wasn't a whole lot of depth in the book, and it was nothing that I hadn't read before, if you get rid of the specifics.

Serena, a deaf teen who reads lips, moves with her family and begins at a new school, where she meets a group of girls. In her quest to be popular, she agrees to start reading other people's lips and sharing the secrets she "hears". She starts to feel bad about it, worrying that she's nothing but a snoop, and is also interested in a guy at the school who is a loner and thinks these new friends of hers aren't worth it.

I liked the concept of having a deaf girl reading lips to discover secrets, but the plot is pretty predictable, and I thought "typical" when it was revealed that her crush lives with her aunt and uncle - very convenient so she'll have to see him a lot. This isn't to say that I didn't enjoy the book; I did. I just don't think it was the best book I've ever read or one that I'd normally recommend to others, though there aren't a whole lot of teen books with deaf protagonists and those that can relate may enjoy it.

[Amy Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

The cover of this book is cute, simple but still pretty. I was drawn to the premise that the main character is deaf, which is so rare in books and I wanted to see how the MC would develop in writing. This book wasn't my favorite but I didn't hate it either. It did have a very Mean Girls feel to it.

Serena has just moved and is the new girl at her school. She knows she will stand out bc of that and bc of her disability, she is deaf. Just like most girls, she wants to be part of the popular clique and tells them she is an expert lip reader and can get the juiciest gossip. She winds up literally running into the cutest guy and instantly crushes on him. There's a ton of drama and things get ugly but the ending was cute.

[Vigilante · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't honestly know why I'm so drawn to these kind of books. They all seem so interesting until I realize the author has the writing skills of a 12 year old. Read My Lips seemed like such a cool book, the idea of a deaf girl reading lips and spying on people is downright evil yet perfect. Throw in peer pressure and some romance and you might have a hit! Until the reader realizes they wasted money on a poorly written book. The plot is fun and different from most other books, but its overall layout and interpretation is lacking. Along with poorly developed characters and missing details, I also found the book to have no real layout. There was barely a climax and the ending was just too good. Never let the conflicts be completely tangle free by the last page of the book...there is a rising action, climax, and resolution for a reason. These things make up a book, they should never be shrunk down to the very last page! Overall a 2 star for an amazing idea, but poor writing and character development.

[Debbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a recomendation from my 12 year old daughter, Leah. She thought it was really good and wanted to share it with me. Brings me back to highschool! As Leah says, "its about all the "itchy girls with a B". Remember the "mean" girls! What a treat! It's a good easy read.

[Logan Kuhn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. I liked how it was in the perspective of a deaf teenager. I think it was really interesting and cool.

[Veronica · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was so disappointing because this book had so. much. potential. I mean, how many YA books deal with defying the "disabled" stereotype? Um, like none. Anyways, I was excited to read Read My Lips (it was on my to read list for years) and had no real expectations for what the book would be like.
Then I read it. And was disappointed. It was just like any other piece chicklit out there! Don't get me wrong, I love chicklit, really I do, but there's a time a place for a nice, big slice of chicklit with a side of the cliched stereotypes (that have come to be expected, if not required) to go with the lighthearted fluff. But when you have such a great, unique premise(slash main character) for a book you don't need to stick to formulaic plot lines or situations! I don't need Read My Lips to be some deep exploration into the life and mind of a girl who's deaf. I get that it's still YA. But there was no substance for me to hold on to. It was almost like it didn't have want to be original after establishing a main character who was deaf. AND half the time I didn't even remember she was deaf! Not that that's a bad thing; I am a firm believer in the fact that disabilities do not define people. But the only time I remembered was when Serena's lip reading was being manipulated. Or when her hearing aids were being kissed. Weird.
Anyways, the rest of the novel was pretty much your standard, run-of-the-mill, non-paranormal romantic-ish teen fiction. New girl in town, popular clique (a sorority in high school, really?), loner-but-sensitive love interest... All resulting in the usual drama, misunderstandings, and conflicts between popularity and true "love." It almost felt like the reader was forced to sit on the emotional roller coaster for the sake of being on an emotional roller coaster. And it wasn't even a fun ride.
Serena was so insecure and desperate for attention (i.e. popularity) to the point that it was annoying. I'll let that slide since it's understandable, wanting to fit in when you feel like you naturally stand out already. But still. That could have been embraced and utilized to create an original and interesting story, while still being accessible and lighthearted. It could have been fun and different-a winning combination.
So, ranting aside, 2.5 stars for Read My Lips. I do have to admit, I may have judged it a bit more harshly than I usually would judge a YA book of this sort. It was good, not great. Generic, if not a bit forgettable. But it could have been so much more. and I think that's why I judged it the way I did. All that lost potential. It's tragical.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I'd argue that the Deaf character's ability to lip read 85% of what she saw was believable, no one would argue with the true emotion of feeling like an outsider at a new school with the added weight of a disability. I especially felt the parent child relationship was more fleshed out than in most YA novels. I'd give it a 3.5 but we can't divide stars...

