Tag: Confessions Series

Review: Confessions of an Almost Girlfriend by Louise Rozett.

Posted August 7, 2013 by Rowena in Reviews | 2 Comments

Confessions of an Almost GirlfriendRowena’s review of Confessions of an Almost Girlfriend (Confessions #2) by Louise Rozett.

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.

It’s been a while since I read the first book but picking this book up brought that book right back to me. In this book, Rosie Zarelli is back and the story starts right before Rose’s sophomore year begins. In the beginning, Rose is at a party and it’s summer and the swim thugs are at it again. They’re hazing the new kid and they’re taunting him and almost drowning him and just being overall dicks. The second time that the kid gets thrown into the pool, he doesn’t come up. He doesn’t come up for so long that Rose gets worried and tries to help him out but gets thrown into the pool for her trouble.

Over the course of this book, we find out that the kid being hazed is Regina Dallado’s younger brother, Conrad. If you read the first book then you’ll remember that Regina is Jamie Forta’s ex-girlfriend, who still has a thing for him and who hates Rose’s guts because well, she’s the new girl in Jamie’s life. Although, that’s putting extras on a relationship that is stalled. Ever since Jamie got out of jail, he’s been a ghost…as far as Rose is concerned. No phone calls, no talking, no contact. He just up and disappeared from Rose’s life and Rose can’t shake her feelings for him but she’s also a little heartbroken throughout most of this book and I couldn’t help but feel a bit heartbroken myself.

I mean, who hasn’t been there? Who hasn’t been dragged through the mud by that one boy that you can’t help but love? The one boy that fills your every thought, every single day.

This book isn’t easy for Rosie because she’s got things going on at home with her Mom and her brothers (both things that are two totally different fights) and she’s going through things with Tracy (her BFF) and through it all, she feels alone and out of sorts and like a girl her age should and does feel and act.

And that’s what I liked most about this book. Rose was 16 and she acted 16. She wasn’t older than her years and she didn’t come off as fake, she just was. She did things that drove me crazy but she was honest with herself when she was being unreasonable and she was honest when it counted the most and with all of the pressure and all of the things she had going for her, I really admired Rosie for being true to who she was and who she thought her father would have wanted her to be. Her family was important to her and while she didn’t understand a lot of things, she tried to and she really made this book pop for me.

The thing that made me like Rose so much was how authentic her relationship with Jamie was. He’s that older boy who is more experienced than she was and seeing her feel things for the first time and experience things for the first time took me right back to a lot of my firsts at her age. Those things scared her and when she didn’t understand things with Jamie, she didn’t back away from asking him even though she was scared to death of bringing it out into the open.

All throughout the book, my heart continued to break time after time. Rosie just couldn’t win and it made me mad at the people around her and at Jamie, the most. He’s got a lot to make up for and he’s got a lot of explaining to do because I really want to know where his head is. He creeps up on you with these sweet gestures and the sweet way that he is with Rosie and then he just disappears, leaving Rose confused and…longing. She didn’t deserve the things that happened to her and I was sad at the end. There’s still so much left in the air and still so much story left that I wish we could have gotten more.

I’m interested in where Peter and Tracy go from here. I’m interested to see how Rosie’s relationship with both of her family members grows and what happens now that Rosie is in Angelo’s band. There’s still so much to learn that I’m kind of annoyed that I have to wait for the next book.

Overall, this book was great. It’s got some ups and its got a lot of downs but there’s still a lot of hope that things will turn up for Rosie. I thought that Rozetti did a fabulous job of stringing me along with this story. Not once did I want to put this book down. Not once was I bored with what was going on. I was much too anxious for everything to happen and turn around. I’m definitely going to read the next book…I can’t wait.

I definitely recommend this book.

Grade: 4.5 out of 5

This book is available from Harlequin Teen.  You can purchase it here or here in e-format.  This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.


