This review contains affiliate links, which earn me a small commission when you click and purchase, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my small business and allowing me to continue providing you a reliable resource for clean book ratings.
Hailey Harper has always been the outsider. Especially since her older sister, Noel, was SO cool. Hailey figured her high school career was doomed to the fringes, with her never being one of the Cool Kids. Then her dad got a job in Hollywood, and they moved across the country. In the process, Hailey found Noel’s diary, titled “How to be a Hater,” and decided this was the perfect opportunity to remake herself into someone Cool.
And she does. After a stint with the most popular girls in the school (she dumps them), she gathers together a group of girls, calling themselves the Invisibles, and sets out to Redefine Cool. Which — because this is book land and not real land — they do.
I’m going to stop here and just say this: if you’ve seen the movie “Mean Girls,” then you’ve read this book. Sure, the premise is age-old, but I don’t think it was too much to hope for something unique and original. But — I even rewatched the movie halfway through just to make sure — this really is just the film rehashed. (Admittedly: I did kind of like the Invisibles’ “valet” parking prank comeback.) Aside from having the same plot arc as the movie, I felt Crane was always trying to do too much with the book. Parent having an affair? Check. Friend on drugs? Check. Teen pregnancy? Check. Awkward blow job? Check. (Though, in retrospect, it was kind of funny.) Sensitive and Caring male? Check. Head Bitch turns out to be not so bad? Check. I wanted to shake her and say, “You don’t need SO much in order to have a good book!!”
Disappointing.
Rated: High for language and a very unnecessary and stupid blow-job scene.
Click here to purchase your copy of Confessions of a Hater on Amazon.
