Shrinking Violet by Danielle Joseph

Genre: teen social issues

Age Group: Young Adult

Book #: one
Pages: 320
Synopsis: High school senior Teresa Adams is so painfully shy that she dreads speaking to anyone in the hallways or getting called on in class. But in the privacy of her bedroom with her iPod in hand, she rocks out -- doing mock broadcasts for Miami's hottest FM radio station, which happens to be owned by her stepfather. When a slot opens up at The SLAM, Tere surprises herself by blossoming behind the mike into confident, sexy Sweet T -- and to everyone's shock, she's a hit! Even Gavin, the only guy in school who she dares to talk to, raves about the mysterious DJ's awesome taste in music. But when The SLAM announces a songwriting contest -- and a prom date with Sweet T is the grand prize -- Sweet T's dream could turn into Tere's worst nightmare....

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I really loved Shrinking Violet. It was a sweet, short read with an amazing and relatable main character. Tere is quiet and feels out casted. She's more relatable than, say, Clary from The Mortal Instruments or Chloe from The Darkest Powers because she's not a girl with super powers, or a vampire boyfriend, or even a friend with some kind of magical talents. I don't mean to be harsh on other MC's because they're amazing and their boyfriends are amazing, but, really? They're not relatable.

Tere is a sweet girl trying to grow up to be who she wants to be rather than who others think she should be. She's so shy and adorable. She has self esteem issues and hardly any friends. She has a crush on a guy at school, she has every issue most girls have.

Although Joseph was amazing with Tere herself, I thought the plot was very quick. One chapter, Tere's wishing for a job at SLAM and the next, she does have a job at SLAM. It went by very quickly and I found myself turning back pages to figure out exactly where I was.

Over all, Shrinking Violet is a sweet, heartfelt read with a very interesting story behind it. Joseph wrote Tere to be like any other girl and I found myself relating to her in subtle ways. The end was amazing, although for me a little predictable, and I saw a lot of character growth not only from Tere herself, but from some of the side characters, also.

The Cover: A sweet, adorable cover but it mostly has to do with the title of the book more than the book itself. A shrinking violet does come up, but only once or twice. But I love this cover in it's lighthearted and cute feel.