Tuesday 31 July 2012

"The Anti-Prom" by Abby McDonald

Description from Goodreads:
Popular girl Bliss Merino is ready to have the perfect prom. But when she catches her boyfriend making out with her best friend in the back of the limo, she has only one thought: revenge...Bad girl Jolene Nelson is the last person anyone expected to see at prom. Yet here she is, dressed in pink ruffles and feeling like a fool for believing that he would actually show up...Meg Rose Zuckerman is ready to stop being a wallflower and start experiencing life firsthand. But when her date stands her up, she finds herself on the outside yet again...

The Anti-Prom was a straight-up fun read that I liked. It's basically the story of three high school girls from three different 'echelons' of popularity, "bad girl" Jolene, a senior, who has family trouble and wants to get away to college, Bliss, a junior, who's popular and spoiled, who wants to get revenge on her cheating boyfriend, and Meg, also a junior, who is recovering from a tragedy and just wants to be brave. The book starts with Bliss finding her ass-hat boyfriend Cameron cheating with one of her slutty friends, and so she plans a night of revenge against the girl, but wants it all to be low-key because she's so obsessed with popularity that she doesn't want to leave the clique that she's worked so hard to be part of. I didn't really like Bliss for most of the book, as she came across as being snobby and spiteful, but there were a few times when she was generally nice, and more than a few times when she deserved a slap. She was downright nasty to Meg at one point. However, her tactics to get revenge were rather amusing, if slightly unbelievable, but hey, that's what fiction's about, right?
Jolene was the rebel who wanted to escape town, and I identified with that part of her. She was pretty dislikable though too, at times. Her romantic storyline was cool, and believable, and I really rooted for her and Dante to work out their problems. Her issues with her father and his new family were also well-written and truthful. 
Meg was the character I most identified with, even though at times I thought she was a doormat. She wanted friends, but she didn't know how to make them, and was pretty whiny about it, but aren't we all? Her romance with Scott was cute and I wanted to know their story after the book finished. 
Not all problems were resolved, but I liked the way the book ended, and how Abby McDonald left her characters. Overall, a likable and funny book from an author I'll be reading more of.

Rating: B+ 

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