Preview as Listed on Back Cover:{Mix six teenage girls and one '60s fashion icon (retired, of course) in an old Victorian-era boarding home. Add boys and dating, a little high-school angst, and throw in a Kate Spade bag or two...and you've got the Carter House Girls, Melody Carlson's new chick lit series for young adults!}
In a whirlwind, DJ accepts "lonely" Taylor's invitation to join her mom's tour in Las Vegas during Christmas break. DJ soon discovers that the unsupervised Taylor is focused on one thing only - partying with a capital "P". She's invited Eliza too, and DJ is quickly overwhelmed by the behavior of the wild duo. Desperate, she calls on Casey for help and prays for a miracle before Taylor self-destructs.
The Story (SPOILERS!):
Before everyone dips out for Christmas break -where DJ is stuck with her grandmother since she's not going to be her stepmom's built in babysitter during the holidays- the girls get ready for the Winter Ball. As most teenage girls do, the Carter House girls have their respective dates ask them and shop for the perfect dresses. DJ and Connor end up going together as friends, but DJ shoots Haley an email to let her know that, just so she's aware of this from DJ herself.
DJ finds the perfect red dress, Rhiannon makes the most fantastic green mismatch patterned dress, Casey dawns a Madonna, punk rock look, Eliza has a white princess gown, Kriti stays true to her Indian heritage in a belly dance styled dress, and Taylor breaks the suggested Winter Ball dress code of red, green, or white, and wears black. The guys have rented a suite in the hotel where the dance will be held and a party is likely to ensue. Of course, the Fearsome Foursome (Bradford, Rhiannon, DJ, and Connor) aren't interested and a funny little bit of justice in the form of vomit in the rented Hummer limo dampers the drunks' moods. Anyways, the dance is fabulous for the foursome and the drinkers don't slink home till later that evening/earlier that morning, of course with immense hangovers.
Finals come and go and winter break is on for the girls and the rest of the students. Eliza is heading back to her southern home state until she and her parents dip out to Paris, Kriti's going back to New York to meet with some relatives from India, Casey's going home to California, Rhiannon's heading up north to stay with her aunt and her mother -who's been released from rehab under her aunt's care- and Taylor is touring with her famous jazz singer of a mother Eva Perez. Connor is going up to Montana for some intense snowboarding, so DJ is stuck in town with her grandmother and General Harding.
About midway through the break, DJ gets a call from Taylor, asking her to come stay with her and her mother in Vegas. DJ gets permission from Mrs. Carter to go, but snow storms keep her stuck in the airport for another day. Finally getting into Vegas, DJ is directed to the penthouse suite of the Mandalay Bay where she meet Mrs. Eva Perez, Taylor's mother. She's delighted that DJ has decided to join them for Christmas and she hopes that DJ will be a good influence on Taylor.
Not wanting to be Taylor's babysitter, but wanting to be a good friend, DJ finds it difficult for a happy medium when Taylor's always drinking or flirting with guys at their cabana. (There's cabanas in Vegas?) Aside from that, Taylor, in a moment of weakness, invited Eliza for a couple of days, when she was afraid DJ wouldn't show. Now the party duo are constantly clubbing and drinking. DJ finds that all of this is too much for her and desperately tries to reschedule her return flight date. The airport can only manage to get her home a couple days after Christmas.
Luckily, Eliza is only staying in Vegas for a couple of days. However, after Eliza leaves the club she and Taylor were frequenting for her red eye flight, DJ gets Taylor kicked out of the club after she's been drinking herself silly alone, something DJ doesn't want to escalate into anything dangerous. Taylor doesn't seem to remember this, though she does sleep through half the next day.
After accidentally winning a slots game for $500, DJ decides to spend the money on Christmas gifts for Taylor and her mother. She buys Taylor a glass-blown clown figurine, Mrs. Perez a beautiful glass blown bowl, both of them Christmas cards, and a bouquet of poinsettias delivered to the suite. That evening -Christmas Eve- the girls see Mrs. Perez's show especially done for Christmas. But of course, Taylor spoils the evening by dragging DJ to the Gin Rummy club and gives DJ fake I.D. as a Christmas present. After more drinking and a God send fire alarm, DJ gets Taylor back to their suite in one piece only about an hour after entering the club.
