True Colors (Landry’s True Colors Series Book One) by Krysten Lindsay Hager – Review by Tara Johnson Barnes

True Colors by Krysten Lindsay Hager
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When Landry is convinced by her friend to enter a modelling contest for the American Ingenue show being held at the local mall she reluctantly agrees. Only doing so because her two friends, Ericka, and Tori, will also be entering the contest with her. Landry expects nothing to come of the tryouts because she does not consider herself to be pretty enough to be a model. When Landry receives a call that informs her that she has made it to the second round in the tryouts she is surprised, but not nearly as much as her friend who did not expect Landry to advance at all in the tryouts. Landry suddenly finds that the girls she considered to be her best friends are now snubbing her and barely speaking to her. Landry is hurt and upset by her friend’s treatment and soon finds herself having to make new friends.

Landry is a character that I found to not only be likable but also relatable and I really enjoyed how the story was told from her point of view. I was bullied a lot in school and took a lot of abuse in the form of criticism about my appearance from not just classmates but those that called themselves my friends. My self esteem suffered greatly from the criticism, but I never said anything because I did not want to risk losing my friends. It took me well into adulthood to realize that some of those that I considered to be my closest friends were never really a true friend to begin with. Landry was not only courageous enough to try to form other friendships but to also step outside of her comfort zone and try out for the American Ingenue show.

Landry had not only self esteem issues and bullying to deal with but peer pressure and issues at home as she tried to figure out the weird relationship between her parents. Her parents lived in separate cities but were not separated or divorced which was hard for her to sort out. With so much going on in her life it was often difficult for Landry to navigate her feelings, thoughts, and emotions on her own. This is a great book for not just teens, but for adults as well. I found myself reliving my teen years through Landry’s eyes and it gave me new insight into my own high school experience. I highly recommend!

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