Review of Invisible by Marni Bates

Title/Author: Invisible (Awkward #2) by Marni Bates
Publisher/Date published: K-Teen, August 1st 2013
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: Jane Smith has survived three years of high school without making a single enemy, all by keeping a low profile. Not even her three best friends, Kenzie, Corey and Isobel, can say the same. But with Corey dating the lead singer from ReadySet and Kenzie in a relationship too, being invisible tends to be lonely. But now she's written an article for her school newspaper that has accidentally snagged the attention of some celebrities. Turns out, people get really upset when their innermost secrets are splashed all over the front page. And new her well-ordered life is being blasted to hell, with results that are wildly unexpected.

Guys, why have I never picked up Awkward?? I mean, seriously, Invisible is totally my kind of book!!

I loved Marni Bates' writing style! It's funny and quirky and totally engaging and I loved it from the minute I turned my eyes to the first page of Invisible! I love it when a cute contemporary deals with actual teen issues aside from the maybe less plausible plot of having her two friends get famous overnight, and Marni Bates totally made it work!

Jane sees herself as Invisible. And so does half of the school. She's embraced her nerdiness and as long as she has her best friends, she doesn't really care that she's not part of the popular crowd. And I like that. You create your own happiness and all that. But this turns into a problem when her friends actually do start having more of a social life and not really having time for Jane anymore. So now Jane has to decide if she's ok with her friends seeing her as an Invisible as well.

Guys, I could recognize so much of myself in Jane! I'm that girl who tries to avoid confrontation and who knows she's not sticking up for herself enough. And I loved seeing Jane grow as a person and overcome some of her fears and just branching out and meeting new people! She's challenging herself and I like that! And really, while her best friend Kenzie bored me at times (maybe this would have been different if I'd read Awkward?), I really enjoyed reading about her new crowd, including the school newspaper photographer and a Notable girl. Mostly because these people push her to be honest with herself and are maybe truer friends throughout the happenings in Invisible than her 'best friends'.

So Jane lands herself into some funny situations and falls in love and does all of it with a certain flair that I found totally endearing! I love that in the end she stands up to her friends and I was totally reminded of Dumbledore with the 'it takes greater courage to stand up to your friends than to your enemies' speech. And I loved that!

I breezed through Invisible and while I wasn't entirely sure about the romance going on, in the end it worked for me, though at times it felt like they were barely friends, let alone in love with each other. Invisible was such a lovely read that I'll be sure to pick up Notable (the next book in the series) when it comes out!

My rating: 4,5 stars

Made me crave: french fries