It's a Mall World After All: A Review

Goodreads (description):

It's too bad they don't give out diplomas for what you learn at the mall, because I could graduate with honors in that subject. No really. Since I've worked there, I've become an expert on all things shopping-related. For example, I can tell you right off who to distrust at the mall:

1) Skinny people who work at Cinnabon. I mean, if they're not eating the stuff they sell, how good can it be?

2) The salesladies at department store makeup counters. No matter what they tell you, buying all that lip gloss will not make you look like the pouty models in the store posters.

3) And most importantly--my best friend's boyfriend, Bryant, who showed up at the food court with a mysterious blonde draped on his arm.

Yeah, I saw it, and yeah, I told my best friend all about it.

You would think this would mean trouble for Bryant, but you would basically be wrong. Somehow, the evil boyfriend turned everything around, and now I'm the one who has to prove myself! But I will. Even if Bryant--and more importantly his best friend, Colton--keep trying to stop me.

My Review:

Charlotte is a strong willed girl who doesn't let anyone be mean to her. She stands up for what she thinks what's right and fights for it.

So when she sees her best friend's (Brianna) boy friend, Bryant, sneaking about with another while she's working at the mall, she is determined to set things right. And yet when she tries to tell her friend the truth, she is rebuffed and now has to prove that she is a good friend.

Bryant's friend Colton goes out of his way to stop Charlotte from ruining Brianna's and Bryant's relationship. He makes up several excuses and finally makes a pact with Charlotte that he will help her with a new NHS project if she will stop hunting down Bryant.

Charlotte holds true to her pact (for the most part) and starts to spend a lot of time with Colton while working on the NHS service project. So of course, the one person she really didn't want to fall for, she does. He also didn't want to fall for her, but he does.

So things seem to be going great, and then they change, all due to Bryant and his stupidness again.

Charlotte struggles to find out what she needs to do. She wants Brianna to be happy, and she wants Colton to still like her. She tries to make her various NHS projects and jobs work, but of course having everything turn out perfectly would be asking too much. It was interesting to see how she handled things (I won't spoil it ;) ).

Needless to say, various truths come to light and Colton realizes what's going on. All things resolved, even if some of them were bittersweet. (Sidenote, this part was actually kind of sad. I won't give specifics, but it was surprisingly heart clenching and actually really made me like Colton--he's actually a pretty genuine guy).

The ending was actually quite satisfying. It was great to see the big NHS project at the end, the Santa project. I loved how hard Charlotte fought for the service project despite all the other drama around her. It showed that she has a good heart and cares a lot for other people, even if she can be a bit harsh at times.

I give this a 4 out of 5!