Hate List by Jennifer Brown

Title: Hate List
Author: Jennifer Brown
Publisher: Little, Brown
Reading Level: YA, 14+
Publication Date: September 1, 2009
Pages: 416
My Edition: ARC
Amazon Page

Cover Rating: B
Book Rating: A-

Plot - 18/20
Characters - 19/20
Writing - 20/20
Originality - 17/20
Entertainment - 7/10
Recommendation - 9/10
Total: 90/100

Summary:

it was just a list. nobody was supposed to die...

Five months ago, Valerie Leftman’s boyfriend, Nick, opened fire on their school cafeteria. Shot trying to stop him, Valerie inadvertently saves the life of a classmate, but is implicated in the shootings because of the list she helped create. A list of people and things they hated. The list her boyfriend used to pick his targets.

Now, after a summer of seclusion, Val is forced to confront her guilt as she returns to school to complete her senior year. Haunted by the memory of the boyfriend she still loves and navigating rocky relationships with her family, former friends and the girl whose life she saved, Val must come to grips with the tragedy that took place and her role in it, in order to make amends and move on with her life.

Review:

Before I started Hate List I had heard fantastic things of it, so my expectations were very high for it. Though it was a heartbreaking, amazing, incredible, etc. book, my expectations weren't met, though they were extremely close.

Let me first say that this is a very character-driven novel. The characters were impeccable and incredibly realistic. The writing was wonderful, Jennifer Brown is a fantastic debut author that definitely can write emotional books with great depth. Brown had an amazing voice to this novel.

The one problem I had in this novel is, that, I guess, it didn't really 'wow' me as I had expected. I don't really know what brought this to me, but I just didn't feel so amazed as other reviewers were.

Knowing that, though, doesn't change the fact that this novel is a marvellous novel that was just pitch perfect.