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked it, it was a fast and well written teen chick lit read about a deaf girl who uses her skill of lip reading to get in with the popular crowd.

Nominee for the Schneider Family book award.

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book my cousin Shannon told me to read. I had a lot of fun reading this book! I think it was a good read.

[Karina (book obsessionist) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.6

[Cara Salazar · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book, Read My Lips by Teri Brown, was a terrible ‘realistic’ fiction about the life of a hard-of-hearing teenage girl. This book was recommended to me as a good book to read when you want to be frustrated, and after reading it I can see exactly why it was recommended to me in this manner. Upon starting the book, I actually found it to be interesting. However, as the book progressed I noticed that none of the characters have much character development or even personalities. The book often felt cluttered with needless information. For example, many useless characters were introduced at random points in the story, which could’ve been an attempt at making the world created by the author seem more real. Ultimately, this just left the reader wondering why that person was even introduced in the first place as they seem to be completely useless. They were completely useless, in the sense that they were either never brought up again, or were only added to the story as a filler. Along with the introduction of random characters without substance there was also the introduction of random events that never took place. For example, at least 3 of the chapters were dedicated to Serena worrying about homecoming, but there was never any homecoming dance and the topic was dropped after a couple chapters. Another issue with the book is that even with the characters that do stick around, they are just so forgettable that it is almost impossible to know who is who. None of the characters had any real depth or personality they all seem to blend together. I was halfway through this book and still did not know the main character’s name. The main character, Serena, was almost unbearable, when she was not being snarky, she was just plain out rude to everyone around her. With these character traits it made me root for her even less. Without being able to build a connection to any of the characters, I felt that this book was too long and dragged out. In the end, I even thought it to be completely pointless, as all of the issues were made due to the main character making bad decisions and were totally avoidable. Another part of the book that I found to be irritating was the diction and syntax. In an attempt to write in the way a teenager would, the author comes off as annoying and uncultured. For example the phrase “omigod” seemed to show up multiple times in every chapter, a word that isn't even really a word. Also, there were words that were just completely misspelled throughout the book words such as “are” and “were”. There was also the homonym mix up where the author would mean to say “they’re” but instead say “their”. Lastly, what really killed it for me was the fact that the plot was not well developed. I previously mentioned that all of the problems were completely avoidable had the main character just made better decisions, but that wasn't the only problem. Another plot problem was the pacing which seemed dragged out as the book focused on things that did not matter at all in the rest of the story, the book had whole chapters devoted to the main character worrying about nothing. Also, there is no real plot or character development. At the end of the story everything ends up the same as when it started except now the main character is popular. The book has no good message for it's target demographic of young girls. Overall, the book had no real deep meaning or lesson to be learned, and therefore left the reader feeling confused about why they took time to read this book. Overall, I found this to be one of the worst books I have ever read, however if you enjoy reading stories about high school gossip and drama then this is the book for you. People that enjoyed the show 90210 will also likely enjoy this book.

