Blog tour: Confessions of an angry girl - Guest post

How I Became a Bookaholic

by Louise Rozett

I have a confession to make. One of the reasons I fell in love with books is the (fictional) boys/guys/men I often ended up having crushes on. There were many, but two in particular stand out in my mind. Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and Phineas, from A Separate Peace, by John Knowles.

I think Atticus was first. I was in junior high school, and I remember thinking that Atticus Finch was an amazing man and father. I also remember thinking how cute he was, thanks to my English teacher playing us sections of the movie after we read the corresponding sections in the book. (So maybe it was really Gregory Peck I had the crush on—who can say?!) The bottom line was, he was a pretty incredible guy, and I couldn’t wait to get back to the book to see what bit of wisdom and love he was going to dole out next.

The next year, I started high school, and we read A Separate Peace by John Knowles. I was madly in love with the perfectly beautiful and tragic Phineas, who does what he can to protect his best friend Gene even at great expense to himself. I loved Phineas deeply—I could picture him so clearly–but it was Gene who I really related to. I understood his struggle with feeling mediocre and average, and simultaneously loving and hating his best friend for being so perfect in every way. That book was exquisite torture for me.

As time went on and I kept reading, I fell in love with Joe from Michael Chabon’s Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, and John Reddy Heart from Joyce Carol Oates’ Broke Heart Blues. I’ve been thinking a lot about all these men lately probably because they led me to Jamie Forta, the guy my main character Rose falls for in Confessions of an Angry Girl. But I also realized that they were my introduction to falling in love with all sorts of characters. I found romantic love, familial love, and the love of friendship in the books that captured my imagination. And the experience of falling “in love” in all sorts of ways is what turned me into a reader for life.

Confessions of an angry girl

Available now from MIRA Ink
My review

This is a story about ROSE. About the occasional panic attack and being fourteen in the suburbs without a mobile phone. Read it and weep Rose's first year at Union High isn't exactly going to plan. Her family's broken, her supposed best friend's going boy crazy and Rose is so far behind socially that she might as well be moving backwards. Until her brother's friend Jamie offers her a ride home - and a way into the world of his popular clique - if only it weren't for his perfect cheerleader girlfriend. Now Rose is learning how to climb the wobbly high-school social ladder, while struggling to hang on to what matters the most...

Book trailer

Author bio
Louise Rozett is an author, a playwright, and a recovering performer. She is making her YA debut with Confessions of an Angry Girl, published by Harlequin Teen. Confessions of an Almost-Girlfriend is due out May 2013. She lives with her boyfriend and 120-pound dog Lester in one of the world's greatest literary meccas, Brooklyn.

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Confessions of an angry girl - Review

Confessions of an angry girl by Louise Rozett

Confessions book one.

Available now

www.miraink.co.uk 

What's it about?

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

Confessions of an angry girl was a fun, short read. I enjoyed the book but I didn't love the character if Rose, to be honest, she didn't quite come off as angry as described and she didn't have the attitude to pull it off either, making the character fall kind of flat for me and at times become kind of annoying.

Generally the story was ok and I like what the author has done with it, there's an awful lot of talking about sex though, not in a vulgar way, more about safe sex and Rose's friend deciding if she should have sex with her boyfriend but Rose disagreeing, it felt very much like the book was trying to force some life lessons about sex for young girls, rather than tell a story.

So, as you can guess, this really was an ok book for me, I didn't hate it but I didn't love it either, I think perhaps I was just a bit too mature for some of the themes it carries and Rose, being fourteen, was too young for me to fully connect with. I would recommend it for its intended young adult audience though as its a well written book that deals with girls at that age when they're starting to think about sex and boys and also  bullying.

I will likely read book two as I'm curious enough to see Rose's next move and see what's in store for her.

My thoughts on the cover

I really like this cover, the girls pose reflects the title and I like the red and orange colours on the title, which are angry colours, its all very fitting.

Favourite quotes

'I feel the heat intensify at the sound of his voice, making the skin on my face tight with imaginary sunburn.'

'The next minute happens in slow motion. Jamie Forta turns to me, puts his warm hands on my neck, and pulls me toward him. It dawns on me that he is about to kiss me, and I panic because I've never kissed an older man-I've never kissed anyone for real, only while playing stupid games at junior high school parties-and he surely must know everything there is to know because he's wiser and he's a bad boy and he gets around and I'm just a silly girl and none of that matters because his lips are on mine and it's so easy I can hardly believe I worried I wouldn't know what to do.'

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