The Magnificent Makeover Contest is run quarterly by the Wattpadres, a group of twelve writers here on Wattpad. It gives you the opportunity to not only nominate your own story but to also share the Wattpad love by nominating someone else's story f...
The grand-prize winner of the Wattpadres Magnificent Makeover Contest #1 is greatblueheron, aka Ara James, with her story CHERRIES!
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If you read one Wattpad book over the next month, it should be this one. Whatever adjectives I may use to describe Ara's story throughout this post – wonderful, charming, incredibly, amazeballs – listen up, because all are fitting and none are hyperbolic. This is my genuine take on CHERRIES – it will suck you in like you're the Luxardo cherry at the bottom of a whiskey sour.
CHERRIES follows the story of mid-twenties ski instructor Lia, whose cushy job dries up overnight when the wealthy family she works for moves out of Park City, Utah. To assuage their guilt at leaving Lia jobless, they give her two coveted passes to the Sundance Film Festival, due to begin in just a few days. Lia has no patience for the Hollywood pretention that hits her little town each year, but she's excited to have those free passes, as is her film buff roommate, Callie.
Before long, Lia finds herself begrudgingly acquainted with a tiny piece of Hollywood in the form of a man who is a household name to just about everyone except her. Hijinks ensue.
Written in first person, Lia's witty inner monologue is an immediate draw. And it never lets up. If you've read WHERE'D YOU GO BERNADETTE by Arrested Development writer Maria Semple (or just watched Arrested Development, for that matter), CHERRIES brings you the same sort of mind-bogglingly smart, fast-paced relentless humor. This humor is a worthy counterweight to the poignancy of Lia's emotional state, which at the book's opening, is in a struggle to reconcile self-effacement with self-determination.
I could go on and on, but let's let CHERRIES speak for itself. Here are just a few lines that either made me laugh or nod my head due to their utter relatability:
"I don't want to change, or go out for $15 cocktails. I want to crawl under my covers, read a book, and eat organic mac and cheese, like an adult."
And then a few paragraphs later...
"Maybe a night out is just the prescription to help with this disillusionment. Maybe Mac and Cheese can't fix everything.
"I mean, I doubt it, but it's worth a shot."
Then in the next chapter, when the night out is in full swing (though not what she expected it to be):
"He tugs his glass out of my hand, his fingers warm and rough as they slip over mine. My heart jolts in my chest like I've made a bad landing, expecting powder and finding rock.
"Holy hell, Mr. Chivalry looks a lot better after four drinks and whatever mild heart attack he just caused."
No one sees the world quite like Lia. Her interactions with others show a cutting realization of the pitfalls of human nature. Likewise, her social commentary is as entertaining as it is biting. She snubs her nose at pretention (no irony there), and pokes fun at so many architypes, it's hard to keep up. Ski bums, potheads... no one is really safe, though she handles each with the sympathy (or lack thereof) due to whomever is the subject of her scrutiny. Pretentious types definitely get the brunt. Take the hoity-toity restaurant, Rhombus, for example:
"Rhombus has removed most traces of modernity from their restaurant. Their reservations are written in a leather-bound book in calligraphy.
"I remind myself to punch Callie for choosing this place."
See what I'm getting at here? This book is gold. Pure gold. Gold disguised as a semi-aimless unemployed contradictory woman navigating the unpredictable space where the wilds of Hollywood and the wilds of Utah collide. Throw in a couple of Moscow mules and an 18 year-old Scotch (or the best hot chocolate this side of the Mississippi if that's more your thing), and you have a story that is as unforgettable as its main character.
