Mini- reviews: The Boyfriend list and The Boy Book by E. Lockhart

The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart
Publisher: Hot Key Books
Publication Date: 14th July 2016
My rating: 4 stars 

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.

This book was such a refreshing read, I’d gone into it thinking that it’d be a sort of young read for me, but I’m glad that this wasn’t the case for me at all. It did take me some time getting used to Ruby and what was going on in her life, but once I got into The Boyfriend List I absolutely adored Ruby. She was such refreshing character, her voice and everything that she was going through just spoke volumes for me. What she had to go through was truly awful, the turn of events and how people turned on her, (I also had an inkling about this one particular character and just wished Ruby had been able to realise what a douche they were earlier on) just made me super mad. But despite the lacklustre events and panic attacks that Ruby still attempted to hold her head up high, it couldn’t have been easy for anyone for things to change so dramatically in a week. I liked how through seeing a therapist Ruby was able to take a step back and truly see what was going on with her life, the self-reflections and realisations could be daunting at first, but I appreciated the person Ruby became by the end of this book. Lockhart bought so much depth to this book with Ruby’s story and gave us such a realistic portrayal of what a teenage life can be like. What I also enjoyed about this book was that despite things hitting the fan with Ruby, Lockhart still managed to bring so much laughter and fun to the story, Ruby was also such a funny character, that you couldn’t but laugh at some of the situations she found herself in. The addition of footnotes I did find confusing at first, but this may have been because I was reading the e-book version, and I had to keep flipping back and forth to find the right footnote reference, but after this initial confusion, I couldn’t get enough of them! The Boyfriend List was a great start to a new series for me, I can’t wait to continue with Ruby’s Journey in the next book!

The Boy Book by E. Lockhart
Publisher: Hot Key Books
Publication Date: 14th July 2016
My rating: 3 stars 

Here is how things stand at the beginning of newly-licensed driver Ruby Oliver's junior year at Tate Prep: Kim: Not speaking. But far away in Tokyo. Cricket: Not speaking. Nora: Speaking--sort of. Chatted a couple times this summer when they bumped into each other outside of school--once shopping in the U District, and once in the Elliot Bay Bookstore. But she hadn't called Ruby, or anything. Noel: Didn't care what anyone thinks. Meghan: Didn't have any other friends. Dr. Z: Speaking. And Jackson. The big one. Not speaking. But with a new job, an unlikely but satisfying friend combo, additional entries to "The Boy Book" and many difficult decisions help Ruby to see that there is, indeed, life outside the Tate Universe.

The Boy Book was another surprising read for me, like I mentioned before, I've struggled with YA lately, but with the Ruby Oliver series, I'm just able to connect on so many levels with Ruby and what she's going through, that it's making this series such a fun read for me. In The Boy Book, Ruby is trying to make it through junior year, with everything that went on last year, I was hoping that things would have settled down a bit more for her. It was fun following Ruby on this journey through high school, of finding her place and making sense of herself. There were some characters once again who proper annoyed me, it was like they hadn't learnt from things since last time and I couldn't stand how others could just brush things aside and act like things were okay. This aside, I liked how Ruby was able to make friends in the most unexpected of places such as with Meghan and Noel, Meghan just because the way she acted, everyone had made assumptions of her, but once Ruby got to know her, you realised she wasn't the airhead everyone thought her to be. Despite me only giving this book three stars, that's not to say I didn't enjoy it, a three star rating for me is a decent read and of course Lockhart was once again able to bring so much laugh out loud moments to this story, Ruby herself is such a funny person, I never had so much fun reading someone's internal monologue. It's just that I feel as if I didn't enjoy this book as much as I did the first book, but that hasn't put me off reading the rest of the series and being back with Ruby's life once more!