Early Review: Confessions of an Angry Girl by Louise Rozett

Title: Confessions of an Angry Girl

Series: Confessions #1

Author: Louise Rozett

Publisher: Harlequin

Publication date: August 28th 2012

Source: ARC received from publisher via NetGalley

From Goodreads: 

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 My best friend has been replaced by an alien, and I see red all the time.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

My Review

As I do with most books, I headed into Confessions of an Angry Girl completely blind without reading the blurb, and I found myself pleasantly surprised. Because, for the most part, this one is deffo a decent read.

The pacing was awesome. I read the book in a day.

The MC, who had a GREAT ‘voice’, was easy to connect with. Yes, her emotions go up and down, as does her behaviour; and yes, there are times where her attitude/thoughts/behaviour might make you think less of her; and yes both of those might make the reader like Rose a little less. However, what the reader needs to keep in mind is that the ‘friends’ (and I use that term most lightly) Rose has are all she’s ever known. On top of that, she’s been through the loss of her father and most of the abovementioned bits reflect that and this needs taking into accountant when the reader dons their judgement hat. So, for the most part, I really liked Rose. I liked her insecurities, and her angst (because there was reason for it), and her lack of self-confidence. I also enjoyed the gradual character development (and it is very gradual) that ensures by the end of the book she has grown at least a small set of b***s. The biggest thing that bugged me in here, I think, was her relationship with Peter. Because the initial mentions of him made him sound like an awesome big brother who went out of his way to look after his little sis, but then when we actually ‘meet’ him, he turns not to be as ‘brotherly’ as he’d been painted and there were a couple moments where I wasn’t convinced he had his sister’s best interests at heart.

Then we have Jamie. Now he’s a baffler. I have very little idea what’s going on in this dude’s head. He’s even more mixed up than Rose, I suspect. Because he’s hot and cold and obviously likes our Rosie, but then he’s unapologetically ‘with’ Regina (Grrrrr), and almost oblivious to his ‘girlfriend’s antics, at the time he decides to kiss and respond to a kiss and blows hot and cold at poor Rose. So I can’t get a handle on this guy at all. He is definitely a mystery waiting to be solved.

And then we have the whole high school setting and all the c**p that comes with that. Now, I know I’m in the UK and all, but I seriously don’t remember senior school being this bad—and no, I wasn’t near the top if the ‘food chain’. But Rozett makes it sound like Hell on Earth. Maybe it is now. Maybe there is that amount of pressure on kids to be accepted (to the point they’ll risk seclusion from their friends for it). All I know is CoaAG makes teenage school years sound absolutely horrid with little adult supervision or guidance. And I’m guessing that was most likely intentional.

And not forgetting the ending. You see, the end of the book was looming closer, and I sat thinking I was going to get my ‘happy ending’. Ha! No such luck! With how difficult Rozett made it for her MC, I should have guessed she wouldn’t go for the easy option of handing it to the reader on a plate. Nope. The ending IS, however, a bit of a humdinging cliffhnger, which (if you’re like me, and you want to solve the mystery of Jamie and see certain characters get their comeuppance and see just how much the MC can develop in her self-confidence) is enough to make the reader need to read on!

Have you read this title? What’d you think?

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