Semi-Charmed Life by Nora Zelevansky

 In Nora Zelevansky’s hilarious debut, Semi-Charmed Life, an Upper West Side naïf, Beatrice Bernstein, gets swept up in the seemingly magical life of socialite Veruca Pfeffernoose, while ghost writing her blog. Veruca’s glitteringly opulent world soon seduces Beatrice away from her own insular, arty family with a promise of fancy parties, travel outside Manhattan (for once) and one desperately cute guy. But when her new glitzy lifestyle starts to take on dark undertones, Beatrice has to decide who she is—once and for all. With her own magical touch, Zelevansky deftly explores the world of rarified Manhattan in this sparkling modern fairy tale of first love, finding one’s voice and growing up.

 My Thoughts

Beatrice Bernstein is sick of her sheltered life and wants a change. She wants to make her own choices like an adult. Her senior year of college because she would be living in off campus housing with her best friend Dolly. Her new places turned out to be below her expectations, she is forced to take Veruca Pfeffernoose's offer. She would be ghost writing for the socialite's blog and in exchange she would be living in Veruca's extravagant loft. Writing Veruca's blog also means Beatrice has to follow Veruca - to parties, the spa, art exhibits, to London, Paris, then Rio, etc. It seems like an awesome deal, but when Beatrice discovers that she'd been duped by someone she trusted, she learns to stand up for herself.

I loved this book. I won’t lie it did take me a while to get into it, but when I did I loved it. Beatrice is interesting character because of her silly thoughts but the other characters also drew me in because of their unusual personalities. Beatrice's artsy and naive family, her very helpful best friend Dolly, strange dorm mates like Goth Girl and Hormone Guy, Veruca and her posse, and dreamy boy toy, Ben. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK. If you really read it, then you’ll love it like I did!