Title: The Boyfriend List (Ruby Oliver #1)
Author: E. Lockheart
Publication Date: July 14th 2016
Publisher: Hot Key Books
Part of a Series?: Yes, Book 1/4 of the Ruby Oliver Series
I Got A Copy Through: Bloomsbury India (THANK YOU!)
Buy Links: Amazon IN || Amazon US || Amazon UK || The Book Depository || Wordery || Barnes&Noble
Blurb Description: 5 Guys, 11 Shrink Appointments, 4 Ceramic Frogs and Me, Ruby Oliver
From E. Lockhart, author of the best-seller We Were Liars, and the highly-acclaimed The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, comes this hilarious and heart-warming series.
Ruby Oliver is fifteen and has a shrink. But before you make up your mind about her, you should know that she has had a pretty awful (and eventful) past ten days. She has: * lost her boyfriend* lost her best friend (Kim)* lost all her other friends (Nora, Cricket)* did something suspicious with a boy* did something advanced with a boy* had an argument with a boy* drank her first beer (someone handed it to her)* got caught by her mom (ag!)* had a panic attack (scary)* lost a lacrosse game (she's the goalie)* failed a math test (she'll make it up)* hurt Meghan's feelings (even though they aren't really friends)* became a social outcast (no one to sit with at lunch)* and had graffiti written about her in the girls' bathroom (who knows what was in the boys'!?!).
But don't worry, Ruby lives to tell the tale. Through a special assignment to list all the boys she's ever had the slightest, little, any-kind-of-anything with, comes an unfortunate series of events that would be enough to send any girl in a panic.
Truth be told, the only other E. Lockheart book I’ve read is
We Were Liars which COMPLETELY blew
my mind. I adored everything – EVERYTHING – it had to offer and so, I had
HUGE expectations going into
The Boyfriend List.
In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have, but can you really
blame me?
Ruby Oliver is just your normal standard high school girl.
She wonders if her face looks ugly in her glasses, if she’s pretty enough and
just like everyone else, she’s looking for her Mr. Right (The One or Tommy
Hazard)
Well, maybe she was a normal girl.
In the last few weeks, relatively normal Ruby Oliver with
her popular boyfriend and awesome circle of friends has become a social leper.
With her panic attacks, her boyfriend dumping her for her best friend and all
her best friends dropping her like a hot potato, the only place left for Ruby
is on her therapist’s couch.
Oh, and, there’s a list that Ruby wrote that aided her fall –
no, crash – down the social ladder.
A Boyfriend List. A List of ALL the boys she’s ever been associated
with, ever liked or ever done anything with.
And it’s public.
There are a lot of things I liked and disliked about this
book, so let’s go.
What I DID NOT Like
about The Boyfriend List:
1.
RUBY’S TERRIBLE “FRIENDS”: When you’re
growing up, you make a lot of friends, dump a lot and find the few special ones
that you keep. I GET that Ruby is still in the first and second phase BUT I
HATED THESE GIRLS. OH GOD. Their friendship moral compass and their decent
human being compass were so off, I WANTED TO STRANGLE THEM.
2.
THE RANTING: There were SO MANY important messages this book
had to give its readers, and they COULD have been properly delivered IF there
wasn’t SO much of Ruby Rants. Some of them were funny, but in some, she blabbered on and on so much I had to forced myself through them. Sigh.
3.
THE FOOTNOTES: For some reason, I’ve
never been able to appreciate footnotes. They pull me away from the point that
was being made in the actual story and IT MAKES IT SO HARD TO CONCETRATE. I didn’t
like the footnote format of the book, ESPECIALLY IN RANT FORM. SIGH.
 |
| Ruby Rant Exhibit 1 |
4.
Ruby’s Parents: I have SEEN not so strict parents, and parents
involved in theatre but they are NOT LIKE THESE. I SERIOSULY think that Ruby’s
parents were THE BIGGEST reason she was having panic attacks because they were
so all over the place, and they NEVER listened to Ruby or ANYTHING. I really
did not like them
What I LOVED about The Boyfriend List:
1.
Noel, Gideon, Angelo & Shiv: YES,
I’M TALKING ABOUT BOYS! This is, after all, The Boyfriend List. I went in
hoping I would find at least ONE boy that I liked, but instead, I FOUND FOUR SWOONY BOYS! *Throws
party* Each of them had their positives and negatives, but I really really
liked them! #swoon
2.
DON’T BE A PUSHOVER: I have seen so
many people be pushed over (I will sadly admit that I’m one of them) and this
was one of the BIGGEST lessons that Ruby learnt. If you’re waiting for someone
to call, or wondering why a guy kissed you, asked you out and never spoke to
you again and waited and waited for THE OTHER PERSON to do something, then you’re
like Ruby (and me.) I loved how this was
put across, and just the general importance of teenage girls receiving this
message.
3.
The Ending: There was this note of maturation that hit
Ruby at the ending, which completely changed the tone of the book for me. I WAS
SO GLAD she was taking charge of her own life and PUTTING HERSELF FIRST and
realising some people just WEREN’T WORTH THE TROUBLE and I was so proud of her.
Will I read the next book? I honestly don’t know yet.
Ruby Oliver is your everyday girl, which also makes her
pretty special. Ruby Oliver is learning things that every teenager should be
learning too, and her story is DEFINITELY WORTH READING!
3.5 Stars!
What important messages have books given you? Have you read any E.Lockeart books? Have you read THIS series and if yes, should I continue?
I can't wait to hear from all of you! (Don't forget to leave your blog links so I can pop by!)