[Lamar H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read my lips by Teri Brown was a very interesting book in my opinion, although I usually struggle to finish reading books I happened to be able to finish this one in a short amount of time. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed reading Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli, The Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer or any other book in the chick lit genre. I would also recommend this to anyone who is in the younger audience because personally I believe this book is written in a simpler manner and the language and vocabulary is very simple. I also would recommend this book for people in the members of the deaf community because our main character Serena expresses her struggles of being a deaf pupil in a hearing community. Although this book has many structural flaws and is not written in the best way, I believe it had a good message and I enjoyed the overall story. Brown uses various forms of literary devices to style her literature, one that stood out to me at first was Characterization with our main character Serena Nelson, from the beginning of the story we were able to see how she is fairly introverted, has an attitude and is very opinionated “I whisked a covert glance around the room because the ‘rents had moved me to ends of the earth, I wanted to check out what kind of kids I’d be dealing with. Like being in tenth grade wasn’t bad enough.” (Brown, 2). I feel like this book is a very relatable for many teenagers because it addresses the issues that come with moving to a new school, relationships, popularity and being deaf in a hearing society. Another literary device that stood out to me in this book is the author's diction, the way Brown expressed Serena’s dialogue was very unique “What interview? I had to interview? My stomach dropped. Freaking great.” (Brown, 135). I believe that diction and characterization go hand and hand, Serena’s diction helps understand her character and personality more. Last but not least imagery is also another literary device that is present in this book, “I held it up to my body in front of the mirror. Dark purple lace held together sheer light purple panels. The shirt flared out around my hips and tied with a dark purple ribbon just below my breasts. I looked down and saw a dark purple choker with a black disk attached to it sitting on my dresser. Matched with a pair of dark jeans, the shirt and choker would be perfectly me.” (Brown, 166). The imagery Brown used not only helped me view the story in a more realistic manner, it also helped me understand Serena as a character as well. Although this book has its ups and downs I still enjoyed reading it and I would recommend this to many people in the deaf community as well.

[Alexis DiVenere · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel by Teri Brown was a requirement in my American Sign Language class and was very relatable to teenage girls. The author used a lot of imagery to explain the types of characters present and the way they acted. For example, Serena was always more of a skater chick with punk hair and dark outfits, but upon meeting the girls at her new school she turned to pink clothes. By using this imagery it was clear to see her shift in character. At first, she was carefree and true to herself despite judgment, but you can see that the way her new friends treat her causes a shift in how she acts, dresses, and views the world. Also, it was easier to see the story exactly with this imagery in place. This was shown in situations such as when Serena’s friends picked her up from her house and sped down the road, and when she went to her aunt's house and had to help take care of the dogs her aunt had rescued. Scenes such as these represented what was important to Serena, those being her new friends, her family, and the places she went. I also enjoyed the point of view. By using first person point of view it was easy to see the distinction between who Serena pretended to be and who she actually was. The reader was able to see her thought process when the girls would ask her to read lips to find out other people’s secrets, and how they would be the opposite of what she wanted (all she really wanted was to fit in). Finally, I enjoyed the plot, it was always moving forward with new conflicts. Oftentimes teen directed books have cliché problems that are re-occurring, but this book had different issues that could also be relatable because of their outcomes (ex: rumors, lost friends, etc.). There was always new drama within the school, just as any typical, and it kept the reader on their toes. One never expects Sonya to exploit Serena for reading lips, and by her doing so it actually improved Serena’s life. I enjoyed this book because of the ways the author connected with her audience to make it enjoyable to all through imagery, plot development, and point of view. I would highly recommend this book for any teen girls who are struggling in the high school social scene themselves because it can be related to situations that they go through.

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

This YA novel was a great pleasure for an Older adult to read! The pace of the story was like a roller coaster. Every chapter held a twist-- sometimes good, sometimes bad for the main character, Serena Nelson. Serena is a 15-year old new girl in school, also profoundly deaf but able to read lips exceptionally well. In her previous school, Serena's deafness was a handicap; in the new school, she was offered popularity by a group of "it Girls" for her ability to read lips in order to spy for gossip.

Serena's goal in her new school is to "fit in," even be wildly popular as the promise is held out to her by preppy sorority-girl types. What it costs Serena to fit in with the popular girls compromises a glowing friendship with a young man in her classes who is classed as a "loner" and worse. This young man happens to work for Serena's aunt at her no-kill dog shelter, so the two-- Miller and Serena-- have many opportunities to grow their friendship. But the friendship is vastly at odds with Serena's desire to make it with the popular crowd in the school. The desire for popularity also puts her at odds with her own and her parents' moral values. But the pull toward popularity is so strong. Will she do the right thing? Will her romance blossom? Will she be kicked out of the "sorority" as a loser? These questions taunt the reader back and forth until the end of the story.

