Violet on the Runway & Violet by Design - Melissa Walker

"I can never see fashion models,
lean angular cheeks, strutting hips
and blooming hair, without thinking of
the skulls at the catacombs in Lima, Peru."
Naomi Shihab Nye (b. 1952), U.S. poet. "Morning Paper, Society Page," lines 1-4 (1994).

I just happened to see this quote from Naomi Shihab Nye this morning when I was looking for a poem by her, but it fits so beautifully with the novels I just read, I'm including it here. Plus there's the fact that I can't get the doggone book cover pictures to load, so this is going to be it for now.

Anyway, this is a very interesting series which I cannot decide if I like or I don't like. Well, actually, that's not true. I like the series, I'm not sure if I like Violet. I want to, I really do, but she just keeps making bad choice after bad choice and treating people in her life so poorly that I find it difficult to like her. Violet Greenfield, a high school senior when the stories begin, is 6'1" tall, and blessed with a high metabolism so she's quite thin. Needless to say, people notice her, but she tries her best to blend in, not believing she's special in any way. I kind of have a hard time with this. Everyone is special in some way. Granted, some people have more talent in some areas than others, no one can argue with that, but we all have something to offer. And if you don't believe that, I feel sorry for you, but I'm also kind of irritated if you don't try and figure out what that something is but are just content to wallow in a "poor me I'm so plain" pity party. ANNOYING! And guess what, that's kind of how Violet is. Except, she gets offered a modeling contract and goes off to New York.

In New York, Violet feels like she is someone worthy, and she gets WAY caught up in the whole party scene, which first of all is an unlikely scenario for too many people. But even considering that, it has TOO many people involved in it. And they're not really good people. They're conniving, anorexic, drug using, underage drinking, back-stabbing, not nice types for the most part. And Violet, who is smart, and beautiful and has some really great supportive friends at home, totally goes for all this. Did I say ANNOYING before? Yeah, well.

Of course, this kind of stuff does make for a pretty good story. And I read both books, didn't I? And I'm going to the library to get the third this afternoon, too, even though I already have THIRTY-SEVEN books checked out form the public library...I'm not sure what this says about me. I guess that I'm clinging to the hope that after the debacle that was Sao Paulo, Brazil, and the next debacle that was Madrid, Spain, and the further debacle that was Paris, France, maybe, just maybe Violet will have come to her senses and will actually stand up for the things she really does believe in without being sucked in to this nonsense of the modeling world. Please?

These books do have some mature themes in them. They are available at the Multnomah County Library.