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Yup. I am in the minority (if not sitting in a room all by myself) in disliking this book. In fact, I seem to be having one of those "Did we all read the same book?" experiences. Oh, well.

Ugh. Where to start with my problems with this book..... ***There may be spoilers. I don't know if I can control myself. Sorry.

1) Author, Know Thy Setting. As a lifelong Portland-area resident, I was totally excited to see the book set in Forest Grove, Oregon. It's always fun to see how authors infuse their books with local flavor, and I hoped for some fun familiarity. Yeah - not. While the author does apparently live here, I can only hope she is a transplant, as she has managed to mangle the Portland area and people completely. Case in point: One simply cannot leave Forest Grove on a whim on a weekday afternoon, trot down to the Lloyd Center (a 45-minute drive WITHOUT the heinous westside traffic), mosey around the mall for a couple of hours, then drive back in one afternoon. That little jaunt would have taken HOURS. Incorrect and weird Portland references were sprinkled throughout the book, constantly slapping me out of the action and making me say, "What the...?". I cannot appropriately convey JUST HOW MUCH this all bothered me.

2) Author, Know Thy Character and Keep It Consistent. The foundation of this story rests on the "awkward", "nerdy", "geeky" main character. An image forms of a certain kind of character from these descriptors; however, aside from her being smart and studious, and one very weird incident, I did not feel she came even close to any of those words. And so I find that offensive to all people who truly are "nerdy", "geeky" or "awkward". This girl is apparently attractive, witty and interesting to other people, quickly making friends wherever she goes and admired by strangers and peers alike. All the awkwardness feels forced into the scenes by the author, because MC is "supposed" to be weird, not because she actually is. And all that falls away or is added back on as the scenes dictate.

3) Get Thee a Better Editor. There was SO MUCH going on in this book. We have the usual high schooler angst, family drama, sexual orientation issues, learning disabilities, fame and paparazzi, rock stars, hockey and... well, I know there was more. The author made the classic mistake of having so much she wanted to "say" and not having an editor rein her in. The book felt very disjointed due to the many subplots floating around. (it would have been much cleaner and just as complete without the whole SUPER IMPLAUSIBLE meet-and-become-instant-besties-with-rockstars/magically-record-a-song-and-become-MORE-famous-but-don't-follow-up-on-it tangent.)

There were good points to the book. I appreciated the growth the MC went through, the friends were a good foil to her often self-centered ways, the crush was a very nice character and one of the most "real" people in the book. Otherwise, this was a total bust for me.