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Red
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Felicity St. John has it all—loyal best friends, a hot guy, and artistic talent. And she’s right on track to win the Miss Scarlet pageant. Her perfect life is possible because of just one thing: her long, wavy, coppery red hair.
Having red hair is all that matters in Scarletville. Redheads hold all the power—and everybody knows it. That’s why Felicity is scared down to her ...more
Having red hair is all that matters in Scarletville. Redheads hold all the power—and everybody knows it. That’s why Felicity is scared down to her ...more
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Hardcover, First, 320 pages
Published
October 8th 2013
by Delacorte Books for Young Readers
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Susanna Houser
The genre of this book is fiction, drama.
Community Reviews
Showing 1-30

Start your review of Red

Upon finishing:
Um.
But seriously, how did this book not end with Felicity being sent to The School of Basic Human Decency?
The review:
I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Red might have been awesome if it had been told in the perspective of Gabby, the main antagonist, or Ivy, one of Felicity's best friends who - in her own way - is also opposed to the Scarletville ideology. Both characters possess enough scepticism to challenge the society they live in. This is cru ...more
Um.
But seriously, how did this book not end with Felicity being sent to The School of Basic Human Decency?
The review:
I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Red might have been awesome if it had been told in the perspective of Gabby, the main antagonist, or Ivy, one of Felicity's best friends who - in her own way - is also opposed to the Scarletville ideology. Both characters possess enough scepticism to challenge the society they live in. This is cru ...more

Nov 05, 2012
Wendy Darling
marked it as dnf
DNF after one chapter. This premise is just a little too zany for me, and the story feels almost better suited for a middle grade book.

5 Words: Clever, teen, drama, high school, blackmail.
I can't say that I 100% enjoyed this book. It was entertaining and I loved that it was a witty piece of social commentary and liked the way it was presented, but it just wasn't quite my cup of tea.
I'm not really such a fan of high-school dramas. Been there, done that, it's never like the books. Yeah, there was bitching and blackmail and bullying, but books always seem to make it so over-the-top dramatic.
This is quite a summery book - it's just ...more
I can't say that I 100% enjoyed this book. It was entertaining and I loved that it was a witty piece of social commentary and liked the way it was presented, but it just wasn't quite my cup of tea.
I'm not really such a fan of high-school dramas. Been there, done that, it's never like the books. Yeah, there was bitching and blackmail and bullying, but books always seem to make it so over-the-top dramatic.
This is quite a summery book - it's just ...more

Feb 12, 2012
Krys
rated it
liked it
Shelves:
read-in-2013,
stand-alone,
young-adult,
third-person-narrative,
fiction,
twins,
debut-2013,
state-iowa
Red is a 2013 debut young adult novel by Alison Cherry; the first debut that I have read this year. It features a small town in Iowa called Scarletville, where the denizens are largely redheads and proud of it. In fact the Redhead populace are lauded for the genetic blessings in such a way that the townsfolk spurns all other appearances and ethnicities (of which there is a diversity of this - you're either white and redhead, or white and not a redhead). It's not good to live in Scarletville unle ...more

I don't know what I was expecting when I opened RED on my Kindle and started reading. Maybe I was expecting the wrong thing, or maybe I was just confused by how the subject was handled, but I went in expecting something akin to a deconstruction of race relations under the guise of hair color. Instead, I got a rather inane story - that I still liked, that I still thought was cute, that I still enjoyed - about a girl in a strange town where red hair is held high above all, who is hiding the fact t
...more

Honestly, this is too juvenile for YA (which is surprising, because most young adult books are still juvenile), but nothing in this book was subtle or original.
However, it would be a bit higher in quality if it was middle grade. Just take out the makeout scenes and put these characters in middle school and the plot would be greatly improved simply because in juvenile this would count as good, fluff, but still good.
In the end, this book is in YA, which I think was a bad idea. This book is child ...more
However, it would be a bit higher in quality if it was middle grade. Just take out the makeout scenes and put these characters in middle school and the plot would be greatly improved simply because in juvenile this would count as good, fluff, but still good.
In the end, this book is in YA, which I think was a bad idea. This book is child ...more

