2 in 1: Bass Ackwards and Belly Up and Footfree and Fancyloose by Liz Craft and Sarah Fain

Bass Ackwards and Belly Up:

Harper Waddle, Sophie Bushell, and Kate Foster are about to commit the ultimate suburban sin--bailing on college to each pursue their dreams: write the next Great American Novel, make it as a Hollywood actress, and backpack around the world. Middlebury-bound Becca Winsberg is convinced her friends have gone insane...until they remind her she just might have a dream of her own. So what if their lives are bass ackwards and belly up? They'll always have each other. Harper is going to be the next Jane Austen. Or Sylvia Plath. Or Plum Sykes. Figuring out which should be easy. It's living with the lie she told her three best friends that's going to be hard.Kate doesn't know exactly what she wants. But whatever it is, she won't find it at Harvard. Maybe the answer is in Paris, or Athens? or anywhere Kate can be someone besides the girl with perfect grades, perfect hair, and the perfect boyfriend.Sophie is a star. She's already got the looks, the talent, and a list of demands for her dressing room. Now that she's wrangled a furnished guesthouse in Beverly Hills, it's only a matter of time before she's discovered. Unless she isn't.Becca is dysfunctional. At least, her family is. Which is why she can't wait to flee the drama and get to college. But Becca's friends know she needs more than a spot on the Middlebury ski team and a cozy dorm room. They know she needs to fall in love.Dreams are complicated. They almost never turn out like you imagine they almost always change. Sometimes, they change you.

Footfree and Fancyloose:
Best friends Harper Waddle, Sophie Bushell, and Kate Foster committed the ultimate suburban sin: bailing on college to pursue their dreams. Middlebury-bound Becca Winsberg was convinced her friends had gone insane until they reminded her she just might have a dream of her own. Now the year is half-way through and their dreams seem within reach. Well, almost. Harper has managed to gain the freshman fifteen without ever being a freshman, though locked in her basement bathroom she finds inspiration and finally seems to be writing from the heart. Sophie is forced to leave her cushy Beverly Hills quarters and crashes on Sam's couch while looking for her big Hollywood break. Kate is doing aid work in Ethiopia, where she encounters family ghosts - along with Darby, the handsome but antagonistic Princeton student who thinks she's a dumb blond who couldn't possibly care about Ethiopia "since there are no celebrities here." And when Becca finally emerges from her lovers' nest, it seems her relationship with Stuart isn't as perfect as she thought. Even if "the year that changed everything" has sometimes been less than dreamy, these four best friends will always have each other.

Imagine having a dream, a dream you thought was impossible, and just going after it to find it it wasn't. It's a big impact and a great story. Harper, Kate, Sophie, and Becca went after there dream, and with it a great [fictionalized] story was made.

Harper doesn't get accepted to the only college she applies for, so instead of telling her 3 best friends she lies and tells them that she wants to take a leap year and follow her dream, which happens to be to write the next Great American Novel. In the first half of The Year Of Dreams (Bass Ackwards and Belly Up) she goes threw the fit of being left behind by her friends in the town she grew up in and living in her parents basement. She discovers feelings for her former young English teacher and makes another friend along the way. In the second half of The Year Of Dreams (Footfree and Fancyloose) Harper goes through the torture of keeping up her routine and actually writing her book. Her emotional trip through the year it not exactly exciting but her challenge is extraordinary and interesting, in the different chapters between her friends I kept on wanting to read about her journey then of her other friends.

Sophie Bushell then goes after her dream following Harper's announcement. She goes to Los Angeles to become the next Halle Berry. She's living in a great guest house of her mothers friend. She tries to balance work at a Beverly Hills restaurant and going to auditions. She meets a big time actor who uses her, and that's only in the first book. In the second book she gets kick out of her guest house and has to live with the jerk, Sam, who was her first friend in L.A. in his 2 bedroom shared apartment. In the end things pick up, but I'll let you to figure out what. Sophie has that attitude and confidence that probably works great in L.A. Her personality is fun to read and you want to know where she'll head next in the book.

Kate Foster goes to Europe to try to see what she wants to do with her life instead of going to Harvard. She meets people and learns a lot about herself. When Harper sends her a list of things to do, one thing on the list strikes the most to her: Take the water. That's what leads Kate to Ethiopia. Her adventure and the hardships to overcome are heart breaking. Kate's story made me cry, I couldn't get over how sad her story was. It really touched me. you'll probably get touched too, I'm sure.

Becca Winsberg was already going towards her dream before Harper announced her discion. To ski with her role model of a coach at college. But the one thing her friends new she needed was to fall in love, and that's were her story goes off from. I have to say, Becca's story was the least exciting, I always just wanted to skip her and read the others. But I really liked how her story ended.

Liz Craft and Sarah Fain have a different writing style, it was often confusing to keep along, the story in the book was fantastic though. I recommend these two books without a doubt. There pretty great.

Read On!

Kelsey