From Goodreads: 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 Jamie Forta, a badass guy who might be dating a cheerleader. She is now enraged, seeing red and out for blood. Mine.
3. High school might as well be Mars. My best friend has been replaced by an alien, and I see red all the time. (Mars is red and “seeing red” means being angry—get it?)
Here are some other vocab words that describe my life: Inadequate. Insufferable. Intolerable.
(Don’t know what they mean? Look them up yourself.)
(Sorry. That was rude.)
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I love the way this story is told. Rose is so candid and straight forward that it’s impossible not to fall in love with her character right away. Her situation, as she tells it, is gut wrenching and humorous at the same time, and the reader is able to instantly make connections with her, because even if we haven’t had the same experiences, we know exactly what she means due to her honest nature.
Rose has it tough. Her father recently died and she’s looking for someone to blame aside from herself. Her brother just left for college and is distant, her mom is dealing with her own issues and doesn’t acknowledge Rose’s pain, she just began high school and it’s nothing like middle school, and her best friend wants to be popular to the point she’s willing to sacrifice their friendship. I don’t know about you, but if all those things were going on at once in my life, I’m pretty sure I’d be in the same boat as Rose. Angry. Confused. Lashing out. Clamming up. But as Rose works through her issues and her character develops, we begin to see the upside of things, and I just loved how it all came together. Sure, I was angry at tons of the characters myself based on their actions and treatment of Rose, and this reminds me a lot of what my students are going through in high school right now, but on the upside, the constant reminder that everything can and will get better as time heals is amazing, and I really, really enjoyed this novel. If you enjoy YA novels and great character development, then this novel is definitely for you. Four stars.
Harlequin Teen has been extremely gracious in allowing me to read an ARC of this novel, via Netgalley, prior to its release on August 28, 2012.
