The Boyfriend List (Ruby Oliver #1) by E. LockhartPublisher: Hot Key Books
Goodreads Summary: 5 Guys, 11 Shrink Appointments, 4 Ceramic Frogs and Me, Ruby Oliver
From E. Lockhart, author of the best-seller We Were Liars, and the highly-acclaimed The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, comes this hilarious and heart-warming series.
Ruby Oliver is fifteen and has a shrink. But before you make up your mind about her, you should know that she has had a pretty awful (and eventful) past ten days. She has:
* lost her boyfriend
* lost her best friend (Kim)
* lost all her other friends (Nora, Cricket)
* did something suspicious with a boy
* did something advanced with a boy
* had an argument with a boy
* drank her first beer (someone handed it to her)
* got caught by her mom (ag!)
* had a panic attack (scary)
* lost a lacrosse game (she's the goalie)
* failed a math test (she'll make it up)
* hurt Meghan's feelings (even though they aren't really friends)
* became a social outcast (no one to sit with at lunch)
* and had graffiti written about her in the girls' bathroom (who knows what was in the boys'!?!).
But don't worry, Ruby lives to tell the tale. Through a special assignment to list all the boys she's ever had the slightest, little, any-kind-of-anything with, comes an unfortunate series of events that would be enough to send any girl in a panic.
Rating: 3 Stars
Review: Ruby Oliver has become a social outcast. She's seeing a therapist, lost all her friends at school and has graffiti in her name written on bathroom walls. The Boyfriend List recounts her adventures through fifteen chapters describing each entry on the boyfriend list as well as her daily adventures.
The Boyfriend List is clearly structured, a past to present recount of a small portion of Ruby's life. From juicy gossip to teenage problems, this quirky tale takes us on a journey through high school from haunting the loser hallways to insecurities and teenage disputes. I enjoyed reading this book, but there wasn't really anything special about it. It's interesting, but rather bland on the whole.
Ruby's experiences with guys made me laugh, feel sad and be curious. Jackson in particular reminds me of your average high school jock, an attractive guy with a hidden personality. Ruby's side of this story really showcases how much you can have your emotions used against you, even by those you trust. To me it seems like Kim got fed up with Ruby and wished to get her out of the way and staged a plan.
Each of the fifteen guys is different however there's a little repetition and a few elements of similarity which is important to the book. The guys' relationships with Ruby are all very different in nature but show many different forms of relations a girl and a guy can have, some only imaginary but so real to the girl all the same.
I don't think this book could get much better as it is a Young Adult Contemporary and there's only so much you can add to the plot in an attempt to keep it interesting without going overboard. The Boyfriend List is definitely a good book, well written but the lower rating is simply because other books are better in comparison. The Boyfriend List made me think of Kody Keplinger's books a lot as there are many things that are alike.
Purchase Location: Borrowed From Library
Edition: Paperback
Buy the book: Book Depository
Recommended for: Fans of Kody Keplinger.
