Book Review- Belles

I just finished reading Belles by Jen Calonita for an Around the World ARC Tour.

From Goodreads:

Fifteen-year-old Isabelle Scott loves her life by the boardwalk on the supposed wrong side of the tracks in North Carolina. But when tragedy strikes, a social worker sends her to live with a long-lost uncle and his preppy privileged family. Isabelle is taken away from everything she’s ever known, and, unfortunately, inserting her into the glamorous lifestyle of Emerald Cove doesn’t go so well. Her cousin Mirabelle Monroe isn’t thrilled to share her life with an outsider, and, in addition to dealing with all the rumors and backstabbing that lurk beneath their classmates’ Southern charm, a secret is unfolding that will change both girls’ lives forever.

Okay, so I have to admit that the first thing that drew me into the book was the title.  I am a huge Beauty and the Beast fan.  So right away I wanted to read the summary.  And while it turned out that the story had nothing to do with that Belle, it did have a take on the classic Cinderella-rags-to-riches story.  So I jumped at the chance to read it!

And I really enjoyed it!  Izzie comes from a completely different lifestyle than I'm used to (athough I'm far away from the Emerald Cove lifestyle too) and I loved reading about how her two worlds merged.  There were the bad girls you loved to hate--mostly Savannah.  And then the cousin who started off evil but tried to be good--Mira.  And Brayden--loved him!  Loved that he was from the Emerald Cove world yet was completely down to earth and real

This was just a light, fun book that had me completely into it and looking forward to the next book in the series, Winter White!

I gave this book a rating of 4/5.

This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
2012 Reading Challenge 150+: 39
2012 ARC Reading Challenge: 34
2012 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 36
Completely Contemp Challenge 2012: 2012-7

*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free for an honest review as part of the Around the World Tours.