Book Review: The Unlikely Debut of Ellie Sweet
Author: Stephanie Morrill
Review by Grace Olson
The Story
Taken from Stephanie Morrill’s website description of The Unlikely Debut of Ellie Sweet:
For once, Ellie Sweet has it all together. Her hair now curls instead of fuzzes, she’s tamed the former bad-boy, Chase Cervantes (she has, right?), and her debut novel will hit shelves in less than a year. Even her ex-friends are leaving her alone. Well, except for Palmer Davis, but it can’t be helped that he works at her grandmother’s nursing home.
Life should feel perfect. And yet, it’s not that easy. Ellie’s editor loves her, but the rest of the publishing biz? Not so much. And they’re not shy about sharing their distrust over Ellie’s unlikely debut.
Ellie has always been able to escape reality in the pages of her novel, but with the stress of major edits and rocky relationships, her words dry up. In fiction, everything always comes together, but in real life, it seems to Ellie that hard work isn’t always enough, the people you love can’t always be trusted…and the dream-come-true of publishing her book could be the biggest mistake she’s made yet.
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After reading The Revised Life of Ellie Sweet, I had high hopes for its sequel, The Unlikely Debut of Ellie Sweet.
The relationships in this book were really fun to read, from Ellie’s friendship with her aunt, to the characters her grandparents are, and of course the complications with Chase and Palmer. I was kept entertained throughout and I was anxious to see how her life would turn out at the end of the story.
This book was more than an entertaining read, however. Ellie’s journey is what resonated most with me; her trials as she works to make her debut, the friendships she forms, and some that are broken. Every part of this book is authentic and honest. As an aspiring novelist, I could definitely identify with Ellie’s feelings in this book, and I balked at first at some of the lessons she learned, because they hit close to home. Ellie’s journey gave me hope in my own writing. As nearly any novelist you might ask will tell you, the road from writing a book to publishing is long and hard and not that many make it. Reading about Ellie’s debut, fictional though it is, bolstered my resolve and gave me the hope that I sometimes lose sight of.
Just like its predecessor, The Unlikely Debut of Ellie Sweet has found its own little nook on my bookshelf. This was a very entertaining and fun read (especially since Ellie and I have so much in common) but, like I already said, what I loved most was the hope that Morrill infused into the story. Hope for relationships as well as hope for what some days seems impossible.
About the Author
Biography from Stephanie Morrill’s website: Stephanie Morrill is a twenty-something living in Overland Park, Kansas with her husband and two kids. She is the author of The Reinvention of Skylar Hoyt series, Go Teen Writers: How to Turn Your First Draft Into a Published Book, and the Ellie Sweet series. She enjoys encouraging and teaching teen writers on her blog, http://www.GoTeenWriters.com. ~ To learn more about Stephanie and her other books, visit her web page: http://www.stephaniemorrill.com/
The Unlikely Debut of Ellie Sweet is available for download, check-out, or paper copy.
Onto Her Bookshelf 