Rachel Vail
HarperTeen (2010)
ISBN 9780060890490
Reviewed by Avni Gupta (age 17) for Reader Views (06/10)
When I received “Brilliant,” I was so excited about reading it! I loved the first two books in the series, and I knew that I would most probably love this one as well. I definitely was not wrong! I thought that this book was simply amazing!
This book starts out with Quinn, the oldest of the Avery sisters, feeling as though her parents do not care about her opinions at all, because they paint her bright red room white one day when she is at school. She does not complain, because, at sixteen-and-a-half, she feels as though it is her duty to be the obedient child who never creates a fuss. But what if she cannot keep her feelings inside anymore? She has had to keep all of her feelings about her mom getting fired and their family moving to herself, but now she does not know how she can take it anymore. Then Quinn finds the perfect outlet; Quinn becomes the bad child. She goes from being the good child to the girl who is kissing her piano teacher and her younger sister’s boyfriend!
In my mind, Rachel Vail used Quinn as a perfect example of how keeping your feelings inside makes things blow up in your face later on. I loved the way that she described Quinn’s thoughts and feelings. This book being through Quinn’s eyes shows you something that neither of the other two books in this series did; it shows you that no matter how perfect someone seems, their perfection is just a mask for their own insecurities.
Another thing that I really enjoyed about “Brilliant” was the cover. The pair of shoes and the color scheme on the cover made me feel as though this book was going to be amazing, because all of the blues and purples made the book stand out for me. I loved how the shoes in the book that Quinn takes from her mom’s closet were perfectly matched to the shoes that were on the cover.
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