The Fruit of My Lipstick, It's All About Us Series #2

Loud-mouth New Yorker Gillian Chang is about to start her second term at posh Spencer Academy boarding school in San Francisco... But can she hang on to her integrety and her faith when she loses her heart to Lucas Hayes?

New Yorker Gillian Chang starts her second term at posh SpencerAcademy boarding school in San Francisco prepared to focus on her studies, her faith, and her friends. She plays a dozen musical instruments and can recite the periodic table of the elements backward. She's totally prepared for everything--except love!
She's falling hard for Lucas Hayes, who isn't even a senior yet and is already aiming at a Ph.D. in physics from Stanford. The problem is, she never seems to be able to measure up and be the girlfriend he wants. He's under a lot of pressure from his parents to achieve--maybe that's why he's short-tempered sometimes. But even a thick-skinned girl like Gillian can only take so much.
With her heart on the line, Gillian conceals more and more from her friends. So when she's accused of selling exam answer sheets, even her girlfriends, Lissa Mansfield and Carly Aragon, wonder if it can be true. Gillian will need the power of honesty--with herself and with Lucas--to show what she's really made of.

Shelley Adina is a world traveler and pop culture junkie with an incurable addiction to designer handbags. She knows the value of a relationship with a gracious God and loving Christian friends, and she's inviting today's teenage girls to join her in these refreshingly honest books about real life as a Christian teen--with a little extra glitz thrown in for fun! In between books, Adina loves traveling, listening to and making music, and watching all kinds of movies.

Average Rating:

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Reviewed by Novel Teen Book Reviews (Oregon), October 15, 2009

Gillian Chang is an awesome person. She is brilliant in schoolwork, gifted in music, and totally in love with God. People love her for her outgoing and tell-it-like-it-is personality. When Lucas Hayes, the smartest guy in the school, takes an interest in her, Gillian is love struck. But the more time she spends with Lucas, the more she realizes that she doesn’t measure up. Determined to be everything Lucas needs in a girlfriend, Gillian starts to make changes. When her friends call her on it, she is livid. Why can’t they see that Lucas is right? He only wants what’s best for her, and there is a lot to improve. This is the second book in the All About Us series about girls who are attending an expensive boarding school. So far, these girls have everything money can buy and wear clothing that I could never afford for myself, like, ever. The books are still a lot of fun. I like how Shelley Adina wrote the character of Lucas Hayes. I was enamored with him myself at first. But when he started putting Gillian down in these slight ways—ways that she wasn’t quite certain he meant derogatorily, but hurt her feelings—I got really worried. It was so hard for Gillian to see Lucas without bias. She wanted him to be the guy of her dreams. She wanted the relationship to be a fairy tale. But when three of her friends took her aside and told her they thought something was wrong, Gillian freaked, even to the point of accusing her friends of being wrong. Shelley Adina shows us that there is never a reason to change who you are to please a guy. The right guy will love you for who you are. But will Gillian realize that or end up in a world of hurt?

Reviewed by Deborah (Reston, VA), May 13, 2009

Once again, I had a blast reading the second book in the "It's All About Us" series. This is one of the most fun YA books I've read. Shelley Adina writes very well in a teen voice and really makes you feel like a bunch of 16-17 year olds are writing this book. It's a very fast read but so enjoyable that you'll want to reread it again (or at least get the other books in the series). This is one of the very few Christian fiction book that I have read that features an Asian American lead character. Especially one that is not an immigrant or an adoptee . I know it's a topic I always bring up with there's an AA character but it's something that needs to be the rule and not the exception. The book is great at showing how an Asian American tries to fit in between two cultures. You can see Gillian struggle to fit in the two worlds with her parents and with her life at school. Her mother reminded me very much of my own mother. I could practically hear my own mother's voice every time Gillian's mother appeared. This book features a storyline that is very relevant with teen girls and dating. Abusive relationships need to be talked about to girls. They need to know that it's not always physical abuse that one needs to be on the lookout for. Verbal and emotional abuse need to be avoided as well. Lucas was a jerk. He started off being nice, but once he had Gillian wrapped around his finger, he just went off the deep end. It pained me to see him treat her like this and her either not noticing or just shrugging it off. Girls do NOT deserve that type of treatment, no matter what they've done! This guy seriously had major issues and I was so happy with the ending of the book. I really enjoyed this book and was sad to see it end. This whole series has been wonderful and I'm eagerly looking forward to the next addition. If you're a fan of Gossip Girl and want something a bit tamer, this book comes HIGHLY recommended.

Reviewed by Kristi (Gurnee, IL), February 26, 2009

Christmas break is over and we are back at Spencer Academy with Lissa, Gillian, Carly, and Shani. Since Lissa was able to tell her story about Callum in It's All About Us (and Carly will share her story in book 3 - Be Strong and Curvaceous) it is Gillian's turn to come clean about her infatuation with Lucas Hayes - the smartest guy at Spencer Academy. Lucas is working towards the Physics Olympiad when he and Gillian hook up. Gillian has never had a boyfriend before and is pretty quick to get swept up in the moment. While she likes Lucas, and always looks forward to seeing him, she doesn't always feel quite happy after her time spent with him - but it is nothing that she can put her finger on, so she just chalks it up to not having anything to compare it to. At the same time, though, she needs to concentrate on her own grads or her Type A dad will be coming down on her pretty hard! Most of the other juniors are studying hard also, except for those that have been buying exam sheets from Source10. Nobody knows who this person is - but the whole junior class is going to be punished with F's if they are not caught! First, one of Gillian's friends is suspended for the deed - then Gillian herself is put on house arrest as a suspect! They give their problems to God and pray that the truth will come out - but will it happen in time to save the semester? And where will this leave Gillian in her relationship with Carly, Lissa and Shani - not to mention Lucas! I enjoyed this book as much as I did the 1st and 3rd books in the series. I like the way they gradually lead you into Christianity without being preachy. I think this series would definitely be good for those teens/young adults struggling with their faith.

Reviewed by Camy Tang (San Jose, CA), August 28, 2008

This was such a fun book! I admit I’m a bit partial because it’s set in San Francisco, but the story and characters really drew me in. The story premise is really neat—a girl’s first boyfriend and the things she learns about being true to herself and to God. It also touches on the sticky relationship between a girl’s friends and her new boyfriend with sensitivity and humor. I have to admit I was a bit annoyed in the middle when Gillian kept making bad decisions and doing stupid things—you know how you want to scream at a character to stop being a dodo-brain? But I was completely caught up in things at the climax, which is a terrific climax, by the way. Very emotional, very satisfying, and absolutely hilarious. Gillian’s personal conflicts about “measuring up” are things I saw a lot in my friends when I was single, and it took a long time and a lot of prayer to understand who I am in Christ versus who I want to be for others. It’s nice to see this issue being communicated here in a teen novel—hopefully teen girls won’t go through the angst I did. The characters might be a bit young for a 16 or 17 year old girl, but I think 15 or younger girls will really enjoy this story. It’s so wonderful to see a hip, fresh, fluffy novel like this that still communicates the truth of God’s love for us.

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