YA Fanatic

After looking at the reviews for this book its seems that I'm of the unpopular opinion. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy contemporary high school books, think of Laurie Halse Anderson. But, I was hoping for something of the similarity to the way Speak made me feel.

This just didn't do it mainly because things were rushed, the major plot happened in the last third of the book and took only a few pages to get resolved. There's so much build up the end just feels like nothing happened. Whereas Speak leaves you feeling for the main character throughout the entire story.

Kate, a sophomore in a new school, a school where basketball and its team is worshiped by everyone. Kate, her dad, and her brother are still getting over her mom's death. Her dad is never around and only cares about his basketball team. As the coach the entire town is rooting for him to get the team to win the champions.

When Kate and Jack, the star player start dating everything seems to be going perfectly, she's popular, she has the best boyfriend in the world and she's in the "in" crowd. Then something awful happens to her and her life is forever changed, her father doesn't believe her, her so called friends have turned against her and she feels alone. So alone she knows she can't keep quiet forever.

It's not a very original plot, it has been done before, but I do appreciate what Rachelle Alpine is trying to get across in this book. Not everyone is perfect, not everyone has a good high school life and most importantly don't keep quiet. The problem I have with this book is I wanted the message to be more apparent, to be stronger. Alpine focuses on more about the family and the "pre" stuff than the actual message.

Fans of Laurie Halse Anderson may want to check this out. Someone dealing with difficult issues will relate to this book. Maybe if I was still a teen I would have enjoyed this more. A quick read that took me only a few hours to read. Something to keep in mind for readers advisory.