Fieldnotes:
Teawood, NJ, 2009

1 Driven Volleyball Star
1 Handsome Photographer
1 Fashionista Best Friend
1 Player Ex-Boyfriend

1 Modelling Competition
1 Arch Frenemy
3 Judges (of Varying Levels of Disapproval)
3 Eliminations by Internet
1 After-Game Smoothie

The Short Version:
A fun romcom featuring POC leads - the pop culture references are dated/foreign enough to be pretty well incomprehensible to me, but the underlying story was cute. Volleyball star London Abrams has to raise money if she wants to attend a prestigious volleyball skills camp, but she gets side-tracked from her weekend job when a cute photographer comes in to buy supplies. When she happens to run into him again with her fashionista best friend and he happens to be helping manage the line of hopefuls for a modeling competition run by a local celebrity for her boutique...well...the form includes contact information, right?

So London signs up for the competition hoping to spend more time with a cute boy, but finds herself chosen - along with her frenemy from her time on the child modeling circuit, Kelly. And while her mom is psyched that London is trying out modeling again, she herself has to sort out some feelings she has over her mom's lack of support for her volleyball games. Not to mention her jerk of an ex-boyfriend keeps trying to sabotage any time she spends with Brent (the cute photography intern).

This was a fun one-and-done for me. London is very relatable and I really liked her driven best friend with the local fashion blog. Plus I enjoyed the ANTM nods, but there wasn't enough of that (or of the volleyball games) for me to want to keep this around long-term. ( )

Perfect Shot by Debbie Rigaud part of Simon and Schuster's Romantic Comedy series of novels. London Abrams loves volley ball and wants nothing more than to attend a volley ball summer camp. It's unfortunately a bit pricey and her parents have said no. She's decided she'll do what it takes to earn the money herself — even if it means entering a local modeling contest!

Mixed into this equation is a cute boy, Brent St. John, who is an amateur photographer and part of the contest. Part of her inspiration to enter the contest is her crush on Brent.

The plot is a bit formulaic — more so than I found Animal Attraction by Jamie Ponti. The situation — working in a boutique / modeling is a bit of a cliché. As it's been done so many times, Perfect Shot has to work a lot harder to stand out. ( )

This book especially reminded me of my best friend who is also very courages and athletic. The main character here was really well made and I rooted her on the whole way. When people say that some novel is trashy only because of the cover, I kind of want to put some sense into their heads, they can't judge something when they haven't even read it. But even though, I do that sometimes too and here I was really taken aback by the great characters that I wasn't expecting and an awesome plot. The guy wasn't a bad character but I didn't like him as much as the great main character that Debbie created. I was always in love with the Simon Romantic Comedies, it took out all of the great writers out there on one place and made them recognizable (I still can't recall one Simon Comedies book that wasn't great or at least good) It also had really good writing and the determination of the character again drew me towards the book a lot. I'm also really happy that some teachers have taken the time to put this book in schools, it deserves the first place :) Here is my review:

15 year old London is pretty and tall but still hasn't gotten over the name calling she got in middle school. Than she meets Brent, as she feels everything around her and about her starting to change. She sets on a road to self-discovery and love, along with her witty and a bit flirty best friend, Brent and an old frenemy Kelly.

Everyone recommends this book for ages 11 and up, so, so will I :) I definitely recommend this book, not only because of the determination it encourages and the great character but also as a lesson that I think we need more of in our community. After all as London said, "Besides it's a known fact that if you don't care enough about what you're fighting for, you are less likely to win the battle." London ( )

A light frothy romantic comedy, Perfect Shot is for any girl who loves volleyball, fashion, romance, or is just looking for a book with laughs. ( )