Christmas morning, DJ goes for a swim at their cabana and meets a rather handsome guy at the
pool reading his Bible. He introduces himself as Terrence. The two exchange numbers, and DJ is hopeful at meeting a new Christian friend in Vegas. Upon DJ's return to the suite, she and Mrs. Perez have a bit of a chat, revealing that Mrs. Perez is well aware of Taylor's drinking habits.
Taylor finally wakes from her hangover slump, but she accuses DJ of being a bad friend because she didn't cover for her in front of her mother. Later that evening, Taylor wants to go clubbing yet again, but DJ reaches breaking point and just cries while silently praying for an intervention.
After laying it out there about Taylor's accusations and her inability to be a good friend herself, DJ demands to know why Taylor does what she does, why she wants to self-destruct. Taylor slinks into the couch and starts talking, something the reader nor DJ expected.
The story starts with Taylor's best friend Jessalyn dying from leukemia at age 12. When her friend died, Taylor felt part of her died too. Taylor's grandmother -a strong Christian woman- insisted Taylor not be angry with God for what happened. But then her grandmother died from a stroke. Her father was lashing out because of his mother's death, and Mrs. Perez was always on tour, so Taylor was alone. Since Jessalyn, Taylor's never been able to make another friend that became that close. There was one girl -Ilsa- who was also close with Jessalyn that makes friends with Taylor over their shared memories of their late friend. Ilsa sets Taylor up with her older friend Brent - Taylor's first date at age 15.
But he rapes her.
Turns out Brent had tried the same thing with Ilsa the year before, but she escaped it somehow. Some friend Ilsa was to set Taylor up without any warning whatsoever. Worse, back at school, Brent told everyone that they'd had sex, that Taylor had wanted it and asked for it. So of course, her reputation as a slut started. Ilsa stopped being friends with Taylor and treated her like garbage.
A bit overwhelmed and not sure how to proceed, DJ calls up Terrence. The three of them meet up and Terrence recommends a rehab clinic in L.A. to Taylor. DJ is stunned and not sure if this is some kind of cult set up. However, DJ becomes a bit more at ease when she realizes how much Taylor wants to go through with this. The two say goodbye to Terrence after getting the details, and return to the suite to tell Mrs. Perez what's happening.
Taylor begs DJ to come with her to see her into the rehab center. The two go on Mrs. Perez's tour bus, Taylor walks into the building, and DJ sobs as the bus pulls her away back to Vegas. The Lord has answered her prayers to help Taylor; now DJ can only hope this clinic is what it claims to be, and not some cult thing.
Personal Reflections and Opinions:
AHHH! Yay yay yay yay! I'm psyched for Taylor to go into rehab and I hope upon hope that it sticks. DJ is a fantastic friend for continuing to push past Taylor's emotional walls to establish an insanely deep connection.
Side note, the back preview is a tad misleading. I'm pretty sure the publisher/editor/whoever meant to say that DJ would call on Rhiannon for help, since Casey wasn't much help whenever she called. In fact Casey had her own problems to deal with back home with her parents constantly arguing over Christmas.
Anyways, this book was criticized for being inaccurate, but I can't say I care that much. The point was the story, the friendship between Taylor and DJ, and the intervention of the Lord. Names of places are interchangeable; God's not.
When Taylor said she was raped, I had to set the book down. The phrase resonated in my heart and I cried. I had no idea that was coming. I had considered it, but I figured that would be a result of Taylor's self-destruction through her clubbing and drinking. And the fact that her friend set her up for it was infuriating. What a horrible thing to do! Then treating Taylor like the slut reputation she'd unnecessarily gained? Ugh! Now I think it's all coming together. Taylor acts that way because she figures after her previous experience that it wouldn't matter what she did, she'd still get pegged with that rep. Wow.
I hope that after rehab, Taylor and her mother can repair their relationship. Her mother obviously cares about Taylor, but she's a bit like Mrs. Carter - unsure of how to handle anything this serious.
Man, this story is coming together crazy well and I need to get my hands on the last three books of the series. The next book, first chapter preview leads me to hope for what I've been asking for the past five books-
KRITI! DJ makes a comment about how the girls should reach out to her more so... here's to hoping!
God Bless and Happy Reading,
EPD
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