A really nice paper town

Ok, I couldn't think of a title.

I loooooooved both of these books. I think I liked Prom Mess a little bit more though. Every time I thought ok, nothing else crazy can happen, something else happened. But, I would like to point out this book has another instance of the closeted, douche bag, football player. And, I'm pretty sure this book held my favorite line where he describes his former best friend as having, "Jew fro" hilarious.
I think kids would love this book too, or maybe I'm being swayed by my love of it. And, I'm a sucker for a happy ending, so I liked that by the end he had a new love interest. Also that he came out of the closet and basically everyone was fine with it (which is how the world is in my head--even though I know I'm lying to myself). I sort of think this book could be read by boys too, it's a lot more accessible than Freak Show.
I think that the comedy in the book comes from his having to lie about who he is, but there's so much truth that winds up being exposed because of the lie.
Although, I think the scene where Cameron says, "you know, all the bad choices I made were because I smoked pot. Pot leads to bad decision making, you should not do drugs," was kind of a cop out. But it's a book for teens, so I get it.

Now, Paper Towns. I love that everyone calls Milwaukie's Best- Beast. I loved this book too, but I am not sure that it holds up to inspection (much the way Twilight does not...hehe). This is why- I am not a big fan of the, "I can't relate to the character so it is not a good book," theory. But, towards the end, I got kind of sick of Margo. The beginning was awesome, the level of detail and planning that she put into her revenge was amazing and I wish I had thought of that when (TMI maybe) my high school boyfriend felt the need to sleep with not one, but two of my friends. However, when she ran away and he thought she was dead, and I too, kept holding my breath for when he'd find her body, I got annoyed with her. And, I read looking for Alaska after, otherwise I'd definitely have thought she was dead. (Parenthetically, I loved Looking for Alaska, but I really dislike sad books in theory and I cried for like, 4 days after that.)
She didn't feel bad enough (in my opinion) that they missed graduation to chase after her, and that they thought she was dead for a month. Also, really, who runs away a month before graduation? Suck it up, finish high school and get out the way everyone else does. Parental neglect is no reason to ruin your future chances by not even having a high school diploma. But, maybe I'm showing my age there. Maybe it's the ultimate teenage fantasy to run away from home and do it on your own.
Come to think of it, my boyfriend cheating thing happened right around the same time that hers did. I am Margo Roth Spiegelman! Except, you know, I sucked it up, stayed in school and then went off to college and got away from them all that way (with a summer of working with all guilty parties in between there, it was a nightmare actually, but hey, whatever doesn't kill you...)

Yeah, anyway. Loved these books.