Confessions of an Angry Girl - Review

Confessions of an Angry Girl (Confessions, #1)

By: Louise Rozett

Expected Publication: August 28th 2012 by Harlequin

304 pages

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

( Goodreads | Amazon )

Goodreads description—Rose Zarelli, self-proclaimed work 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 My best friend has been replaced by an alien, and I see red all the time.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 read 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.)

After reading the description above, I was looking for a lot more anger and sass from this book than there was. Yeah Rose had outburst and fits of temper and anger, but overall, she really seemed like a mild-mannered girl. I didn’t even get the feeling that her anger was bubbling just below the surface at all times either. I was just expecting more of all of that.

But the truth is, this was still a really good story. I read it in one day. There were definitely aspects about that story that related to my own high school experience. Rose has a lot going on. Her dad died, her mom is there but not really, her brother’s gone away to college, her best friend is turning into someone she doesn’t recognize, there’s one guy who won’t leave her alone, and the one guy she is interested in is taken.

I wasn’t really paying attention to the fact that this was the first book in a new series when I read it, so I was left with a lot of questions. I get that we can’t all help who we like, but while Rose is so worried about whether her best friend Tracey’s boyfriend Matt respects Tracey and is good enough for her, I’m not sure she’s paying enough attention to whether Jamie respects her and is good enough for her too. I don’t care about the social hierarchy. But why is he with Regina in the first place. Rose asks herself this question and even asks Jamie, but he never really gives an adequate answer. And I don’t respect people who refuse to make a choice, especially if that involves cheating in any form.

This book touched on some serious issues such as bullying/harassment, teenage sex, and self-esteem. And I think overall it did a great job showing all teens experience all of these topics. It’s not really a guide book on how to handle them though, so I wouldn’t look to this book for answers on that—which is not what it was intended to be anyway. But I did like that Rose is a strong character that doesn’t feel the need to comply with the people around her who appears to be lowering their standards from the way they treat their classmates and fellow mankind, to whether or not they choose to have sex, and even to whether or not to drink at parties. I really appreciated Rose standing in her own. I personally struggled with finding my place and feeling like I just didn’t fit in anywhere in high school, but I felt then and I still feel now that that’s not such a bad place to be. I don’t mind standing alone as long as I’m comfortable where I’m standing. Kudos to a character willing to think for herself.

That’s not to say Rose was without fault—for who among us is?

A good story. A fast read. Some hefty topics. Not as much sass as I was expecting. But 4 Stars nonetheless. Check out Confessions of an Angry Girl and let me know what you think.