Felicity is a popular pageant contestant, but she harbors a dark and terrible secret--she dyes her hair red. In Scarletville, redheads are the only people that matter. Felicity is on the cusp of achieving her mother's greatest dream: being crowned Miss Scarlet. But then a classmate discovers her secret and begins blackmailing her. The blackmail starts small and escalates, and Felicity feels increasingly trapped. She can't tell her friends what's going on, and her boyfriend is a lunkhead. Her onl
...more

Actual rating: 3.5
I did like this one. I like the odd town - that red heads are so loved and so glorified. It gave the idea that a trait, like hair or eye color or skin color, could make you a different person. I loved how silly it made it seem - because it's so true.
But I also love that the characters are people. You don't necessarily like Felicity but you can see her POV. You don't necessarily hate Gabby, Haylie, Ivy, Brent, Cassie or any other character in the story but they aren't perfect. T ...more
I did like this one. I like the odd town - that red heads are so loved and so glorified. It gave the idea that a trait, like hair or eye color or skin color, could make you a different person. I loved how silly it made it seem - because it's so true.
But I also love that the characters are people. You don't necessarily like Felicity but you can see her POV. You don't necessarily hate Gabby, Haylie, Ivy, Brent, Cassie or any other character in the story but they aren't perfect. T ...more

You know those books where you find the synopsis utterly ridiculous? But you have to read just to see if the book is actually joke or not? I seriously thought this book was a big joke when I first read the summery. Red hair gets you the golden pass in life? wHAT. it's so ridiculous I had to read it. I was SO ready to give a full blown rant about how this book was stupid. Welllll, I guess now I can't. Because it wasn't, and it took me by one hell of a surprise. I actually ended up enjoying this a
...more

Alison Cherry’s Red was among my most-anticipated books of 2013. The concept sounded hilarious and Alison’s tweets and blog posts always made me laugh. How could this possibly go wrong? Clearly, I need to stop thinking this way, because while Red was certainly a quick read, but sadly not a good one.
Read the full review at A Reader of Fictions. ...more
Read the full review at A Reader of Fictions. ...more

Initial reaction: Extraordinarily cliche and cheese, but parts of it managed to be entertaining. I didn't love it or hate it, but I think it could've established the satire much better than what it did for the themes it wanted to touch on. And there was a part of me that thought Felicity could've stepped up to the plate far more than she did.
Full review:
Ooh, what to say about Alison Cherry's "Red"? I'll admit that I was actually curious to read the galley for this title for a long time. The cove ...more
Full review:
Ooh, what to say about Alison Cherry's "Red"? I'll admit that I was actually curious to read the galley for this title for a long time. The cove ...more

This follows a red-headed girl, Felicity, from Scarletville. In this town, red-heads are treated like royalty. They are the most popular kids in school, they get the best of everything, and they get all the praises. Felicity has a secret though - she isn't a natural red-head. She's an "artie" pretending to be a natural red-head. When she starts getting blackmailed, she does everything she could to keep her secret under wraps. How far will Felicity go to keep her secret?
I know this is supposed to ...more
I know this is supposed to ...more

I was not entirely impressed with RED, even going in with relatively low expectations. I was expecting a fun, light novel but this one was a little too cliquey and middle grade for me. There is a great moral and life lesson attached though, which was RED’s redeeming quality.
RED takes place in the town of Scarletville, where, you guessed it-everyone who is anyone is redheaded. Felicity has the most coveted hair in the whole town, and is revered by her fellow redheads. The only problem is Felicity ...more
RED takes place in the town of Scarletville, where, you guessed it-everyone who is anyone is redheaded. Felicity has the most coveted hair in the whole town, and is revered by her fellow redheads. The only problem is Felicity ...more

Scarletville, Iowa, bills itself as a National Redhead Sanctuary. Indeed, it’s a town where the vast majority of the populace are redheads. A town where gingers are worshipped, and the redder the better. Where strawberry blondes are disparagingly referred to as “strawbies” and looked down on as “not red enough.” Where those who dye their hair to fit in are dubbed “arties” and outright ostracized for their false redness. It’s the town’s dirty little secret, that blondes and brunettes are shunned,
...more

