S.A.S.S. 2

Okay, so at the end of last post, I'd had hopes but not quite for this one, writing off the main character because she seemed like a fashionista party girl and not expecting anything much from this.

I was WRONG.

I'm very sad that this author seems to have only ever written two books and the other isn't another from this series. This is the best of the 3 I've read so far.

Kelly's a Chicago party girl who visits Rome mostly to check out the Italian guys and hot outfits.

The first part of the book has her getting caught up in a lot of drama, because she meets a cute guy in the program, but he's a drug-addicted asshole that gets her into massive trouble. The second part is her finding new sides of herself and making unexpected friends. There's a final conflict with the guy that's resolved in Kelly's favor and then she starts going out with a nice Italian boy nearer the end of the book.

This book sticks with my ideal format.

Firstly, it's at least 50% sightseeing. They even travel to Siena, Florence, Pompeii and Tuscany. They do so much sightseeing and it's well-written and just plain fun.

Secondly, the schoolwork is actually deemed important. It's not as focused on as it was in Cece's book, but it's enough to remind the reader that these girls are STUDYING abroad, not just having guy drama abroad.

Thirdly, there's romance, but that's never the focal point.

Fourthly, there are interesting supporting characters. Kelly's old childhood friend is there. Studious, serious and tell it like it is Sheela is pretty awesome. It's never flat out said, but based on her last name, she's Indian-American. Arizona Goth Marina was my favorite though. Not just because she's Goth, but because she's spending a lot of time finding the perfect design for a tattoo to commemorate her mother, who died a couple years before. She's the youngest in a family of car-loving brothers and a father, so she sports car paint as nail polish. And she looks for somewhat creepy details in paintings and is even more blunt than Sheela. She's actually been my favorite character of all the mains and supporting so far in these three books. We'll see if anyone in the rest of the series can hold a candle to her.

I really enjoyed this book, which should be obvious, as I stayed up until almost 4 finishing it and then after 4 writing this up while it was still fresh.

Next stop: France with a girl that seems way too into her boyfriend. I hope this one pleasantly surprises me, too, because the same character is back later on in the series.