Book Review: He's So Not Worth It by Kieran Scott

He's So Not Worth It by Kieran Scott
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication date: June 2011
Pages: 368
Source: e-copy of ARC provided by GalleyGrab
For: Review
Series: He's So/She's So, Book 2

Ally's life has certainly gotten a lot more complicated.  After the disaster at Shannen's party where she realized her friends really don't want her, she retreats into a different life.  In order to avoid her almost-boyfriend, Jake, she will do almost anything - including possibly spending the summer on Long Island where all of her former friends will be.  Can things get any more complicated?  Of course they can.

Things I Liked:
I'm kind of hooked on the twisty, soap opera-y life that is displayed here.  The rich, the poor, the envy, the malice, the hate and the hurt - all so engrossing.  It's so horrifying that it's interesting.  I really don't much like Ally in this book.  She acts like a jerk almost through the whole thing, treating her friends and family like dirt and then wondering why they're angry.  The book almost seems like a manual for how to be selfish.  Still, it's like I can't look away from these teens who struggle to figure out themselves while making tons of awful mistakes.  It's definitely got that real feel to it!

Things I Didn't Like:
I really was annoyed with how stupid the characters acted sometimes.  Yes, it is very likely realistic, but it still bugs.  I got very tired of Jake swearing every other word.  Seriously, I get it, he swears, but do I have to keep getting hit in the face with it?  I'm not sure I can handle another book of this, but of course this one ends on a ridiculous cliff-hanger revelation.  We'll see.

Read-alikes:
Read the first book, She's So Dead to Us first
Populazzi by Elise Allen
The Real Real by Emma Mclaughlin and Nicola Kraus

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !@#$%
a lot with numerous f-words

mrg-factor: XX
plenty of page time, though not a lot of descriptive material

v-factor: none
but I thought I'd mention lots of underage alcohol consumption here

Overall rating: ***

Not exactly something I'd "recommend," but somehow it's addicting, like bad reality TV.

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

Book Review: She's So Dead To Us by Kieran Scott

She's So Dead to Us by Kieran Scott
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication date: May 2010
ISBN: 9781416999522
Source: ARC sent by publisher

When Ally Ryan returns to her old town and her old school, she wants to come back to her old friends.  But things will never be the same between them, thanks to what her father did.  She faces the snobbish and nasty things those she was once friends with do to her, while trying to find a place for herself.  It doesn't help that the hot boy now living in her house is being so nice, but also not wanting to step on his friends' toes. Things are so much more complicated than she ever expected.

Things I Liked:
This felt like a guilty pleasure book to me.  It was so full of back-biting and gossip and nasty things said about other people that I couldn't fully "like" it.  That being said, I became caught up in the story and wanted to know what horrible things they would do to one another next.  It was a like an awful soap opera that I simply couldn't look away from.  Horribly, dreadfully addicting.  And with this painful cliffhanger ending that will require you to read the next book.

Things I Didn't Like:
Honestly, pretty much all the things above.  I really hated the guy Ally fell for, because he seemed like a big jerk most of the time.  Acting one way around her and another way around his friends.  Her friends made me want to kick them in the heads, but that is expected.  It was filled with swearing and trash and all that, but I still was not to be able to stop reading it.

Read-alikes:
The Real Real by Emma Mclaughlin and Nicola Kraus
Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have) by Sarah Mlynowski
Populazzi by Elise Allen

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !@#$%
with lots of f-words 

mrg-factor: XX
most of it implied or just talked about

v-factor: none

Overall rating: ***

And yet I still read them.  Why?

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage