Barbie World

by Heidi Acosta

[Angie]

Wait. Is this it? No more feisty, pink-haired Barbie Starr? I’m a little bummed that Barbie World seems to mark the end of Barbie’s story. I loved her in the first book, and in the second I was still rooting for her to come out of all of this okay. It’s Summer vacation and Barbie is doing her required hour of therapy. She’s very reluctant, but then she gets a new doctor who actually makes some breakthroughs. Things are very awkward and strained with Dylan, since they’re living together and he’s dating Katie. Then one heart-stopping day, Barbie makes an unexpected discovery that sends her on a road trip to find her long lost grandmother and hopefully some closure.

I did enjoy Barbie World, but I was a little disappointed. I wish more time had been spent earlier in the book on Barbie dealing with her feelings. She does have one extremely powerful scene, but then the focus shifts primarily to her relationship with Dylan. After that horrific night in the previous book, Barbie is irreversibly changed. She’s angry and confused, and she doesn’t know what to do about it. Her solution is to avoid Dylan, which obviously doesn’t work. She starts dating some wannabe rocker named Kai, which doesn’t go over too well with Dylan even though he’s still stringing Katie along. They try to be friends, but that certainly doesn’t work. They’ll have a special moment together, then Barbie pushes him away, then another moment, and she pushes him away. It was extremely repetitive, and I would have rather read more about Barbie’s journey to find her family.

Once again, I adore Third! I was missing him in the beginning, since it was mainly focused on Barbie and Dylan, but once he came on the scene, it was non-stop Third hilarity! He is the comic relief providing sidekick, but he also continues to be a great friend to both Barbie and Dylan. He’s there to support her, and he tries to keep Dylan from going off the deep end. He also got a little side plot romance in Barbie World! Third has a crush on Barbie’s friend Roxie and he’s determined to get her to see him for the great guy that he is, and not just the goofball best friend.

The stiff language I mentioned in my review of the first book is back with a vengeance in Barbie World! I’m hoping that’s just because I read an ARC, but there is a serious lack of contractions. It was very awkward to read, and did distract me from the story this time. Hopefully this gets fixed in the final version.

I wish I had known that Barbie World was the conclusion, so I would have been prepared for that ending! I actually liked the way the final chapter went (except for one detail and I had a hard time believing), and I think it would have left room for at least one more book. Barbie was getting her life together and I would have liked to have witnessed her senior year of high school. Instead there’s an epilogue that takes place a few years into the future, which was cute, but also a little on the unsatisfying side. I just wanted more out of Barbie’s emotionally explosive story, and that ending was too tame.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.