Hate List - REVIEW

Book Info:

Hate List

Jennifer Brown

Reading level: Young Adult

Hardcover: 416 pages

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; 1 edition (September 1, 2009)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0316041440

ISBN-13: 978-0316041447

Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6 x 1.4 inches

Rating:

Review:

Hate List follows the life of Valerie Leftman after her Boyfriend, Nick, takes revenge on students that had picked on him or Valerie in the past. The names of the students that Nick is looking can be found in the HATE LIST book--which is a notebook filled of things/people that Nick and Valerie, hate.

Valerie had no idea that the Hate List would ever be used for that and is left to piece her life back together when the whole town seems to want revenge on her--as she was also the one who wrote in the Hate List.

Brown has weaved an amazing tale that has been seen in the media before. Teens filled with so much hate--usually caused by bullying, they turn on their peers and teachers. Leaving the rest of the town in shambles while looking for someone to blame.

Few books make me shed a tear--but this book is filled with strong emotions. You feel sorry for everyone in the book at the end of the story--or at least I did.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone--it's wonderfully written and fills you in on every aspect of the story regardless if it's from the past or present.

The Federal Trade Commission tells me, that I have to tell you, I recieved this

review copy from the publisher.

The BAMF speaks about Devyn's Birthday!

I'll admit, when Devyn asked me to guest blog to help celebrate his birthday month, I was kinda stumped on what to write. I'd say I still don't have the blog thing down to a science just yet -- I always think I sound like, I don't know, Charles Dickens attempting stand-up.

So I was going to do a vlog. My first vlog ever! Maybe bake a cake for Devyn, show how incredibly saavy I am in the kitchen, dance around a little, do the '80s head-bob thing, and completely embarrass myself and my kids and end my career in one fiery, fatal swoop. But then I remembered that I need a haircut and have a crippling fear of people seeing what I really look like and I always think I sound like an escaped Wizard of Oz Munchkin Gone Wild on video, and, oh yeah, I don't actually own a video camera, which is somewhat necessary in vlogging, I think, and... okay, I was so over the vlog idea.

So I thought... well, I'll just write an educational piece about baking a cake, comparing baking a birthday cake to writing. Yes, that's it! I'll use lots of "hypothetically speaking"s and "Alas"es and will even drag out my old philosophy textbooks from college and...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. (*whump! whump! whump!* Alas, young Pip, is this thing on?)

And then I got this brilliant idea! Lately, my blog has been all about writing Love Lists (Get it? The whole Hate List/Love List flip thing...?). Well, what better reason to get all lovey than a birthday, right? Plus, I won't feel compelled to sing "Follow the Yellow Brick Road."

SO... in honor of Devyn's birthday month, I thought I'd write a very special Custom Love List. Ready?

10 Reasons to LOVE Devyn Burton:

1) Cool hats, putting him in company of great cool hat-wearers, such as Abraham Lincoln, Yogi Bear, and Justin Timberlake.

2) Has his own charity, which is freaking awesome. And it's all about getting books to hospitalized teens, which makes it awesome times, I don't know... awesome times Justin Timberlake!

3) Five Awesome YA Fans. Need I say more? I think not.

4) Turned my twitter photo green for me, and didn't make fun of me (to my face) for being techno-lame and unable to do it myself, or point out that, you know, coloring an existing photo isn't exactly rocket science.

5) Isn't afraid to approach me and ask for stuff like guest blogs, even though I'm a mean shrew and might have just as easily winged a can of garbanzo beans at his head for stepping into my Writer's Lair and interrupting my brilliance. (Kidding. My lair looks alot like my basement, and garbanzo beans are way too expensive to be wasting by tossing at bloggers' heads. And I had to spell-check "brilliance.").

6) Thinks the Internet is an interesting place to bring authors and readers together. Hey, me too!

7) Fun tweets and Facebook status updates, that I mostly understand as long as I have my "Boring Mom to Cool Hip Young Person" dictionary on me.

8) Laughed when my daughter called me BAMF and I didn't know what it meant. But didn't publicly make fun of me for having to look it up in the Urban Dictionary. Okay, well, only publicly made fun of me a little.

9) Is a writer! Woot!

10) Lives life to the fullest and is determined to leave an awesome Devyn-shaped footprint on this earth, which makes him, officially, someone I look up to. You go, Devyn!!!

Happy birthday month, Devyn!