Thousand Words by Jennifer Brown

Thousand Words by Jennifer Brown
Release Date: May 21, 2013
Publisher: Little Brown Books For Young Readers
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 288  

Summary: 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.

Acclaimed author Jennifer Brown brings readers a gripping novel about honesty and betrayal, redemption and friendship, attraction and integrity, as Ashleigh finds that while a picture may be worth a thousand words . . . it doesn't always tell the whole story.

My Thoughts: I was so excited to read this one! I love Brown’s books and am always excited to see her release more!

We are introduced to Ashleigh who is in high school. She likes to run, has a great mom and dad, and has an amazing boyfriend named Kaleb. She has a best friend, and a group of friends that make everything fun. Her life is pretty good.

One day at a party, a pool party, she decides she wants to send Kaleb a picture so he won’t forget her. He’s going off to college real soon. Yes, it is that kind of picture. So she gets over her nerves, and snaps away and sends it via text message.  Full frontal, naked.

Of course he’s thrilled about it. Until he actually goes off to college and realizes he’s just not into the way things are anymore and wants a change. In the process he really hurts her, things are said, and he ends up forwarding the picture on. Many many people see it.

Ashleigh is in a lot of trouble. Not just with her friends and the general public, but with her parents and the police as well. Everyone is mean to her. Everyone harasses her. Her parents are upset with her. Her parents jobs are on the line. Her whole life goes from great to horrible in a matter of seconds really.

She gets sentenced to community service and we see what she has to go through. We get to experience what that is like. She also meets a few new people there, one of which is Mack. Mack was such a wonderful character and I loved learning more about him and his past. For me, he was the bright light in this dark tunnel.

I loved the interactions between Ashleigh and Mack. I loved this book so hard! It was such a serious topic and crazy but it was explained perfectly. This is real life, it could actually happened and has many times.

Brown always takes these serious subjects and expands on them and really makes you take a deeper look and really think about it.

I have to say this is probably my favorite book up to date by Brown. But all of her books are awesome.

Overall: AMAZING! Loved it! Even though at times it was hard for Ashleigh, I enjoyed reading her story and what she had to overcome.  Great story.

Cover: I really like it too. It would draw me in at the bookstore. Enough to pick it up and take it home with me to read. 

What I'd Give It: