Review: The Reece Malcolm List by Amy Spalding

Things I know about Reece Malcolm:

1. She graduated from New York University.
2. She lives in or near Los Angeles.
3. Since her first novel was released, she’s been on the New York Times bestseller list every week.
4. She likes strong coffee and bourbon.
5. She’s my mother.

Devan knows very little about Reece Malcolm, until the day her father dies and she’s shipped off to live with the mother she’s never met. All she has is a list of notebook entries that doesn’t add up to much.

L.A. offers a whole new world to Devan—a performing arts school allows her to pursue her passion for show choir and musicals, a new circle of friends helps to draw her out of her shell, and an intriguing boy opens up possibilities for her first love.

But then the Reece Malcolm list gets a surprising new entry. Now that Devan is so close to having it all, can she handle the possibility of losing everything?

My Review:

This is a fun, sweet, and quick contemporary.  I absolutely adored this story and the characters in it.  It deals with family, friends, and romance in a well-done and realistic way.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD

At the beginning of the book, Devan finds out that she has to live with the mother she's never met after her dad's death.  She has to learn how to adjust to this new situation.  Devan is an awesome character.  She is a junior in high school who loves singing and acting.  She is nice to just about everyone, and she's a good person.  She is also extremely talented at what she does, which is obvious when she lands a lead role after just arriving at her new school.

This book did have a strong family focus, which I liked.  Devan is just meeting her mom for the first time, and the situation is uncomfortable for both of them at the beginning.  As the story progresses, they do get to know each other better.  Devan wants to know why her mom never wanted to see her before.  She resents the fact that her mom only became part of her life when Devan's died, so her mom was forced to.  Devan also meets her mom's boyfriend, Brad, who is like part of the family.  He is more welcoming to her at the beginning than her own mom is.  I really liked his character, and I liked Reece as well.  

This book also has some good friendships and romantic relationships.  She meets a boy named Sai when she's auditioning for her chorus placements.  She likes him, but he stays in the friend category for most of the story.  She dates a boy named Elijah for a short period of time in the book.  He seemed like a nice guy.  She also becomes friends with Travis, Lissa, and Mira.  Travis and Lissa are nice to her right away, but Mira is harder for her to get to know.  It turns out that she becomes closer friends with Mira near the end when Mira tells Devan a secret of hers.

I love the chorus and musical aspects of this story, since I do both chorus and musicals.  When Devan was waiting to get her seat in chorus, my first thought was, I wonder what voice part she is?  Well, it turns out, she's an alto.  Anyway, I could relate to these aspects of the story since I've experienced them, though I've never been in a show choir.

If you like YA contemporary, read this book.

Katie