Nerds Heart YA Update: This is the last review I’ll post before I start posting my NHYA reviews! And don’t forget to enter the giveaway to win Cracked up to Be, The Latent Powers of Dylan Fontaine, or Leftovers. If you enter now, you’ll have a 1 in 5 chance of winning!

Title: How to Be Bad
Author: E. Lockhart, Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle
Category: Fiction, Young Adult
Rating: 2.5/5
Why I Read It: I loved The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart.

Summary: Jesse’s mom has cancer. Vicks’s boyfriend went to college and hasn’t called. Mel is desperate for friends. So they all pile into the car for a road trip.

Review: First, a disclaimer. I haven’t had great luck with books that have alternating points of view. With that said:

  • The Bad—The narration in this book alternated between the three girls, and I didn’t ever truly connect with any of them.
  • The Good—I enjoyed the writing, and the plot kept me reading.

But without a connection to the main characters, plot and good writing weren’t enough for me.

Here’s a snippet of Vicks and her older brother Penn talking on the phone while he’s a the grocery store:

“I’m in the detergent aisle right now, looking for a box of—oh, there it is. You think Tide is better, or All?” [Penn says.]

“Which has a prettier box?” I ask.

“I don’t want a pretty box. I want a dude box.”

“Uh-huh,” I deadpan. “You want a dude box of laundry detergent.”

Borrow: Your local library | Swap
Buy: Your local bookstore | Powell’s | Amazon

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