Hey Dearies!
I have been on a reading binge with this series. So, just a little backstory on why I started to read this series. This author is actually a Sims creator, meaning she uses the Sims to film a series, and I recently found out it was turned into a book series.
Link to the entire book series list on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/series/117306-anon
I decided, since I saw the series on YouTube, why not check out the book series to see how it compares to the original series, especially since that came out first. Plus, it was available on my Kindle, so I spent the past few weeks reading the 10-book series.
Link to the Sims 3 series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4bz_A6Ntwg&list=PLHN0pWLVAm0BmZ0Z3di1Hkxq5vLWsi4wI
So, I’m going to review the 10 books together in one blog post since there is a lot I want to say about this series. To give you a little idea of what this book series is about, the main character is Chelsea, and you are reading her blog that she posts talking about her life. Also, you have to keep in mind that she is living in California, and it talks about a lot of fancy brands that I had no idea about. (I’m from Maine, so most of these brands are just too fancy for me anyway.)
Of course, there is also a LOT of drama between her friends, family, and boys. The good thing is that at the beginning of each book, she does give a recap on what happened previously, which is very helpful since so much happens in each book.
Spoiler alert is in place because there is a whole lot I want to talk about this book series. I would be breaking this down for each book, but honestly, I wasn’t paying attention to what situation happened in each book.
So, let’s begin!
Let’s Talk About Chelsea
Chelsea is really easy to get on board with at the beginning, but over time, I had a hard time rooting for her because of the decisions she started to make. First of all, she’s an only child(well, for most of the series until later on) and can be an entitled brat, sometimes.
Her whole crush and being in love with Kyle, I wasn’t on board with it because of the number of times he treated her like complete trash; she overlooked it and forgave him over and over. To the point where others were telling her he was using her, and she flat-out ignored it. Granted, they didn’t start dating until later on in the series, and it was only for a year.
In my opinion, I wanted her with Tucker. He was always there for her whenever she needed someone to talk to. He was her shoulder to cry on, and even though he had told her what a piece of crap Kyle was, she still seemed to care for him over Tucker. Now, Tucker also isn’t a saint, so there were a few times that he was a little “shady” too.
The surprising thing is she dated Tucker more times than she dated Kyle, yet she loved both of them, at different times, of course.
There were also times when Chelesa would jump the gun in a situation or response without actually listening and understanding where the other person is coming from. Some of the situations, like her dad and the Michelle situation, I can understand her still being upset about it. Or the situation where her mother cheated on her father with his best friend, got pregnant, and then married him.
She had a tendency to walk away when things didn’t go her way. Instead of just being an adult, she whines and walks away, then wonders why her relationships with boyfriends/friends/family are all over the place. Mind you, most of the series happens when she is leaving high school and entering college, but she still acts very immature.
It made me glad that she goes to rehab to get help and talks to a therapist because she honestly never really processed all the stuff that had happened to her, especially the whole roommate being killed and her being considered a suspect. I honestly think her parents should’ve put her either in rehab or therapy after that.
Overall, Chelsea was a character that I liked at the beginning, but the more I kept reading, the less I started to care about her. Most of her actions, her attitude, and acting very entitled, went downhill. I’m also not the only one who has opinions about Chelsea; there were quite a few others that I saw on GoodReads or Amazon reviews where they pretty much didn’t care for Chelsea.
I will have to say, I even had to take a break from reading the series because I didn’t know how much longer I could read about her entitled behavior of thinking her entire world revolves around herself.
Drama, Oh The Drama
There was so much drama in each of these books, honestly, I think that kept me going was to see how much crap was going to happen in her life. Between getting randomly beaten up at school, parents going back and forth through a messy divorce, getting accused of murder, dealing with friend drama, and so much more.
It was crazy how much crap was going on in her life alone. It was so different from the series because it wasn’t as crazy as I thought it was going to be. Plus, I honestly thought she was going to write the book as she did with the series, but most of the stuff that happened in the book was so different from the series.
The series seemed lighter than the book series because the book covered a lot of darker themes, whereas the series did not. It could’ve been that the author wanted the series to go in a different direction, which, as a writer myself, I could understand. You can put much more detail into the written word, versus filming the series, especially when it’s only you making them. (I sort of understand how difficult it can be to film a Sims series. I’ve actually attempted and failed at doing so.)
