"vibes" was quite a good read about self-discovery. Although Kristi was rather negative, some of her comments and views on life made me smile. However, like many YA novels, Kristi spent way too much time thinking and drooling over the boy she liked which I found absolutely frustrating. I think it makes the female character extremely shallow and pathetic. ( )

Vibes was a great novel, and Amy Kathleen is an Amazing writer, but sadly the story was hard to get throught. The consept of a mind-reading teen is fascinating and captivating, who wouldn't want to read about that? I guess my problem was that I had high expectations for this novel.

The story revolves around Kristi, always thinking of her self as fat, ugly and a bith with "watermelon-size gazungas", and according to her, everyone thinks the same of her. Kristi is a great character. She is tough, brave, and doesn't let anyone walk over her. But sometimes she can be very whiny and mean. Many of these characters lacked development, which I believe would be important to the story.

The story goes on, and the story is very predictable. Her high school seemed very unreal, but I enjoyed some aspects in her life that did seem aunthentic. Amy Kathleen wrote a good story and I truly enjoyed her Glow Series. The story can be lacking and sometimes boring, but in the end, it is hilarious, and honest.

“Trust isn't a black and white thing... Everyone has the capacity to let you down at one time or another... but if you can't trust, you can't love." ( )

I picked this up just to see what Ryan could do with something that wasn't set in space. It's a very different sort of novel, and a completely different type of heroine--she's brash and abrasive and would almost be off-putting, if she weren't just vulnerable and colorful enough to seem truly real. Ryan is as fabulous as ever, technically, but is far better in "Vibes" at allowing us to see inside her characters' hearts and minds. It's an extremely engaging book. I only downgraded it some for language, which always bugs me.

3.5 stars. ( )

I finally read Vibes, after meeting the author at my library�Ûªs Author Open House last April and having a wonderful talk about writing for teens and her new book. At the time, I felt stupid for not having read the books of all the YA authors who were visiting our library, but she was super nice about it, and she even signed my ARC for me. I promised I‰Ûªd read it. Then I took it home and put it on a shelf and forgot about it.

Yeah, that‰Ûªs me ‰ÛÒ lazy, slacker-type procrastinator.

So, anyway, I picked this up because I wanted something short and funny to read to offset Blackout, which I slogged through slowly but determinedly, really enjoying parts and skimming others in frustration.

Vibes is quite funny. And short. So it worked perfectly.

Kristi is my kind of unlikable narrator. She isn‰Ûªt one of the A-list mean girls, but no one would call her nice. She‰Ûªs self-absorbed and has a nasty sense of humor. She incredibly judgmental, but she spends so much of her time noticing how much everyone else is judging her (for being fat; for dressing in unusual, home-made clothes; for having big boobs, or no father, etc.), she doesn‰Ûªt notice how terrible she is herself. But she‰Ûªs so funny and clever that I still liked reading from her POV. Also, she reminded me of how self-conscious and negative and defensively sarcastic I was at her age (only she is a lot funnier and meaner than I was). I understood where she was coming from, and that made her sympathetic even when I didn‰Ûªt like her as a person.

The story itself involves typical teenage novel stuff: family, school, romance. Her dad comes back and turns out to be kind of a jerk, disappointing her when she had remembered him so fondly. She likes a boy and isn‰Ûªt sure how he feels about her; meanwhile, another boy she doesn‰Ûªt like that way makes his move and freaks her out. She‰Ûªs still smarting over a previous friend‰Ûªs betrayal. She and her mom don't understand each other and they fight. It‰Ûªs the strength of the character that carries this novel (well, and the strength of the first person narrative, which is very capably written), rather than the originality of the plot.

Especially, and painfully, true for me is the character of Mallory (the boy who Kristi doesn‰Ûªt like that way), who has terrible, terrible acne. He is both self-conscious and defiant about it, daring people to react and trying hard not so show how much their reactions bother him. I had terrible acne as a teen (it‰Ûªs still pretty bad now at times) and my last year of high school/first year of college was so terrible that I felt like a circus freak. I hated going out in public, and I was hopelessly depressed that I would always be this monster people would stare at, and I would never have a normal relationship because of my face. I still remember catching a glimpse of myself late at night in one of the dorm bathroom mirrors and feeling like I was going to die of shame and horror. I think this was the most painful period of my life, and Ryan really captures what that feels like (even though we only see Mallory through Kristi‰Ûªs ruthlessly negative impressions).

Kristi‰Ûªs psychic powers are not mind reading so much as being hyper-aware of the negative things other people are thinking about her (or, as it turns out, what Kristi thinks they are thinking about her). It‰Ûªs basically a big plot device, used to characterize her and create conflict, but it works for me. Kristi is so sure she knows what everyone is thinking that she doesn‰Ûªt pay attention to the clues that don‰Ûªt fit; and, as it turns out, she is wrong about everything. She misunderstands the simplest thoughts and behaviors, makes incorrect assumptions based on them, treats those assumptions as black-and-white Truth, and then has the gall to be surprised when someone finally calls her on it.

For some people, I think this story will succeed or fail based totally on how they feel about the psychic powers. They are a vehicle for character growth (Kristi has to change one she realizes how much her powers have led her to misunderstand others) and you either accept them or you don‰Ûªt. For me, the psychic powers work as an extended metaphor for what it‰Ûªs like to be a teenager. Think about it: You‰Ûªre sure everyone is judging you; you dislike lots of things about yourself, and whatever you dislike the most seems like the one thing everyone else notices; you want to fit in, but you also want to stand out. I can go with the idea that Kristi obsessed about all this SO MUCH that she develops an ability that reinforces what she already thinks, like creating her own self-fulfilling prophecy. It ended up not mattering to me whether Kristi was psychic or not -- the point is, she believes she is, and it's given her an excuse to think the worst of everyone and therefore not try to understand them, keeping herself "safe".

I know I'm painting with broad strokes here, but this is how I remember it, and this is how it seems like when I reread my journals from junior high and high school. (Seriously ‰ÛÒ it wasn‰Ûªt only me, right?) I really, really feel that Ryan ‰ÛÏgets‰Û what it‰Ûªs like to be a teenager and has written a smart, funny story about it. The happy ending is a bit fairy tale, but I also appreciated it nonetheless. ( )

Kristi can read minds. She picks up vibes of what other people are thinking. So it's not easy being in high school, where she can hear the disgusting thoughts of all the guys around her, as well as what the girls think. Usually she keeps to herself, listening to opera to drown the vibes out. But she realizes she has to face the tough things in life eventually, like dealing with her dad leaving them 2 years ago, so she starts to open up and finds out that maybe she's misinterpreted some of the vibes all along. ( )