Read My Lips

Reader reviewed by Beth

I loathe "chick-lit" as a general rule.  Although this book wasn't quite as bad as I expected it to be, it still was not that great.  The plot is fairly shallow, despite the fact that it tries to portray a deep message.  The sorority-style club and brooding, outsider love interest are all things that lower this book to the realm of the predictable.  This was just not my taste, and not a pleasure to read.

Reader reviewed by Yan

While the premise of the book was promising, I felt that it surely lacked in content. Every word that came out of her mouth was "GAWD" Seriously! She would not stop saying that, and I don't know about you, but this really gets on my nerves after reading the same stupid word 50 million times in a single hour! The romance part was also a little issue for me. The love interest is her aunt's son whom may not be blood-related is still a little creepy to me. I do not recommend this book to anyone.

Reader reviewed by Bookluver-Carol

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...
I do get why other people have said this book is predictable because it is. Serena does anything to try to fit in because she's never fit in anywhere and is doesn't help that she's deaf.The fact that she's deaf was pretty original. I haven't read any books in which the main character is deaf. She does become fake but then she tries to redeem herself at the end. I didn't really get why the author decided to add that Serena is a skater chick. It didn't really fit in with the book. It was just there to explain why Serena wore dark clothes and that's it. I found this book to be more of a light, guilty pleasure read than a substance book. Some of the slang was kind of dated but at least the book wasn't full of cussing which can be a turn off. Serena's character didn't have a lot of depth and she really wasn't easy to relate to.At the end Serena tried to blend her skater chick self with her new self which was good. Overall this was a good book. If you want to read it just keep in mind that it's fairly predictable.

Reader reviewed by Kayla (Midnight Twilight)

All Serena wants is to live a normal life, but it's harder for her, she's deaf. Serena has a "gift", she can read lips, even across a crowded cafeteria. This causes the popular girls to want to use Serena to get all the juicy gossip for their sorority. Serena tries to conform to fit in, and it doesn't work out very well.

I probably wouldn't have even picked up this book if it wasn't sent to me by Pulse It, but i kind of liked it. I was pulled in pretty quickly. Though the story started off light, with very little substance, it got better. Well, it got worse (very fake), then it got better.
Some parts i couldn't get into, or picture happening to anyone i knew (and i'm not talking about the being deaf part.) I don't want to give anything away, but basically the whole book is about Serena acting fake to be friends with the popular girls. Some parts were hard to understand , it was like there was some information left out.
I feel very torn, i liked the beginning of the book, then it got really fake and boring, then i loved it again at the end. If you can stick through a few boring chapters, i'd say Read My Lips is worth reading.

Reader reviewed by graceface

Serena Nelson is deaf. She can read lips. And all she ever wanted was to fit in. So when the popular girls at her new school seem to have taken an interest in her, Serena can't help but go along with whatever the popular girls asked her to do, even if it means the possibility of hurting someone, including Miller, the guy she has a crush on. This is a classic YA book and I'll recommend it for all young adult book lovers.

Reader reviewed by the book muncher

All Serena really wants at her new school is to fit in, but when youre deaf, thats not so easy. When some A-listers discover Serenas talent for reading lips, they offer her the chance to get in with them. But acceptance come with a price the popular girls have enlisted her to spy and uncover any and every secret thats of use to them. But is getting into the in-crown really what a skater chick like Serena really wants, or is this new job of snooping showing her true colors as a conforming prep?

I had mixed reactions about Read My Lips. Ill start with main character Serena. While it was stated several times that she used to be a skater chick, I never really felt that it was rooted into her personality; it seemed to me that it was only an explanation to why Serena didnt feel completely comfortable hanging out with the popular girls. Despite that, I really liked Serena as the protagonist, because while she is insecure and sometimes dishonest, she eventually comes to her senses and does the right thing; her flaws make her more realistic. As for other characters, I really like how Serenas popular friends actually had good hearts. Miller is a different story; you never really learn much about him except for what Serena sees: that he is hot and that he loves her. I wouldve liked to know more about him. The plot wasnt terrible exciting at all times, and I found it odd that at Serenas new school everyone was a cookie-cutter prep. However, there were some catfights, and I guess that small-town schools arent as diverse as those in big cities.

I believe that the good aspects of this novel definitely outweighed the bad, and I enjoyed reading Read My Lips. Its definitely like Gossip Girl, but with much more integrity. Read My Lips is a guilty-pleasure read with meaning.

reposted from http://thebookmuncher.blogspot.com