The only time I thought the story dragged a little was toward the end when it took virtually a village to right the wrongs done to Serena by others and her own bad choices. But after such an interestingly tangled web of teen angst and intrigue, I can understand that it took the author some doing to untangle it. And it was an excellent read!

[Nadera Moustafa · Rating 3 out of 5]

“She has an eye for gossip” literally explains the entire book. Read My Lips interested me on how the deaf girl, Serena, is looked at as a freak, but later on, rises to popularity because of her talent of lip reading. The author, Teri Brown, used many personifications to show us about Serena’s personality. Like how her “revolting grey primer on [her] walls mocked [her]” (Brown 38). This was what Serena was thinking after ignoring her mother, and this showed that Serena had a very angered personality at the beginning of the book to think that her walls were mocking her. Because in reality walls can’t mock people… I hope not. The author also uses a lot of flashbacks to show a look into her personality like how she used to “ [hang] out at the skate park with a bunch of punks” (Brown 40). Of course, this shows things about Serena’s past, but in depth, it has a lot more meaning. The quote tells us about how she feels, and it makes the reader think. It shows how Serena is changing in the story, but it also shows the reader how she doesn’t know what to think. She was hanging with punks and now she’s with the perky girls. Seems shady. Lastly foreshadowing is very important in this story. As the girls are starting to like her, they start to use her talents even tho “ [she] knew what was at risk here” (Brown 121). This quote shows that if Serena does tell her new friends what she has learned that she could get in big trouble in the future… Is something going to happen? If you really enjoyed this book I would recommend Of Sound Mind, by Jean Ferris. A book about a kid whose parents are deaf, and he meets a girl who is in the same situation as him. Together they face many problems that come, and at the same time try to keep a friendship.

[Ronan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book “read my lips” is a book i really didn't like. There many reasons i didn't like it one being its like reading a 12 year old girls fan fiction, which is something i wouldn't force onto anyone. If you enjoyed this book you might also enjoy the book speak they are both in the girl fiction genre and are about a high school girls. In this book i didn't like Terry Brown's use of characterization of the main character Serena and many other characters mostly her friends, it made them very bratty and annoying. This made a lot of the book flat out hard to read because i was annoyed by what they were saying and doing. Another kind of literary device she used was romantic interactions. There are a few scenes in this book that were just awkward and made me uncomfortable an example of this is “ how could his lips be so soft? Softer than any lips i’d ever kissed. He leaned away but i grabbed hold of the back of his head and brought him back to me. No way he was running ” there are scenes that are more awkward then this but I didn't want to torturer you. The last piece of figurative language which made this book unenjoyable is foreshadowing. In the book it was kinda too obvious what Sonya was gonna do and it didn't surprise me at all, and the conclusion was also very predictable.

[P · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a ride, but it's not a ride that I enjoyed.

I liked Serena but not enough. I hated how she expected Miller to know about her ears and how she doesn't like them being touched. People won't know that unless you tell them.

I also hated how the plot was literally to use Serena to read lips for the popular group just to try and fit in with them. That's just a big no and don't even try and get people to do that for you.

Compared to other books I've read with a Deaf mc, this pales in comparison to You're Welcome Universe by Whitney Gardner & A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard & The Silence Between Us by Alison Gervais. Those three books were literally the best books in my personal opinion. And I am profoundly Deaf so I have my own experiences, my sister's experiences & all of my friend's experiences to look back on while reading books like these.

[Kate Stericker · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not an enjoyable book. The plot seems unstructured and lacks realism (but not in an entertaining way), the writing is weak, and the main character isn't particularly likable. The entire book relies on showing rather than telling--Serena (constantly) tells us she's a punk but behaves essentially the same way as the other characters, the romance advances to 'I love yous' despite being motivated solely by 'electricity' and constantly derailed by fights, and the individual scenes are full of hand-holding narration. It's cool to see a YA novel with an oral Deaf protagonist, but otherwise Read My Lips is a disappointment.

