REVIEW: Candid by Michelle Pennington

Title: Candid (True Images #1)
Author: Michelle Pennington - Website || Facebook
Published: April 17, 2012
Format: Kindle ebook, 242 pages
Rating: 4/5
Purchase Candid: Kindle || Paperback

Life is simple for high school senior, Sienna Whitfield. With a few good friends, a camera, and a dream, she has everything she needs to be happy. But when Jordan Rubio, the most popular girl at Haskins High, makes her mad, she decides to use the power of photography to right a few social wrongs. As if that doesn’t cause enough drama in her life, she realizes she’s falling for the new guy, Lee Franklin. Strong and protective, he’s just what she needs to survive the craziness she’s stirred up at school. If only she didn’t have to keep her feelings for Lee a secret from her mom.

My thoughts, feelings, & reactions 

I have never read a book like Candid before. I was intrigued by the story of a girl who loved photography. When I started, I was immediately taken with the story. Until the end, I enjoyed Candid all the way!



Michelle Pennington’s writing easily captured me. It didn’t take long for me to get completely absorbed by the whole story. Her writing was easy to read. Everything flowed nicely and even better, she had a new and fresh idea to go with her superb writing.

Pennington does an excellent job of portraying actual high school life. She had cliques, popularity, social hierarchy, and teenage drama all mixed into this book. It was all too realistic in the best possible way. It was so easy to relate to because I remember going through the exact same thing! The best part of this novel was Sophia, Sienna’s mom. I wanted to hate Sophia for her overprotectiveness for Sienna. She was just so strict! But the reason I couldn’t come to hate her or even dislike her, was the fact that it showed the depth of love she had for Sienna. She’s Sienna’s mother, so naturally she’ll be protective of her one and only daughter. Being an only child, raised by a single parent (a father no less) I understood Sophia’s reasoning for being so strict. Although it was extreme, even for me, it was expected. I liked how both Sienna and Sophia ended up handling it in a much better way. It was definitely one of my favorite parts of the novel, where I saw growth from both characters.


I really liked Sienna as the main character. I found her to be very relatable. She was a motivated and intelligent person. Sienna was savvy and tough. She doesn’t take any crap from anyone, but she’s still upfront and an ultimately kind person. Her passion for photography was immense, intense, and very consuming. The way she was in “the zone” while taking pictures was absolutely amazing. I’m no photography expert, but it was wonderful to see something like that, how Sienna could look at someone, find the best angle, best position for a photo. I felt that passion and love coming from Sienna. Although Sienna did cause some trouble for herself and for her classmates, she had good intentions and great things did come out of what she did. I was proud of Sienna throughout the whole book. Sienna was a wonderful character from the start of the book and she was even more so at the end.

My favorite part of this book was the budding romance between Sienna and Lee. What I love most about their relationship was the actual development of it. It was slow and perfect and there was no instant love. Sienna and Lee started off as friends and basically stayed friends (for specific reasons) but I felt their chemistry. Because of the circumstances they were in, they got to know each other well which allowed me to get to know them well. Their feelings for each other were real and they felt real and most importantly, they were believable. Their feelings for each other and their sort-of-relationship had a basis and a foundation that I find lacking in many novels. And I have to note that Lee was basically my dream boyfriend when I was high school. Not only was he handsome and athletic, but he was a respectful gentleman. He was definitely mature for his age and he was just an all around great person. What I loved most about him was his caring nature, his protectiveness towards Sienna and how he always looked out for her. 



Overall, Candid was one enjoyable book. I was surprised at how much I came to love the book and care for the characters written within. I cannot wait for whatever Michelle Pennington has planned next for Sienna.


*Thanks to Michelle Pennington for sending me a copy for review and to my good friend Tiffany @ Escaping One Book at a Time for the recommendation :)