Review ~ Confessions of an Almost Girlfriend - Louise Rozett

eARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Release Date: 25th June 2013

Publisher: Harlequin

Description:
Rose Zarelli has big plans for sophomore year—everything is going to be different. This year, she’s going to be the talented singer with the killer voice, the fabulous girl with the fashionista best friend, the brainiac who refuses to let Jamie Forta jerk her around...

...but if she’s not careful, she’s also going to be the sister who misses the signals, the daughter who can only think about her own pain, the “good girl” who finds herself in mid-scandal again (because no good deed goes unpunished) and possibly worst of all...the almost-girlfriend.

When all else fails, stop looking for love and go find yourself.

My Opinion

This book has really split my opinion and I can't decide whether I enjoyed it or hated it. There were some moments I liked and then there were other parts that I just really disliked and made me want to give up. Because of this fact this book did take me 5 days to finish (something this size should have taken me 5 hours max) as I just couldn't get into it no matter how much I wanted to.

I think for the most part the reason why I couldn't get into this book was because I just felt it was a bit bland. I know it's about sensitive issues such as bullying, death, abuse, self-esteem and family problems and those were executed well but personally I felt that the book had no light, it was just so down beat all the time. I mean most books I've read in this genre have something like a romance where there are happy moments and someone to confide in. That's what I wanted but like the title suggests, romance never blooms so even that side of things is put in a negative way.

I started reading with hope that something would develop - even if it didn't last - but as the pages when on I just got more and more disinterested. I couldn't connect with the characters and felt Rose to be whiney and self-centered so she did annoy me a lot of the time. As well as this I couldn't relate to the high-school situation as it is not something that happens in the UK- well not at my old school anyway (initiations/hazing etc). By the end I was just left feeling really down beat and annoyed. I felt parts could have been executed better, there were just too many loose ends as I felt too much was going on. Rather than have a few problems it seemed nearly every character had an issue but none of which were fully developed.

OK that's enough of the negatives. The things I liked were Rose's friends - Tracy, Sarah and Holly. These girls felt more believable and realistic to me and although I couldn't connect with them they were my favourite part. I liked Tracy's attitude and The Sharp List, I also like Holly and Sarah's personality as they weren't self-centered and cared about Rose.

As well as this I liked how the start of every chapter had a different word like in a dictionary and the author linked it to the chapter, I could relate to the teen definitions. I did like how Rose transformed slightly but once again I felt it was too slow and not executed to its full potential.

Overall this book split my opinion but for most part I found it a slow read that left me feeling downbeat. It deals with real issues sensitively but I feel that the author tried to cram too many in and would have preferred the book to focus on a select few.