Girl Wonder by Alexa Martin

Title/Author: Girl Wonder by Alexa Martin
Publisher/Date published: Disney Hyperion, May 3rd 2011
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley

Goodreads summary: "As if transferring senior year weren't hard enough, Charlotte Locke has been bumped to lower level classes at her new school. With no friends, a terrible math SAT score, and looming college application deadlines, the future is starting to seem like an oncoming train for which she has no ticket.
Then Amanda enters her orbit like a hot-pink meteor, offering Charlotte a ticket to something else: popularity. Amanda is fearless, beautiful, brilliant, and rich. As her new side kick, Charlotte is brought into the elite clique of the debate team — and closer to Neal, Amanda's equally brilliant friend and the most perfect boy Charlotte has ever seen.
But just when senior year is looking up, Charlotte’s life starts to crumble. The more things heat up between Charlotte and Neal, the more Neal wants to hide their relationship. Is he ashamed? Meanwhile, Amanda is starting to act strangely competitive, and she's keeping a secret Charlotte doesn't want to know."

I'm sitting here just thinking what I should about this book. Because honestly, I'm not sure. Let's just say that it wasn't what I expected, but that could have been me not reading the summary thoroughly enough.

I struggled a bit with this one, because I couldn't really connect to Charlotte. And I really, really hated Amanda. Gosh, she was so annoying! And so full of herself! Ugh, she made me want to bitchslap something. And don't even get me started on Neal, the sneaky bastard! It took Charlotte 238 bloody pages to figure out what I realised the minute I met them both: worthless friend/boyfriend material!

But, as I did finish this book, I didn't totally dislike it. I really didn't. I really enjoyed scenes with Charlotte's brother James Henry. He was sweet and I wanted to give him hugs most of the time. And Milton, he was a bit weird, but in a quirky, sweet kind of way. I also think that the author described what can happen to teens when they are friends with the wrong kind of people. It's so easy to just go along and join in whatever (I feel like an old woman saying this, but it's true).

My rating: 2 stars