Sunday 13 January 2013

Book Review - Confessions of an Angry Girl

Title: Confessions of an Angry Girl
Author: Louise Rozett
Series: Confessions (book 1)
Publisher: Mira Ink
Release Date: 4 Jan 2013
ISBN-13: 978-1848451759

Synopsis
Rose Zarelli, self-proclaimed word geek and angry girl, has some CONFESSIONS to make...

#1: I’m livid all the time. Why? My dad died. My mom barely talks. My brother abandoned us. I think I’m allowed to be irate, don’t you?

#2: I make people furious regularly. Want an example? I kissed gorgeous Jamie Forta, boyfriend of the coolest cheerleader in the school. Now she’s out for blood. Mine.

#3: But most of all high school might as well be Mars. My best friend has been replaced by an alien…and now it’s a case of survival of the coolest.


My Review
I follow Mira Ink on Facebook and always look at what they have got coming out. I saw this one and thought it sounded interesting so I requested it on NetGalley. I sat down with it this morning as it looked quite short. 
My first impression of this was disappointment. I mean it's called Confessions of an ANGRY girl. But the main character - Rose - didn't seem particularly angry to me, more whiney and self obsessed with the odd outburst that most of the time was just a bit pathetic. 
Basically, Rose has just started High School and is trying to deal with the recent death of her dad, stave off a boy who's been crushing on her for years, deal with her even more self obsessed so called Best friend and then she starts to 'like' Jamie, an older 'hot' boy at the school who just happens to be the boyfriend of the bitchiest girl in school who also happens to be head cheerleader.
I expected something more from the blurb, I wanted a proper moving contemporary, but I just didn't feel it. This book was quite short which is why I kept going with it and I think part of me hoped that Rose would grow up! (I mean mentally not age)
My main problem with this book is that Rose is only 14 - almost 15 yet I'd say at least 80% of the storyline focuses on sex. Who else is doing it at school, should she be doing it, should her best friend? Are all boyfriends cheaters? Everyone else is more 'experienced'. It just went on and on and I actually felt quite uncomfortable reading it. I know that this is the age when you start to grow up a bit more and look at things differently but this just seemed to be extreme. I wanted to shake them all and tell them to snap out of it, go to the mall, do some shopping, play some sports and stop obsessing. It was weird, don't get me wrong there wasn't anything particularly graphic about this book, I mean nothing was described but it was hinted at and I just couldn't come to terms with it. To me it's too young, too fast and way too in your face. 
 Rose would also moan about everything but then never make any effort to change anything, she would wallow in self pity then have a shouting match with her 'friends' if you can class them as that. I just wanted to slap her constantly. 
But as bad as she was her best friend was even worse, Tracy is totally self-absorbed and doesn't pay attention to anything that Rose is going through or try to stand by her.
I didn't get the appeal of Jamie other than he was older and supposedly 'hot', other than that, he's quiet, moody, and doesn't really do much to be honest, however the one character I really did like in this book was Angelo. He was funny, sweet and a great relief in the book, he offered a bit of normality and I looked forward to his appearances. If he had been in the book more I would have been happy. 

I don't like writing reviews like this as I sound really mean and critical. I know authors put a lot into their work, but for me I just didn't like it. However I will say that although I didn't like the content of this book it actually was well written. I liked the word definitions at the end of each chapter and the style flows well. I think that's partly why I managed to finish it. I didn't like the storyline but something held me in and kept me going. 
There were a few moments in this book I liked, the chat with her brother, the birthday with her mum, the ending in some ways was good. Odd moments sparkled in this novel and I wish these had been made into something more.

My Rating

       

No comments: