Review Detail

This was "Mean Girls" in book form. I laughed out loud at some points in the book, but at the same time I couldn't help picturing Lindsay Lohan and her crew as the main characters. It was (in my opinion) pretty superficial. In fact, it felt like reliving the worst of high school cliques all over again. I can see how teenage girls would eat this book up like candy, though. They are so snarky that it would appeal to that inner (insert 5 letter word here).

I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to give this a 3. I have to give it a three because I know my students would fight to read this book. I KNOW it would appeal to them in ways that I cannot understand. Now, adult me, however, would not give this anything close to a three.

The characters were flat. I'm glad that April finally came to terms with her imperfections and all, but it was such a rushed realization that it was hard for me to buy. Plus, she spent the entire book drooling over this guy that she nick-named "Mr. Hottie-Body," but I to the life of me don't know why he earned that name. There may have been some quick description of him towards the beginning, but it obviously didn't stay in my mind. That is a problem. If a character is supposed to be so fantastic that I should drool over him with the main character, I need a little bit more to go on. As far as I'm concerned, there was no personality/character development. Very disappointing.

I could keep my list going with a few other dislikes, but I don't think it's necessary. There were a few positives in the book that are worth mentioning.The main thing that I liked was the humor. There were some lines that should be etched in stone for all to see! Talk about hilarious. My favorite is the line, "I really expected him to have a major freak-out fest over this. I mean, everyone knows he's crazier than a shaved mule in a toboggan race." How can you not laugh at that? The mental image is priceless! There was a good bit of tongue in cheek humor throughout the novel. Of course, there was a lot of cliched humor as well. Take it with a grain of salt, I guess.

If you want a fun, not heavy or sophisticated summer read, this would be fun. It's worth checking out from the public library. I'm not so sure I would buy this book.