Most of the drama happens towards the end of the series, right before she goes to rehab, and even than really struggles to not make situations about herself. I can sort of forgive her on this one because I can’t imagine what it would be like to go to rehab and then have to come back into the crazy world she left to get help from.
This is also when I got excited because Tucker was always trying to be a good support system, while Kyle had dumped her before her mental breakdown because he didn’t want to deal with it, then ended up dating one of the girls who beat her in high school. If this doesn’t tell you how much of an asshole Kyle is, I don’t know what will.
Not to mention, when she gets out of rehab, her mom is trying to marry her dad’s best friend, the one with whom she cheated on her dad, and also got pregnant, and Chelsea finds out about this right as she gets out that her mother’s wedding is less than a week away.
I was honestly surprised that she didn’t go back into rehab because of it. What really pissed me off was the fact that her mom’s divorce wasn’t even finalized with her dad yet; literally, this divorce had been going on since Chelsea was at the end of high school and took years.
Like I said, the last few books go through a lot. I don’t want to spoil the last one, because that ended on a complete cliffhanger. I really wanted to see things through and see if it would end up like how the series did, but I don’t think it will.
The Kyle-Tucker-Chelsea Love Triangle
Honestly, the love triangle really pissed me off because both of these guys wanted to be with her, and yet the only one who actually made it official and asked her was Tucker. It really reminded me of the Twilight Series, Kyle is like Jacob, and Tucker is like Edward. The reason why I say this is in the series, she ends up with Tucker, like gets married has kids.
However, Jacob never treated Bella as badly as Kyle did to Chelsea. I really don’t get what she saw in Kyle; it’s like she wanted her life to end like the Taylor Swift song “You Belong With Me”. I can understand having crushes, especially in high school, it’s more prone to happen, and even looking back on my crushes, I outgrew them, which is what Chelsea should’ve done in the first place when Kyle still treated her badly.
Tucker’s not completely off the hook; there are a few times when he has broken Chelsea’s trust, such as finding her blog and sending the link to Kyle to mess up their progress. He was also a bit of an ass on their very first date, where he ditched Chelsea and she found out he was seeing Taylor, who was also Kyle’s girlfriend at the time.
It’s not like Kyle is completely the bad guy, but honestly, I would’ve had her rather stay with Tucker; however, if you read the last book, you can understand why that might not be a good idea because this version of Tucker has way too much going on, while the series Tucker, he’s better. Again, that part I’ll let you find out because I really don’t want to spoil it.
Oh, and not to mention, you have other characters that are trying to win Chelsea’s affection, like Kyle’s best friend Brett, who pretty much told Chelsea he had feelings for her, and they had a one-time make-out session, all while she was trying to rebuild a relationship with Kyle for the millionth time.
Then there’s River, her next-door neighbor, whom she meets when she and her dad move into a beach house towards the beginning of college. He is like a side character she flirts with off and on, then gets butthurt when he’s living the single life, having side chicks all the time at his house. They do share a kiss, but River actually has a brain, despite how much pot he smokes, and can clearly see how Tucker looks at Chelsea, and chooses to back down.
It’s like whenever Chelsea has a crush, if they are with someone else, instead of just struggling it off, she has, not like a full-blown meltdown, but more of a pity party, thinking her life is over just because the guy she likes doesn’t like her back. Not to be rude, but she could’ve used her backbone and been blunt with these guys and asked them out.
Overall Review
If I were to honestly rate the book series versus the Sims series, the Sims series kinda has it beat. I liked the storyline a lot better in the series, and Chelsea isn’t as bad as she is in the book series. I was so grateful that I finished this series because I don’t know how much longer I could take with Chelsea and her poor decision-making.
Like, yes, in life we can all make poor decisions, but it’s like Chelsea was doing it more for attention instead of learning from your mistakes, like most people do. If there was another book to explain the ending and I could find out what happens, I would read it, just so I could give myself the closure it needed to complete it.
Overall, I would probably give the entire series a 3-star rating; I liked it, but it wasn’t life-changing. Would it be something that I would reread? Maybe, but it’s not something I would buy physical copies of the book and have it on my shelf.
This has probably been one of my longest book reviews, but I’m definitely glad it’s all done. I started to drag my feet towards book 6-7; otherwise, this would’ve come out a lot sooner.
After reading my review, would this be a book series you’d be interested in or something you would want to avoid? Let me know in the comments!
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