Diary of a Teenage Girl Series by Melody Carlson

When my mom went to visit the Logos Hope, I asked her to buy a few books, including anything by Melody Carlson. Unfortunately, she only managed to buy 2 Melody Carlson books, both the first in Diary of a Teenage Girl series. I can imagine people going "how can there by two 1st books?" Well, that's because they're first books for different girls - Chloe and Maya.

Chloe is the protagonist and narrator of My Name is Chloe. And if I'm right, she's the second Diary of a Teenage Girl series protagonist, the first being Caitlyn (I haven't read the books, but she does appear in the book). This series is all about music, since you can tell that Chloe loves music. And I think that her song lyrics are so good, I wish that they were songs in real life.

The only thing about her book that bugged me a little was that it was written in typewriter format, and I wasn't used to it. But I forgot about it after a few chapters.

The latest in the series, (at least I think it's the latest) is A Not-So-Simple Life, starring Maya. I'm not sure what it's about, since most of the book focused on clothes and modelling, but ended with Maya talking about how her modelling career is over. Basically, Maya is a 'green' girl trying to stay afloat with a drug-abuser mother and an absent dad (he's reviving his pop-star career). It was really cool seeing characters from all the previous series - I love how they inhabit the same world.

The "green tips" from Maya at the end of each chapter were a bit awkward at first, especially when it didn't seem to have a discernible link. But towards the end, it got better, especially when you could see her feelings.

So which of these "first books" are better? According to my mom who read both of them before me (she's a huge Melody Carlson fan) she prefers Chloe. And I do too. At first, I thought I would like Maya more, but I guess in the end, I could relate more to Chloe. Especially through her song lyrics.