Name: Confessions of a Hater
ISBN: 9781250008466

Caprice Crane

Illustrated with black-and-white comic-strip panels, a first young adult novel by the author of With a Little Luck follows the efforts of Hailey to bolster her visibility and defeat bullies at a new high school in Hollywood by following the strategies to gain popularity outlined in her older sister's journal.

Confessions of a Hater

Jess

3.5 Stars! - Read this review on my blog! --&gt; <a href="http://gonewiththewords.com/2013/08/blog-tour-review-confessions-of-a-hater-by-caprice-crane-giveaway.html" rel="nofollow noopener">Confessions of a Hater by Caprice Crane</a><br /><br />Confessions of a Hater turned out to be about so much more than just a girl trying to take down the mean girls at her new school with her group of “invisible” friends. It touched on several different things that I think teens could relate to and learn from.<br /><br />Caprice Crane’s writing had a really authentic teen voice in Hailey. I felt she really got the characters and a lot of the drama from high school right. Though Hailey is the main character, my favorite was Anya, Hailey’s best friend. I pretty much want to hang out with her in real life, she’s that awesome and funny. Hailey goes on a bit of a roller-coaster in this book. She starts out as this nice kid who just wants to fit in, then almost turns into the person she dislikes most. I actually thought this was a great Mean Girls movie-like story; almost like the book equivalent of it, but with more real and heavier subjects at times, but still the same sense of humor. The book did start a little slow for me, but soon things started picking up, so don’t get discouraged if you find yourself in that same situation. While romance wasn’t the focus of the book, there was a boy and he’s a really good guy. There’s definitely kissing…and then there’s also more than kissing. I did think the sexual content, while not graphic, was definitely more descriptive than some of the YA books I’ve read. Also, this book really kept me guessing as to what the characters’ next moves would be. And I mean ALL the characters. They may seem predictable on the surface, but they ended up surprising me…some in better ways than others.

Hailey Harper has always felt invisible. Now her dad has a new job and the family is moving to Hollywood. Just what Hailey needs - - to start a new high school. She finds her older sister's journal and uses it to reinvent herself as part of the cool crowd.

Kourtney

** spoiler alert **
           I wanted to give this book 5 stars, and up until the last 15% of the book it was well on its way to 5-stardomhood (is that a word? It is now!) It had all the makings of books I love and I was so ready to let my teenage neice near it. But then...it just changed. What started out as "Mean Girls 2.0" with a healthy dose of quick wit, sarcasm and pop culture references that fit, quickly reversed. The first few chapters went along nicely with the Mean Girls movie. New girl moves to new town, wants to reinvent herself, meets "nice" people vs "mean" girls, hangs out with mean girls but quickly realizes nice girls are where it's at! Only problem was the "nice" girls? They weren't so nice themselves. 

In typical teenage fashion, the nice girls, dubbed The Invisibles, decide to take on the mean girls in a war of who can come out on top. But there's lying, there's cheating, there's drug use and a whole lot of in-fighting. And that was where the book lost me. At the end of the story, when the characters are "making up" I just kept thinking WHY? Why would these characters want to make up with each other when they are so mean to each other, even during the apology!! Cut your losses and find someone WORTHY. And the drug-use story? Were you just trying to fill pages? It was barely a storyline and felt like it wasn't necessary. If you aren't going to address and you're going to toss it away with 2 lines at the end of the book, then don't bother writing about it. If I related to that character, I would feel let down and feel even more that no one cares because even an author who brought it up can't talk about it. 

I'm torn on this one. I think I may just stick to her books for adults from here on out. And I will warn my neice away from this unless she is reading it as what not to do/be!

Confessions of a Hater

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