[Kara Sabbagh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story almost felt like a madlib. A no kill shelter, moms dead from cancer, a deaf girl, some anime, and a secret sorority. The circumstances were just so RANDOM and wild. Like I'm sure some parts of the country deal with secret high school sororities, but I've sure as hell never been there. I picked it up because the story of a deaf girl and her life of lip reading is one I haven't read before. That part didn't disappoint. Even if it was unrealistic it was interesting. The entire "prep" vs "skater punk" drama if it all honestly had me losing my mind laughing. Realistic to high school, but so embarrassing to read. A good message in the end though?

[Rebecca · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at page 147! I have had this book on my TBR since 2019. I wanted to read it because I support with deaf and blind adults in their home. Props to Serena lip reading is one of the hardest things to do I’m told! I know hearing aids are a huge conflict in the deaf community so I won’t touch on those! I did feel sad for Serena because she didn’t know any sign language but she could use her voice to speak. I just felt like she was missing out on so much communication to each their own I guess. Sadly I think I’m just too old for this book I could have cared less about the drama and Serena lip reading and finding out secrets about everyone to join a sorority.

[Kelsey Keating · Rating 3 out of 5]

I honestly didn't like Serena at all at the start of the book, and frankly I didn't warm up to her a ton, but her story was compelling. I got dragged into loving girls I thought I was bound to hate.
I felt this book is from the era of girl-bashing while pretending to be about being yourself, but in the end, Serena realized her attitude about the girls she befriended wasn't right.

Not my fave, but a fun quick read.

[Kate Bukowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a really good book, but at the end it just felt like the author gave up and tried to wrap it up as quickly as possible

[Jayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny. Loved the drama and the plot.

[Cecile · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was a good book but there was not enough drama in my opinion.

[Robin Tobin (On the back porch reading) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this coming of age YA read. I love when authors think outside the box.

[Penny · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started this book a few years ago , and i kind of liked it but stopped reading because it was slow in the middle. I picked it up again a week ago, but i'd just lost interest.....i skimmed till the end, i did enjoy the last paragraph, and the main character was okay. I liked the subject of the book.

[Colin Alexiou · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book "Read My Lips" by Teri Brown sheds light on what its like to be a deaf girl in a mainstream school and the perks and also hardships that can come with it. I found that this book was extremely disappointing. The author uses various high school stereotypes that honestly ruined the book for me. Currently being a high school student myself I found this incredibly annoying and unrealistic. The author on multiple occasions would misspell words that a stereotypical high school student would say. I felt that it would really ruin the flow of the moment in a story and it had me reading certain sentences multiple times over just to make sure I read it correctly. Don't even get me started about how similar this book is to "Mean Girls." This book however did capture what being a mainstream deaf teenager is like. It showed the struggles of having trouble fitting in and doubting yourself just because she was different than the average student. It shows how not every deaf person knows a type of sign language and uses various methods to communicate with the rest of the hearing world. For example the main character, Serena, uses lip reading and her hearing aids to talk and communicate with her hearing friends and family.

The three most used literary techniques in the book were foreshadowing, Diction, Imagery. The foreshadowing in this book was so obvious it was almost laughable. For a majority of the book that girls would gossip to each other and listen in on private conversations and specifically state that they shouldn't tell anyone and keep in all within their sorority. One to two chapters later word gets out and they are all caught for it. The overall story plot was extremely predictable it made me at times want to put the book down and stop reading. The authors use of diction was horrible. I felt like they would over use certain words and at other times I felt like there could have been better word choices. At times in the book I felt like her word choices didn't fit and just didn't sound right.
Either the author would use too many adjectives in a sentence or just use the wrong one when there was much better choices. I felt this made the book extremely hard to read and comprehend what the author was trying to convey on the paper. Lastly the authors use of imagery as the one thing in the book that didn't make me want to stop reading it. At times the imagery was quite good. For example when Serena was decorating her new room she described the paint colors and posters she would be surrounding herself with and I felt like I could clearly picture her room in my mind or when she would be leaving the house her outfit would be described and it was very vivid and clear. At other points in the book I felt that her imagery was lacking, but overall I think it was pretty decent.

Unfortunately her use of imagery wasn't good enough to score this book or a one star rating. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed the movie "Mean Girls" or any movie like that. They have many similarities to each other with this book having a few extra twists to it. It shows that fitting in isn't always easy and its not hard to get mixed up with the wrong crowd. Overall the book was very disappointing yet another book with a great potential gone to waste.