Neurotic Thoughts - New Girl

New Girl 
Author: Paige Harbison
Release Date: January 31, 2012
Genre: YA Contemporary
Published by: HarlequinTeen
Source: HarlequinTeen through NetGalley
Summary from Goodreads:
They call me 'New Girl'... 

Ever since I arrived at exclusive, prestigious Manderly Academy, that’s who I am. New girl. Unknown. But not unnoticed—because of her. 

Becca Normandy—that’s the name on everyone’s lips. The girl whose picture I see everywhere. The girl I can’t compare to. I mean, her going missing is the only reason a spot opened up for me at the academy. And everyone stares at me like it’s my fault. 

Except for Max Holloway—the boy whose name shouldn’t be spoken. At least, not by me. Everyone thinks of him as Becca’s boyfriend but she’s gone, and here I am, replacing her. I wish it were that easy. Sometimes, when I think of Max, I can imagine how Becca’s life was so much better than mine could ever be. 

And maybe she’s still out there, waiting to take it back.

The most exciting part of New Girl and probably what inspired me to finish the book was the fact that I wanted to know what had happened to Becca. I was never as taken with her as the students of Manderly Academy, of course as the reader we are privy to some of her inner thoughts and let's just say....she is not a very nice person, at all. That didn't stop me from wanting to know how she disappeared though. 


Other than that I wasn't overly impressed with this book.  I had a hard time connecting with pretty much all of these characters because I just didn't "get" them. They were mean and snotty and not at all like the teens I knew in high school or the ones that I now know.  I couldn't figure out what their motives were for their actions. My favorite character was "new girl" as she was the most real character in the whole book.  I didn't notice until the last page that we never got "new girls" name until then, I still don't know how that escaped my attention while I was reading. The only other character that made any kind of impression on me was the principal and he is only in one scene but he was pretty darn awesome! The rest of the characters were shallow and really just for the most part awful people. I didn't even really enjoy the love interests because I thought "new girl" deserved better than both of the boys that seemed interested in her. This was definitely just an OK book for me. I have a feeling it will be one of those that I forget about pretty quickly.


Just so you know: This book talks a lot about "hooking up" and contains a lot of scenes with underage drinking. 


If you know me at all you know I hate writing reviews that don't favor a book. However, when I agree to review a book I always state that I will give my honest opinion. I do like to share links to more positive reviews though because hey, everyone likes different things so I like to share other perspectives. Here are a few links to reviews that enjoyed New Girl. 


Book Whales 4.5 rating


I Heart YA Books 5 rating