Book Review of "Red" by Allison Cherry

Felicity St. John has everything a girl in high school could hope to have. She's popular, she has two fabulous best friends, she's got a hot boyfriend and she's got artistic talent. What she also has is a huge secret: Felicity's hair comes straight out of a bottle.

As a resident of Scarletville, redheads are the "it" kids and are not in the minority. In fact, the blondes and brunettes are the outcasts and redheads hold all of the power. Scarletville is so "red," it even has it's own Miss Scarlet Pageant. Felicity is practically a shoe in to win the pageant this year. It's the 75th anniversary of the pageant and her mother was Miss Scarlet 25 years earlier for the 50th anniversary of the pageant.

And then Felicity suddenly gets the anonymous note, "I know your secret."

While the premise may seem like the author is trying to draw a parallel to some other group, I think the author, described a "natural redhead," simply wanted to write a story where the "ginger" isn't the outcast.

I enjoyed reading this book and it was a page turner that I couldn't put down. It's not a typical mystery but there is mystery and intrigue that makes the reader need to know what happens next.
I liked Felicity a lot and how she dealt with all of the usual teenage issues in addition to dealing with being blackmailed and dealing with feeling like a "fake."

When Felicity finally gets around to disclosing the blackmail to her mother, she's absolutely shocked when her mother tells her she has to go along with the blackmail that results in lying to and hurting her two best friends.

I loved Ivy, one of Felicity's best friends. She's got gumption. Not only does she think the whole pageant thing is stupid and only enters because her friends entered her, she's defiant. Like refusing to wear high heels that hurt her feet and opting for flats, which are apparently a "no-no" for proper pageant competing.

Allison Cherry gives us a glimpse into teenage peer pressure and the pressures parents put on their teens in order to live vicariously through them. For instance, Felicity's mother, Ginger, a former Miss Scarlet herself, is probably worse at putting on the pressure than any of Felicity's friends. From what I could calculate, Ginger is probably closer to my own age and if she were my friend doing this to her daughter, I might smack her silly.

Hayley, Felicity's other best friend, is indeed, BFF material. However, I found her to be whiny, spoiled and a brat. I didn't like her but I did like how she was written as an opposite to Ivy.
And while I can't disclose how this ends up, I was mostly happy with the ending. I would have liked an epilogue that jumped ahead to some time in Felicity's first year of college where she'll find the world doesn't revolve around redheads. 

I received an ARC of this book in trade for an honest review from NetGalley. The most honest thing I can say about the book as a whole is that it's worth getting once it's published. It's a good story with a lot of learning moments for teenagers. Expected publish date: October 8th.