Bass Ackwards and Belly Up (Bass Ackwards and Belly Up #1)

Reader reviewed by Alexandra

Best friends Harper, Sophie, Becca, and Kate have done everything together since elementary school. Now they've graduated, and are about to go off to college. True, they're all going to different schools, in different cities, but they're still all having the same experiences, just in different locations. Then, the night before Becca is supposed to leave for Middlebury, Harper drops a bomb. Instead of heading off to Manhattan, she's going to be staying at home in her parents basement and writing the next Great American Novel. In other words, following her Dream. Sophie and Kate quickly hop on board the "Dream Train," as they call it, going to L.A. and Europe, respectively. For Becca, joining the Middlebury ski team is her dream, but her friends tell her she should work on expanding her horizons by falling in love. As the girls' powerful stories alternate throughout the novel, you will be rooting for all of them to accomplish their dreams. True, there are obstacles: a bitter ski coach, skeezy guys, and writer's block, to name a few. But this Dream Train is full speed ahead, and it doesn't stop for anything or anyone.

Reader reviewed by Stephanie

Often described as Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants for older readers, Bass Ackwards and Belly Up is a sweet debut novel that tracks an unexpected season in four friends' lives. Sophie, Kate, Becca, and Harper are all supposed to go to college... but at the last minute Harper tells them that she's staying home to go for her dream: writing the next Great American Novel. In actuality she's been rejected from the only school she applied to, but she conveniently doesn't tell her friends that. Harper's announcement starts a rebellion shocking in the girls' comfortable suburban neighborhood: Kate and Sophie decide to not go to college either. Sophie's going to LA to pursue her dream of being an actor, and Kate's decided to travel around Europe in search of something she's passionate about, something different from her life of plans. Becca's the only one of the four still going to college in Middlebury, so her friends give her an assignment in addition to being a skiing star: she has to fall in love.

In LA, Sophie has an up-and-down something going on with Sam, pool boy of the family she's staying with. She also gets together with a famous actor. Kate travels around Europe trying to accomplish the list of 100 things her friends have given her to do. Harper procrastinates on writing her novel and feels an attraction between her and Mr. Finelli, her hot and young former AP English teacher. And Becca deals with an unfair Middlebury coach and her disgust for football star Stuart Pendergrass... who happens to like her. A lot.

How will their romantic relationships turn out? Will their dreams come true? Bass Ackwards and Belly Up starts out slow, but it's well worth the first 50 pages of non-action. A sequel is in the process of publication.

Reader reviewed by Sarah

This book reminded my a lot of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants in that it rotates around the views of four best friends going their separate ways. But the thing that was different about this book from the Sisterhood books was that Kate, Harper, Becca, and Sophie aren't just friends who never fight and get along all the time like daisies. They have real friends problems and fight and nag. This is what made them seem more realistic to me. Even though it wouldn't be likely that anyone would ditch Harvard to follow their "dream" like Kate, but you never know. Overall I really enjoyed this book, it was really captivating.

Reader reviewed by Jocelyn

In this book, four friends are about to go to college, when one of them, Harper, makes a shocking announcement. She's not going to NYU. She says it's so she can follow her dream to be a writer, to write the next Great American Novel, when, in reality, it's because she didn't get accepted to the only school she applied to.

If Harper's committing the "ultimate suburban sin" isn't shocking enough, Sophie and Kate send the worlds of their middle-class families way out of orbit. Sophie is going to be an actress in LA, following her dreams, and completely college-bound Kate is going to Europe! The only one to stick to her original plan is Becca, and that's not going to be easy.

In this amazing book, four friends learn a lot about each other, themselves, and their dreams, having some fun and some humiliation along the way! This book is funny, sad, and, most of all, real. There really are people who skip out on college, and, yeah, their parents definitely do NOT approve. I know my parents wouldn't! But for Sophie, Harper, and Kate, maybe that's what it takes to find their dreams, themselves, and each other. Read this book!!