She was an ideal female heroine, one that can be looked up to, and will never, ever be forgotten.

She was quirky, strong willed, and brave, never letting anyone break her completely, despite their best efforts. Davie was such a unique character, completely lovable, despite her many errors and flaws, which made her all the more real. I’m telling you now, this is one of my favorite books I’ve read in 2011, and will without a doubt remain that way through the rest of the year. To say I love this book is an understatement. Reading a book this quickly and this compulsively is rare for me, but I just couldn’t stop reading. Then, I got home from work and I gulped down the last 200 pages without getting up, except to go for a quick walk with my mom, during which I raced home to finish. I read it at 7:00 this morning before going to work, I read it on my lunch break at work, and both times I was so reluctant to put it down. I just thought, “hey, I’ll read a few pages real quick,” but soon, I sat down, and started flipping the pages compulsively. Last night, I started it, standing up in my room while waiting for my boyfriend, and today I finished it. I love Davie and I was sad and reluctant to finish this book because I did not want to say goodbye to her. In fact, Davie Jones is every woman, with her insecurities, jealousies, and things she’d sometimes like to forget. I came to realize that Davie really was like me in so many ways. But you know what? I absolutely loved this book, and I completely mean it when I say I COULD NOT put it down. I’m a middle class, white girl from New York with two of the best parents in the world. She’s a poor, black Southern girl with an abusive mother. My Thoughts: Ya know, foolishly and unnecessarily, I wasn’t sure about this book. Their relationship is passionate and wonderful, until Davie’s past comes back to haunt her, with the threat of destroying the new life she’s created for herself, especially the love she and James share. Everything is different for Davie now – until she runs into James again, years later, and he falls desperately in love with her, not remembering or recognizing her at all. There, she reinvents herself into a cool and successful lounge singer at a ritzy nightclub. But one thing gives her hope: Sixteen Candles, and her dream that one day, she too will have her very own “Molly Ringwald Ending.” She clings to this hope until a cruel joke pushes her to the edge, and she runs away to L.A. She’s teased relentlessly at school, given the nickname, Monkey Night, and desperately in love with the handsome, popular, and rich, James Farrell who doesn’t know she exists.

On top of that, she’s poor, and living with her abusive single mother in Mississippi.

32 candles by ernessa t carter