Check out more of my reviews at ***Singing and Reading in the Rain***!
I expected to love Red way more than I did. Unfortunately, although it was a somewhat addicting read, I couldn't get past the shallow stereotyping of this town and how ignorant everybody was.
Our main character Felicity had been harboring a secret for seventeen years of her life: she dyed her hair to the perfect shade of red. In Scarletville, that was a pretty big scandal, and there was even a demeaning term for these types of ...more
I expected to love Red way more than I did. Unfortunately, although it was a somewhat addicting read, I couldn't get past the shallow stereotyping of this town and how ignorant everybody was.
Our main character Felicity had been harboring a secret for seventeen years of her life: she dyed her hair to the perfect shade of red. In Scarletville, that was a pretty big scandal, and there was even a demeaning term for these types of ...more

Read more reviews at What Danielle Did Next
3.5 Stars
RED was a fun, cute, quick read with an entertaining albeit slightly ludicrous plot and a strong moral message that I enjoyed.
Felicity has it all, living in Scarletville, the world's only Redhead Sanctuary, she is popular, well liked, dating the hottest guy in school and a shoo-in for the upcoming Miss Scarlet pageant. Life should be perfect but Felicity is hiding a scandalous secret...she may benefit from the privilege of being a redhead but ...more
3.5 Stars
RED was a fun, cute, quick read with an entertaining albeit slightly ludicrous plot and a strong moral message that I enjoyed.
Felicity has it all, living in Scarletville, the world's only Redhead Sanctuary, she is popular, well liked, dating the hottest guy in school and a shoo-in for the upcoming Miss Scarlet pageant. Life should be perfect but Felicity is hiding a scandalous secret...she may benefit from the privilege of being a redhead but ...more

Red - Audiobook review
Interesting premise: in the town of Scarletville, having red hair is all that matters. Felicity is popular and she has it all. She has gorgeous red hair, loyal best friends, a hot boyfriend, artistic talent, and it looks like she will win the Miss Scarlet pagent. But then she receives an anonymous note. Someone knows her secret: she dyes her hair, and has been doing it her whole life. It's her junior year in high school, and if anyone finds out she's a fake, she could los ...more
Interesting premise: in the town of Scarletville, having red hair is all that matters. Felicity is popular and she has it all. She has gorgeous red hair, loyal best friends, a hot boyfriend, artistic talent, and it looks like she will win the Miss Scarlet pagent. But then she receives an anonymous note. Someone knows her secret: she dyes her hair, and has been doing it her whole life. It's her junior year in high school, and if anyone finds out she's a fake, she could los ...more

(Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to Quercus books and Netgalley.)
Felicity lives in Scarletville, a place where redheads are revered. Felicity has envious red hair, but would die if anyone knew that it was only red due to frequent trips to a top-secret salon.
When someone discovers Felicity’s secret, and begins to blackmail her, Felicity sees no choice other than to give in to her blackmailer, even if it means being made to look a fool.
Who ...more
Felicity lives in Scarletville, a place where redheads are revered. Felicity has envious red hair, but would die if anyone knew that it was only red due to frequent trips to a top-secret salon.
When someone discovers Felicity’s secret, and begins to blackmail her, Felicity sees no choice other than to give in to her blackmailer, even if it means being made to look a fool.
Who ...more

This is yet another book I initially read about a year and a half ago, but since I remember enjoying it, I decided to reread it so I could review it better. To my relief, despite lower-rated reviews I read from friends, I found that I still enjoyed Red for all its goofiness and craziness.
The second I read the synopsis for this book, I knew I needed to have it. I’ve been dying my hair a coppery red since I was fifteen, and it’s actually astounding how many people feel slightly betrayed when they ...more
The second I read the synopsis for this book, I knew I needed to have it. I’ve been dying my hair a coppery red since I was fifteen, and it’s actually astounding how many people feel slightly betrayed when they ...more

Nov 25, 2012
Christina Farley
added it
Here's my review: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUeZIg...
...more

Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
Red is a smart, entertaining book about a teen girl living in a town where everyone (well, everyone that matters) is a redhead and social capital is based on how red your hair is. But Felicity has a secret: her beautiful red hair is actually dyed *gasp*. When someone finds out the truth and begins blackmailing her, everything is turned upside down and she must grapple with who she really is.
This was a quick, light read and the plot is somewhat predictable, but it was sti ...more
Red is a smart, entertaining book about a teen girl living in a town where everyone (well, everyone that matters) is a redhead and social capital is based on how red your hair is. But Felicity has a secret: her beautiful red hair is actually dyed *gasp*. When someone finds out the truth and begins blackmailing her, everything is turned upside down and she must grapple with who she really is.
This was a quick, light read and the plot is somewhat predictable, but it was sti ...more

Oct 25, 2018
Cortney LaScola - The Bookworm Myrtle Beach
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Cute book. Wish I had more of a wrap-up at the end though... I need to know what happened next.

