Review: New Girl by Paige Harbison

New Girl by Paige Harbison
My rating: 2 of 5 stars



View all my reviews



I'll admit it - I read Miss Harbison's book "Here Lies Bridget" and whereas I didn't love it, I thought it was a decent read, especially if you weren't in the mood for anything really thought-provoking. A nice, light read for a weekend, you know?

So when I saw that she had a new book out called "New Girl", I had to get it. I had just finished a book and needed something light to read for a weekend - something that would take a day or two to read at most. And whereas this book did fit that need, it was disappointing and fell short of what I think the true meaning behind the story was.

Don't get me wrong, Miss Harbison can write a mean girl like no tomorrow. In her first novel, the main character Bridget was one of those girls you just loved to hate. To be frank, she was a bitch. There was no nice way to get around that. She was loathsome, she was hateful, she was self-centered - she was every bad quality in a "mean girl" that you could possibly have rolled into one pretty little package.

Becca Normandy is the "mean girl" in this new novel. And right away, I found myself disliking her. And for the life of me, I couldn't figure out just why everyone liked her. Were they really that stupid? Were they really that blind? How could they sit there and hang out with her and not see how fake she was? How manipulative she was? How cruel she was? I know that teenagers can be a bit  disillusioned about things but this was going a bit overboard. I just had trouble believing that teenagers are really that easily fooled.

The story swaps between Becca's story and the "new girl", whose name we don't even find out until the last chapter. Becca went missing the year before while attending this prestigious academy up north. Which in return open up a spot for "new girl" to attend. However, "new girl" quickly realizes that she'll be living in Becca's shadows, being constantly compared to her and knowing that she'll never be good enough for the people around her.

"New girl", whose name is Callie, was a likable sort. She seemed to be the only level-headed person in the story. She knew she couldn't live up to what Becca left behind. And even though she tried to stand up for herself and tell those around her that she wasn't trying to take Becca's spot, she failed miserably as the others were too set in this illusion that hung over this academy that Becca would return.

I utterly despised her roommate. Dana came off to me as someone who needed a good slap across the face  or a good shaking. The way she treated Callie was just ridiculous and uncalled for. I spent most of the book thinking she needed to be locked in a mental institution and couldn't believe that the administration would even allow her to treat people the way she did.

Blake was likable - and I'm happy that at least one of the students in the academy had a level head on her shoulder. She didn't fall prey to the whole Becca ordeal and was a true friend to Callie. That was admirable.

Max and Johnny. These two boys aggravated me so much. Although after a while, I felt sorry for Max the more I read about Becca - he truly was stuck with this psycho girl who had this incredible need to control everyone. Although I do think he could have stood up more for himself - and for Callie. I was happy to see they were keeping in touch after graduation. Johnny, on the other hand, annoyed me greatly. He had already proved that he wasn't a good friend as he was sneaking around behind Max's back with Becca. He tended to lead girls on as well - jumping on Callie as soon as she arrived at the school and fighting Max for her affections. It was almost as if he had to relive the Becca thing all over again.

As for the story, it was really choppy and short, not very descriptive. The one thing that annoyed me the most about the writing was that it came off so juvenile. I know that it's a young adult novel but to refer to having sex as "doing it" then having the characters calling each other a "fucking bitch" was a bit contradictory. So they can curse at each other and call each other names but they can't say they had sex?

The ending didn't really surprise me. I figured that it could go one of two ways. To be honest, the way it went was a big disappointing. No one ever truly found out what a cruel, vindictive person Becca was and everyone went on their merry little ways in the end. It was so unfinished and so lackluster.

All in all, I was disappointed. It won't stop me from reading more of Miss Harbison's book but I do hope that a bit more thought will be put into the next one.