Review: Confessions of An Angry Girl by Louise Rozett

Author: Louise Rozett
Title: Confessions of an Angry Girl
Publication: August 28, 2012
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Genre: Contemporary
Pages: 272 pp
Source: Netgalley

Rose Zarelli, self-proclaimed word geek and angry girl, has some confessions to make…
1. I'm livid all the time. Why? My dad died. My mom barely talks. My brother abandoned us. I think I'm allowed to be irate, don't you?
2. I make people furious regularly. Want an example? I kissed Jamie Forta, a badass guy who might be dating a cheerleader. She is now enraged and out for blood. Mine.
3. High school might as well be Mars. My best friend has been replaced by an alien, and I see red all the time. (Mars is red and "seeing red" means being angry—get it?)
Here are some other vocab words that describe my life: Inadequate. Insufferable. Intolerable.
(Don't know what they mean? Look them up yourself.)
(Sorry. That was rude.)

Thoughts: This book first appealed to me because I liked the cover art but I was also intrigued by the subject matter. Rose as a character appears well-rounded, she has beliefs and morals. What made her most endearing is her snarky wit in combination with her innocence. She's shy to a point but can hold her own when she needs to and it was nice to see her develop throughout all her struggles with school, bullying and a little bit of romance with a certain bad boy. The biggest issue in the book is that Rose is mad at the world, her mother, her brother and the fact that her father is gone. Her mother is an emotional wreck withdrawing into her doctor self and even analyzing Rose in that way, instead of sharing in her grief. Her brother has left for college and he feels the need to take on the role of her father, so he asks bad boy Jamie Forta to look after her at school. He just doesn't expect Rose to fall for him and this is when things in her life get even more complicated because with this comes a nemesis in the form of a bobble head cheerleader, who intends to make Rose's life hell. 

Overall, I like Rose's attitude and her voice. Yes, she's angry but for a reason and sure she could channel that in a better way but she's young and hurting. She doesn't really have anyone to talk to, so in a sense she is alone in her grief, which makes her a relatable and believable character. The writing is well paced and developed.  I think this a good read about family and coping with grief.