Boys, Girls and Other Hazardous Materials by Rosalind Wiseman

Summary:

Looking for a new beginning after a terrible mean girl past, Charlie Healey realizes there’s no escaping high school drama.
Charlie Healey thinks Harmony Falls is the beginning of a whole new life. Middle school was brutal. But high school is Charlie’s big chance to start over and stay out of drama, except that on her first day she runs into Will, her ex–best friend, who had moved away. Now a varsity athlete and hotter than Charlie remembered, Will hangs with the crowd running the school. But Charlie doesn’t understand their power until an innocent delivery guy falls victim to a near-deadly hazing prank.

Torn between doing what’s right and her secret feelings for Will, Charlie must decide whether to turn in her very best friend or live with the guilt of knowing what he did.
Rosalind Wiseman’s first novel for young adults is a fresh, funny, and juicy read about friendship, betrayal, and how far some will go to be accepted.
 
Review:

I really wanted to love this novel. I mean Rosalind's Queen Bees and Wannabes was the inspiration behind one of my favorite movies ever Mean Girls. Though, sadly I wasn't starstruck by this novel. Quite the opposite, actually, because I was easily bored by the lackluster and predictable plot that at times seemed like the cliché of all clichés meets an after school special.

The characters were just a total blah. Charlie was the typical "I used to be a follower of the poplars, but now I want to be a leader" type of girl and her love interest was someone who seriously needed to grow a pair and stop acting like an idiot because of peer pressure. Though, if that wasn't enough things to add to my dismay, I hated how these two characters could have been so original and awesome but were instead ran over by unoriginality.

As mentioned above, the plot was the same way. Something that while could have been awesomely amazing was just boring and didn't truly bring anything new to the table. Leaving me to think this novel is going to be run down by all the other incredible upcoming 2010 books like Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers.

Though, I did like some aspects of this novel. Such as some of the secondary characters like Michael, Sydney and Nidha who were funny. Also, the message in this one is something that should always be reiterated simply because of how important it is to not fall into peer pressure and instead become someone who can almost always do the right thing.

In all, while I do see talent in Rosalind ( Seriously, her webiste is awesome because of the fact that she offers advice that a lot of girls (and boys even) could relate too!) , I felt that this novel failed to show it as well as it could have.

Though, as always my review is just one in a million, so if you feel like this is something you would enjoy check it out. I mean others have loved it, just not me unfourantely.

Grade: D

Boys, Girls and Other Hazardous Materials will be released January 12, 2010.

Source: Emily- the Director of Publicity & Brand Development- at Rosalind's website. Thanks!