Review: 52 Reasons to Hate My Father by Jessica Brody

Summary/Cover Image from Publisher's Website:

Being America’s favorite heiress is a dirty job…but someone’s gotta do it.

Lexington Larrabee has never had to work a day in her life. After all, she’s the heiress to the multi-billion-dollar Larrabee Media empire. And heiresses are not supposed to work. But then again, they’re not supposed to crash brand-new Mercedes convertibles into convenience stores on Sunset Boulevard either.

Which is why, on Lexi’s eighteenth birthday, her ever-absent, tycoon father decides to take a more proactive approach to her wayward life. Every week for the next year, she will have to take on a different low-wage job if she ever wants to receive her beloved trust fund. But if there’s anything worse than working as a maid, a dishwasher, and a fast-food restaurant employee, it’s dealing with Luke, the arrogant, albeit moderately attractive, college intern her father has assigned to keep tabs on her.

In Jessica Brody's hilarious “comedy of heiress” about family, forgiveness, good intentions, and best of all, second chances, Lexi learns that love can be unconditional, money can be immaterial, and regardless of age, everyone needs a little saving. And although she might have fifty-two reasons to hate her father, she only needs one reason to love him.

Review:

I've been a huge fan of Jessica's ever since she released the The Fidelity Files, her first foray into the Adult Fiction market, and when she announced she would be writing YA novels as well, I was pumped, and since then I've managed to devour The Karma Club, My Life Undecided, and as of lately, 52 Reasons to Hate My Father. How was 52 Reasons to Hate My Father, you may ask? Well, it was just as funny, heartwarming, and sensational as the rest of her contemporaries!

Lexington Larrabee has always been the black sheep of her mega successful family. While her brothers have gone off to be in charge of their own portion of the Larrabee Media empire, or off to study at Yale, or even go across the world to help people in need, Lexi has resided in LA to become the typical teenage heiress: lazy, selfish, and egotistic. Lexi wouldn't have it any other way, because in her opinion that's exactly how she should be. Her father, though, doesn't agree, especially after she crashes her brand new $500,000 car into a store front. Instead, he decides instead of handing over her 25 million dollar trust fun and letting her become even worse, he's going to make her work 52 jobs over the next year in order to earn that trust fund. Lexi isn't impressed, especially when she finds out that the jobs include being a maid as well a fast food worker, but with all her money wrapped up in this deal, she agrees to it, not knowing how much this will change her life. From falling in love, to understanding what a family and home truly means, Lexi's bound to do a lot of thinking, but will it change her for the better or for the worse?

I have to admit I was worried when I first started 52 Reasons to Hate My Father simply because I couldn't stand Lexington. She was annoying, whinny, and selfish, and for no good reason. I found her decisions to be rash and silly. However, as the novel progressed and Lexi began to grow as a person, she began to grow on me as well. I got to see what made her the way she was, and in some ways, I didn't blame her for putting those walls around herself. What I liked most about her transformation, though, was seeing her change from somebody who nearly always put herself first into one who put her friends and family first. It was a welcoming change, and I have to admit, I liked the sweet, kinder version of Lexi a whole lot better. A character I adored from start to finish, though, would have to be Luke! He was sweet and a little bit awkward but I loved him nonetheless. Scenes with him were always good ones, and I especially loved seeing him begin a friendship with Lexi. The other wide variety of characters including the friends Lexi made through her jobs as well as her family were ones I always enjoyed seeing as well.

Another high point of this novel would have to be the plot. I loved the premise of the 52 jobs in one year. Not only because of how they often lead to funny and sticky situations but also because of how Jessica worked them into Lexi's transformation, especially toward the end. I also enjoyed seeing Lexi's relationship with Luke bloom, as mentioned above, as well as seeing her relationship with her father begin to mend as the novel progressed. Everything kept this novel moving in rapid speed and with a tone that was funny, sweet, and certainly memorable.

Brody's writing was also great. I thought she did a good job of capturing Lexi's voice as well as making her story believable. I also enjoyed how she included transcripts of Lexi's video messages to Luke.

In all, 52 Reasons to Hate My Father is another winner by Jessica Brody, and I can't suggest it highly enough to fans of Brody or readers just looking for a good, fast paced YA contemp!

Grade: A-

52 Reasons to Hate My Father (Amazon, BN, Goodreads) is now out!

Source: Publisher via Publicity Firm- Thanks Wiley and Macmillan!

Book Trailer:

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