Brilliant

by Rachel Vail

Overview

Everybody knows who Quinn Avery is. She's the smart, calm, responsible Avery sister, the one who's kept it together in spite of all that's happened since their mom lost her job. But when the family house goes up for sale and Quinn faces the prospect of losing the home she loves, something snaps inside her, and a new, wild, reckless Quinn emerges.

Soon Quinn's lying, sneaking out, and partying with a brand-new crowd. When Quinn adds ditching her best friends and kissing the wrong boys—including her sister's boyfriend and her own piano teacher—to her list of crimes, she may finally have gone too far. Can Quinn find her way back to the family that needs her and the only boy she's ever loved?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780060890513
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	04/26/2011
Series:	Avery Sisters Trilogy , #3
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	1,126,512
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Rachel Vail is the award-winning author of the critically acclaimed novels If We Kiss and Lucky, Gorgeous, and Brilliant (the Avery sisters trilogy) and more than a dozen other novels for young teens, including the Friendship Ring series. Rachel has also written many beloved picture books, including Piggy Bunny and Sometimes I'm Bombaloo, and two hit novels for elementary school kids, Justin Case: School, Drool, and Other Daily Disasters; and Justin Case: Shells, Smells, and the Horrible Flip-Flops of Doom. Rachel lives in New York City with her husband and their two sons.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Brilliant: “Good girls and rebels alike will be able to identify with this adolescent rite of passage. A natural choice for teens waiting for their next Sarah Dessen fix.” — School Library Journal

“Vail has done a superb job. Readers who pick this title up will definitely want to backtrack to the earlier titles, and those who’ve heard Phoebe’s and Allison’s takes won’t want to miss Quinn’s.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

“Vail ends this trilogy on a high note, one that should especially resonate with teens whose lives have changed with the economy. ” — Kirkus Reviews

“Vail shows a clear understanding of the everyday turmoil faced by today’s teens and handles them with wit and obvious affection. If they haven’t already read its predecessor, Lucky (2008), teens will want to after finishing this one.” — Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

Vail has done a superb job. Readers who pick this title up will definitely want to backtrack to the earlier titles, and those who’ve heard Phoebe’s and Allison’s takes won’t want to miss Quinn’s.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

Vail has done a superb job. Readers who pick this title up will definitely want to backtrack to the earlier titles, and those who’ve heard Phoebe’s and Allison’s takes won’t want to miss Quinn’s.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Vail has done a superb job. Readers who pick this title up will definitely want to backtrack to the earlier titles, and those who’ve heard Phoebe’s and Allison’s takes won’t want to miss Quinn’s.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

Gr 9 Up—This final, stand-alone book in the Avery sisters trilogy that includes Lucky (2008) and Gorgeous (2009, both HarperCollins) is told from 16-year-old Quinn's point of view. The eldest child, she has always been the dependable daughter, loyal to her parents and a good girl who works hard and excels at everything. But her mom's loss of her high-paying job—and her need for a lawyer—is taking a toll on the whole family, Quinn included, as they prepare to move out of their home and face an uncertain future. Suddenly her behavior is very un-Quinn-like (kissing her sister's ex, making out with guys at parties, admitting her feelings to her longtime crush), but ultimately freeing, as she comes to acknowledge her parents' flaws as well as her own. Good girls and rebels alike will be able to identify with this adolescent rite of passage; Quinn's response is realistic, her friends and family are well drawn, and her happy-enough ending is hard won. A natural choice for teens waiting for their next Sarah Dessen fix.—Laurie Slagenwhite Walters, Baldwin Public Library, Birmingham, MI

School Library Journal

This final book in the Avery sisters trilogy (preceded by Lucky, 2008, and Gorgeous, 2009) centers on introverted Quinn, the oldest and most responsible of the three. On the surface, Quinn is dealing well with her family's losing their home and many of their possessions, but her first-person narration shows a fair amount of inner turmoil. Not entirely sure of how to deal with the feelings no one expects her to have, Quinn engages in reckless boy-kissing and party-going. The only boy she's really interested in kissing, however, is her piano teacher, college student Oliver. Her insecurities about herself and her future lead her to make poor but understandable choices about her friendships and romances. Quinn's intelligence, which she expresses while still sounding authentic and often funny, allows for full exploration of her mixed feelings. Her calm nature also plays well against the personalities of her high-strung sisters. Vail ends this trilogy on a high note, one that should especially resonate with teens whose lives have changed with the economy. (Fiction. 12 & up)

Kirkus Reviews