Louise Rozett
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release Date: August 28, 2012
Source: Publisher
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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 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 My best friend has been replaced by an alien, and I see red all the time.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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CATCHALLSo, Confessions of an Angry Girl. Did I love this book? No. Did I enjoy it? Yes. I admit that I was super hesitant to read this this one, especially since I'd been told that it was somewhat similar to Pushing the Limits (which I DNFed, and no, don't look at me like that). When I finally decided to read this one, it was an incredibly cautious decision made at the last minute. But now that I have read it, I am confident that I could not have made a better choice. Although it had many problems, I genuinely enjoyed it.
THE HEROINE
ROSE
Rose. I didn't like her the whole time, but let's face it, she's going through some pretty tough stuff. her father died recently and she's very, very angry. At her brother, especially. She wants desperately to have her father back, but at the same time she understands the finality of death. And she isn't always likable, but in some ways I almost don't think she's intended to be. Rose has a little bit of all of us in her. Most of us have lost or will soon lose someone we love—and that's generally something no one takes well. Rose is just an ordinary girl going through ordinary, if tragic, circumstances. I love that about her, how she doesn't try to be anyone she isn't. She is who she is, and if she's not who everyone wants her to be, so what.
THE LOVE INTERESTS
JAMIE
I actually don't like Jamie, despite the fact that he, like me, is an aspiring architect. That's pretty much the only good thing I have to say about him. There's nothing special about him. He's clearly a delinquent, and though I may seem quick to judge, believe me, I'm not. I suppose it could be true that they're just rumors, but as it turns out, most rumors are at least born from truth. He doesn't really seem to have his priorities straight. And he needs to make up his mind and do what he wants.
ROBERT
Robert is clearly not going to get the girl, but he's still a love interest so I should mention him. And he just has…issues. He can't seem to keep everything clear and he does some really stupid things. And oh he is a total pushover and has no sense of self-respect. Though at the end, he does manage to redeem himself. He makes a choice that I definitely approve of and walks away.
THE BROTHER
PETER
Peter, like Rose, is grieving, but he handles his grief in a completely different way, and I think it's great that the author decided to put that in. Peter's grief is more violent than Rose's. Though Rose wants to lash out at others, Peter wants to lash out at their dead father. And those are definitely two different ways that people handle grief. I loved seeing the differences between them and also they had a really awesome dynamic.
THE FRIEND
TRACY
I wish Rose would dump Tracy, who totally doesn't deserve her. She's so mean and shallow and never thinks of anything but what she wants. And even when Rose is only trying to help her, Tracy ignores her and does whatever she wants anyway. And she cares more about being a cheerleader and hanging out with the popular but crazy and mean girls more than being a true friend, which is practically the definition of shallow.
THE MEAN GIRL
REGINA
Agh. Regina. Regina is pretty much Rose's archenemy and Jamie's girlfriend. She has some serious jealousy issues and gets ticked off whenever Jamie and Rose so much as glance at one another. Honestly, I thought she was too stereotypical. A mean-girl cheerleader. Just…no.
THE PLOT
To me, this story was mostly about grief. Rose's father is dead, and even since, she's been uncharacteristically angry. But she's sad, too. She almost doesn't know how to interact with people anymore, and that becomes clear several times. Her friendship with Tracy is completely falling apart, and when she starts to have an interest in Jamie and Tracy finds cheerleading they start to grow even further apart.
I really enjoyed it. There wasn't crazy action-packed suspense or heart-pounding romance, but this book still had an appeal all its own. I couldn't stop reading it! I genuinely wanted to know what was going to happen to Rose next.
I mean, really. It's definitely something that's unique. I don't read a lot of contemporary fiction, so this type of novel really is novelty for me. And so I'm really, really glad that I can say I enjoyed it.
Rose really does go through a lot. And though she doesn't always handle things the right way, I think that she really does do what she thinks is best. And the plot is also very realistic, lending to the authenticity of the story. Overall, fantastic.
THE ROMANCE
Ah. Guys, I wasn't feeling the romance in this book. Any of it, really. Robert was kind of just a distraction, and Rose really kind of treated him like dirt. And then there's Jamie. Look, I so do not approve of guys kissing other girls when they have a girlfriend. I really don't care what the excuse is, it's just wrong. And if Jamie doesn't want to be with Regina, he shouldn't be. And I'm not even sure where Jamie's and Rose's feelings for each other are coming from. They just kind of show up and attempt to hitchhike off their minimal chemistry.
THE WRITING
I wasn't really sure about the writing style at first, but I quickly grew to love it. Although Rose's voice can sometimes come off as irritating and even immature, as per her character above, that's also the same thing that makes it so real. In many ways, Confessions was like sitting back and listening to a girlfriend talk about everything that's going wrong in her life. And yet the writing if more artful than that. Rose's voice is so fully developed that it didn't take me too long to be able to picture her and hear her individual voice.
THE ENDING
I thought the ending was great, actually. I would have been satisfied if this was the whole ending of Rose's story, which is actually a good thing. I like that this story had kind of a feeling of completeness when I finished. I didn't feel cheated. If I'd enjoyed this book less I could have stopped here without wondering what was going to happen next. But at the same time, it leaves a nice plot open for the next installment of Confessions to fill in.
WRAPUP
So while I didn't love this book, I really did like it. In some ways I feel like this could be a standalone and I'd be satisfied, but I think that I'll likely still be reading book two, Confessions of an Almost Girlfriend. I actually am looking forward to the continuation of Rose's story and I actually believe it can improve. Furthermore, I recommend this. I especially think that if you loved Pushing the Limits like almost everyone but me did you'll dive right into this one.
FINE.
***FINAL RATING: 2.90 RED ROSES***
