Candid by Michelle Pennington

From Goodreads:
Life is simple for high school senior, Sienna Whitfield. With a few good friends, a camera, and a dream, she has everything she needs to be happy. But when Jordan Rubio, the most popular girl at Haskins High, makes her mad, she decides to use the power of photography to right a few social wrongs. As if that doesn’t cause enough drama in her life, she realizes she’s falling for the new guy, Lee Franklin. Strong and protective, he’s just what she needs to survive the craziness she’s stirred up at school. If only she didn’t have to keep her feelings for Lee a secret from her mom.

My Take:
First, I have to let you know that I picked this book up after meeting the author at a craft fair this spring. She shared a booth with me in fact and I found her to be delightful. This was the fair that was cold, snowy, rainy and downright miserable.

I originally bought the book to be nice more than a desire to read it. I'm only saying this so you will believe that the review that follows is as honest as I can be.

This was a wonderfully quick read that had me smiling like a silly girl most of the time. Such a sweet romance with a twist to the "forbidden love" angle. I also enjoyed how Sienna had good intentions for why she wanted to change the status quo, but the changes were also driven by very human emotions--anger and revenge. Lee is a good guy and still drool worthy! This was also a nice change from the standard "bad boy" love interest.

Pennington proved that you can create and maintain a strong story with two every day "good" kids. I wish more people knew about this author and were willing to give her a chance. I loved this story and found the writing to be clean and well edited for a self published book. In fact, I don't know why she didn't catch an agent with this one.

I give Candid a solid 4.5 for being a great romance with oh so much more.

1-5 scale and what it means:
1: I couldn’t even finish it / just plain bad
2: I hope I didn’t pay for this / disappointing
3: I didn’t hate it, but it was still missing something / forgettable but inoffensive
3.5: On the line between good and ok / like, not love
4: Solid mind candy / worth reading
4.5: So very close to perfection! / must read
5: I could not put it down and I’m still thinking about it! / a true treasure