Laguna Cove

Laguna Cove
by Alyson Noël

Anne is certainly not happy when she moves to Laguna Beach, California to live with her dad after her parents' divorce. It is completely different from Connecticut. All the people do is surf or hang out on the beach!

Once she meets Lola at a movie premiere, she decides to give Cali a chance. She then befriends Lola's other friends: gorgeous Chris, down-to-earth Jade, and competitive Ellie. She hits it off with Lola and Jade, and Chris has even said he will teach Anne how to surf, but Ellie gives her the death glare every chance she gets.

The closer she gets to Chris, and better she gets at surfing, the more Ellie seems to hate her guts. But Anne has worked hard to fit in, so she isn't giving in to Ellie's death glares, and she might even enter Surf Fest to give her a run for her money.

Grade: B+

I've been an Alyson Noël fan since I read Art Geeks and Prom Queens a few years ago. When I read the first chapter, I was thinking this was going to be about a bitchy high school girl, but I continued reading, and found that it wasn't completely true!

Anne was the character I enjoyed the most. And Chris, because he seems like a total cutie. :) I didn't really care all that much about Jade, but she wasn't very involved. I was confused by Lola, because of the way she was sneaking around with a guy, I figured it was a married man, or someone a lot older, but it ended up being neither of those. Ellie was totally rude, and I definitely think she overdid it, and I am also confused by her decision she made at Surf Fest.

One thing I didn't really like was that the book had chapters in the views of Anne, Ellie, Lola, and Jade. I think that's too many characters to keep up with, personally. I was mostly interested in Anne, since she was the new girl, though, I suppose it's good to know the people she was meeting, right? Also, the ending was disappointing. The last chapter was about Ellie, when I think it really should have been about Anne. I'm confused by what happens with Anne and Chris at the end, along with Lola and Dean.