Hate List by Jennifer Brown

[description from Amazon]

Five months ago, Valerie Leftman's boyfriend, Nick, opened fire on their school cafeteria. Shot trying to stop him, Valerie inadvertently saved the life of a classmate, but was implicated in the shootings because of the list she helped create. A list of people and things she and Nick hated. The list he 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:

If I could write this review with nothing but exclamation points and a bunch of "OMG"s and "SQUEEEEEEEEEE"s, I would. I loved this book so much and kind of don't know what to say about it, so squeeing would be much easier, but I'll try.

Hate List is one of those character driven novels. Usually I like those types of books less, but I still loved this book. Valerie is an incredibly realistic character- her feelings about Nick and the others involved in the shooting are so conflicted and have so much good reason behind them that it's practically impossible not to believe that she feels the way she does. The other characters are well developed too, and they aren't what is expected: Jessica is not just a mean popular girl, and Nick is not just a psycho killer.

The book slows down a bit in the middle when it is all flashback to the day of the shooting, but that doesn't take away from the book much as the flashback is exciting, emotional, and intense. The rest of the book is not exactly action-packed, but watching Valerie change and try to fit into her school is heartbreaking and somehow makes you want to keep reading, just to see if everything works out for her.

Some parts of the book- such as Valerie's drawing habit- probably could have been explored more, but it's easy to overlook those things when there are so many other elements that add to the book- such as the newspaper articles in the beginning of the chapters. They make the story seem even more real than it already does.

Hate List is an incredibly deep, emotional, heartbreaking, and powerful read, and there's no way I could write a review to do it justice.

9.5/10

Links: Jennifer's website/twitter

Little, Brown/Hardcover/$16.99/Amazon/B&N/Borders/IndieBound