Red - Audiobook review
Interesting premise: in the town of Scarletville, having red hair is all that matters. Felicity is popular and she has it all. She has gorgeous red hair, loyal best friends, a hot boyfriend, artistic talent, and it looks like she will win the Miss Scarlet pagent. But then she receives an anonymous note. Someone knows her secret: she dyes her hair, and has been doing it her whole life. It's her junior year in high school, and if anyone finds out she's a fake, she could lose everything.
So, it seems a bit silly that red hair could be that important, but there is always something, especially in high school. Money, looks, power, that "something extra" that the popular people have and the rest of us don't.
The story is well-written and the narrator is good. I guessed the end (or most of it) long before it actually happened, but I still enjoyed listening. It was a bit of a stretch for Felicity to change so quickly at the end, but it wasn't terrible.
A funny thing, it doesn't occur to Felicity that in the outside world red hair isn't a big deal. She is also worried about how she will get out of Scarletville and go to college if she doesn't win the pageant. At one point, when someone points out she might be able to get a scholarship or other money for college, Felicity insists her mother won't let her take it, she would think it was charity. Her mother is clearly single-minded. Since Felicity was first born, her mother has been preparing her to win the Miss Scarlet pageant. Felicity doesn't care about the pageant nearly as much as her mother does. Talk about living through your child.
This is a young adult novel and maybe teens will get the hint that superficial things aren't as important as they sometimes seem.
