Review: A Thousand Words by Jennifer Brown

Title: Thousand Words
Author: Jennifer Brown
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers

Publication date: May 21st, 2013

Genre(s): Young Adult (Contemporary)

Source: Netgalley

Format: eARC

Pages: 282

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Ashleigh's boyfriend, Kaleb, is about to leave for college, and Ashleigh is worried that he'll forget about her while he's away. So at a legendary end-of-summer pool party, Ashleigh's friends suggest she text him a picture of herself -- sans swimsuit -- to take with him. Before she can talk herself out of it, Ashleigh strides off to the bathroom, snaps a photo in the full-length mirror, and hits "send."

But when Kaleb and Ashleigh go through a bad breakup, Kaleb takes revenge by forwarding the text to his baseball team. Soon the photo has gone viral, attracting the attention of the school board, the local police, and the media. As her friends and family try to distance themselves from the scandal, Ashleigh feels completely alone -- until she meets Mack while serving her court-ordered community service. Not only does Mack offer a fresh chance at friendship, but he's the one person in town who received the text of Ashleigh's photo -- and didn't look. 

I started this book without really knowing what I was getting myself into. Thousand Words talks about love, betrayal, and friendship. Ashleigh, the main protagonist, has an amazing boyfriend. As her boyfriend, Kaleb, is ready to go to college, Ashleigh is worried that he'll forget about her. When Ashleigh tells her friend about how she feels about this, they convince her to send a picture of herself naked to him so he really won't forget her. After Kaleb goes to college, and comes back to visit just to break up with Ashleigh, things get nasty. Kaleb decides to take revenge by sending her naked photo to his contact list. Thousand Words also transitions from the past to the present, where Ashleigh does her community service for the "crime" she committed. What I really liked about this book is that it talks about a sensitive subject, and kind of teaches you the consequences of doing something as rash as this. 

Ashleigh was a very interesting character to read about. She really beats herself for what she did, and she really doesn't seem like a character who would ever think of doing something like that. She's an athletic student who never got in trouble. I guess she was just in the wrong time and wrong place. I actually blamed her friends for convincing her to do something as stupid as this. In the end, Ashleigh had to pay for what she did. It was sad seeing students calling her names at school, the story getting as serious as child pornography, and so on. I really liked Kaleb at first, because he really did genuinely care about her. I just really hated him for sending the photo, because really, who does that as revenge? Especially to a person who used to "love". Ashleigh really went through a lot of hardships, and it really is sad to see how one text about ruined her life. 

Overall, Thousand Words was a great book. Very sad at times, but very realistic. I really do think that teenage girls should read this, especially those who might think doing something like sending a naked picture of yourself to your boyfriend is okay. I'm definitely going to give Jennifer Brown's other books a try! The writing was also great, and I don't think there was ever a part where I was remotely bored. If you like reading realistic fiction or contemporary books, this one's for you!