by Caprice Crane
ages: 14+
First sentence: “High school was pretty much like this huge party I wasn’t actually invited to, but I still had to show up to every day.
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Review copy passed off to me by a manager at work.
Release date: August 27, 2013

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, never being one of the Cool Kids. Then her dad got a job in Hollywood, and they moved across country. In the process, Hailey found Noel’s diary “How to be a Hater”, and decided that 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 dumped them), she gathered together a group of girls, started calling themselves the Invisibles, and set out to Redefine Cool. Which — because this is bookland and not realland — they do.

I’m going to stop here and just say this: if you’ve seen 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 Mean Girls 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 like 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.