More reviews at Mrs. ReaderPants.
REVIEW: One part Stepford Wives and one part Mean Girls, Red is a fresh, funny, creative story that highlights society's prejudices. While much of the story takes place at the local high school, the prejudice and discrimination against non-reds heavily infiltrates the entire community. Hair dye is not permitted, and the local colorist has to hide her salon with a series of clandestine elevators, secret passcodes, and strategically-located broom closets. These peo ...more

Red reminded me of Petronella Saves Nearly Everyone: The Entomological Tales of Augustus T. Percival. Not that the books are at all similar, but my reaction to them has been. They are both odd, slightly disturbing plots with extremely memorable premises that left me confused and with a feeling of disquiet. Except I came to appreciate Petronella Saves Nearly Everyone and I learned it was apparently an allegory or something like that. I don't think that will happen with Red.
Unless there is a more ...more
Unless there is a more ...more

My Thoughts: Oh how I enjoyed this one. When I started it, I wasn't sure I would! We are introduced to Felicity who has red hair, or at least everyone thinks so. See, Felicity is from a town called Scarletville where everyone adores redheads. They get royalty treatment. There are so many redheads that they are in control. HEHE. Since everyone thinks Felicity is a redhead too she’s popular and everyone likes her.
Felicity’s mom has been grooming her whole life for the Miss Scarlet pageant. Not onl ...more
Felicity’s mom has been grooming her whole life for the Miss Scarlet pageant. Not onl ...more

Read this review and many others at To Another World!
Author: Alison Cherry
Publisher: Quercus (UK)
Date of Publication: January 2nd
Pages: 320
Source: eARC via Netgalley
Goodreads | Amazon
I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley via Quercus in exchange for a honest review. This does not affect my review/opinions in any way.
Ever since I heard about Red on Twitter, I was really excited about it, so when I was approved a copy, I read it immediately! Although it didn't really sound like my ty ...more
Author: Alison Cherry
Publisher: Quercus (UK)
Date of Publication: January 2nd
Pages: 320
Source: eARC via Netgalley
Goodreads | Amazon
I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley via Quercus in exchange for a honest review. This does not affect my review/opinions in any way.
Ever since I heard about Red on Twitter, I was really excited about it, so when I was approved a copy, I read it immediately! Although it didn't really sound like my ty ...more

In Scarletville, Red is what matters. Redheads are considered as royals, and brunettes and blondes are frowned upon. Redheads have privileges, while others don't. Felicity St. John has the perfect life. She's pretty, has amazing friends, and a hot boyfriend who every girl is drooling over. Felicity's mother, who also happens to be the manager of the Miss Scarlet pageant, is obsessed into preparing her daughter to win the pageant. In truth, Felicity doesn't even want all that, because in truth, s
...more

When I first saw the summary of Red by Alison Cherry, I thought it sounded like a weirdly interesting read. Only after I read Red did I realize that it’s a satire. If you substitute being redheaded for different cultural ideals of beauty, you quickly see that it’s not just in the fictional town of Scarletville that some people have a higher status than others based on some absurd criteria.
In terms of the characters, I found it easy to empathize with Felicity because her mom is one of those pare ...more
In terms of the characters, I found it easy to empathize with Felicity because her mom is one of those pare ...more

(I received a copy from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review)
Actual rating - 2.5
Red was an okay story, but it started to get boring at around 30%.
I kept on waiting for something to happen, but nothing did until near the end.
Felicity annoyed me at times, but not as much as her mum.
I really couldn't stand her.
The notes in Red reminded me a little bit of Pretty Little Liars, but they were less dramatic.
There was a couple of things that didn't really make sense.
How did Felicity have shiny ...more
Actual rating - 2.5
Red was an okay story, but it started to get boring at around 30%.
I kept on waiting for something to happen, but nothing did until near the end.
Felicity annoyed me at times, but not as much as her mum.
I really couldn't stand her.
The notes in Red reminded me a little bit of Pretty Little Liars, but they were less dramatic.
There was a couple of things that didn't really make sense.
How did Felicity have shiny ...more
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