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Review: Confessions of an Angry Girl by Louise Rozett

Posted August 28, 2012 by Rowena in Reviews | 6 Comments

Review: Confessions of an Angry Girl by Louise RozettReviewer: Rowena
Confessions of an Angry Girl (Confessions, #1) by Louise Rozett
Series: Confessions #1
Publisher: Harlequin, Harlequin Teen
Publication Date: August 28th 2012
Genres: Young Adult
Pages: 266
Add It: Goodreads
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four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Rose Zarelli, self-proclaimed word geek and angry girl, has some confessions to make…

1. I'm livid all the time. Why? My dad died. My mom barely talks. My brother abandoned us. I think I'm allowed to be irate, don't you?

2. I make people furious regularly. Want an example? I kissed Jamie Forta, a badass guy who might be dating a cheerleader. She is now enraged and out for blood. Mine.

3. High school might as well be Mars. My best friend has been replaced by an alien, and I see red all the time. (Mars is red and "seeing red" means being angry—get it?)

Here are some other vocab words that describe my life: Inadequate. Insufferable. Intolerable.

(Don't know what they mean? Look them up yourself.)

(Sorry. That was rude.)

When I first requested this book for review, I thought that I would enjoy it and then it sat on my review pile for the longest time and then when I finally picked it up, I wasn’t too thrilled that I actually requested it because for some reason, I didn’t think I’d like it (complete change of mind, really) but I’m happy to say that I really enjoyed this one.

When we first meet the main character Rose Zarelli, her Dad is dead and her brother is away at college, leaving Rose all alone with her mother who is too busy grieving and working to pay much attention to her. The title of this book is pretty apt because though you can’t really tell by looking or interacting with Rose, the reader knows that she is pretty angry. Her brother has abandoned her, her best friend is acting all kinds of weird and her crush just kissed her but he’s with someone already and when his girlfriend finds out, she’s out for Rose’s blood.

I really enjoyed getting to know Rose. She was a complex character with many issues in her life and she was just kind of bumbling around, trying to get through each day. Her best friend’s boyfriend turned into a total douche over the course of a summer and her best friend is trying to fit in with girls that don’t deserve her loyalty or friendship and she has no interest in dating the guy that she should want to date because he treats her so good because she’s interested in someone else. She’s angry because her Dad is dead, her Mom has checked out and her brother is gone. She’s struggling with how to cope with her father’s death, she’s trying to be the best friend her friend needs and she’s struggling with a crush that she can’t turn away from, especially since he seems to be crushing right back at her even though she’s a freshman and he’s a junior.

It was interesting trying to navigate Rose’s life. Her character was very relatable and my inner 14 year old connected with her in a way that I haven’t connected with a character in a while. I was cheering her on from the very beginning and even when she was being a total brat, I liked her. She reminded me of myself when I was younger and I really liked her and the characters that were introduced in the book…well, most of them.

Rose’s best friend tries out for the cheer-leading squad and makes it. She’s also dating a guy on the swim team who is a total douche to her but she’s young and in love and overlooks it, time and time again. They get into a fight and Rose’s best friend does the unthinkable. She rats Rose out and because of that, I hated her. There are few things that you aren’t allowed to do to your friends (especially your best friend) and ratting them out to someone who clearly hates them is at the very top of the rulebook. You just don’t do it but Rose’s best friend does it and then makes some cookies for her at the end and then things go back to being normal. They need each other so they make up but nope, she’s going to need to do a whole lot more than bake some cookies and be there for Rose to make up for ratting her out. A whole lot more than that. Good friends are hard to come by and you don’t become a good friend by snitching someone out. Who needs enemies when you have friends like that?

The love interest, Jamie? I adored him. I adored the way that he was protective of Rose and I loved the way that he stood up to his ex-girlfriend for what she did to Rose. I really liked him and adored the way that he handled standing her up for prom. He’s a keeper, for real. I loved him. I can’t wait for more of him in the next book.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story and am looking forward to reading the next one. I’m hopeful that the next book will be just as good and I can’t wait for Rose’s family reaction to the page that she’s making for her Dad. I’m also looking forward to seeing how prom played out and what happens next with Jamie. I definitely recommend this book.

…and that’s your scoop!

This book is available from Harlequin Teen.
Buy the book: B&N|Amazon|Book Depository
Book cover and blurb credit: http://barnesandnoble.com

four-stars


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