Title: She's So Dead To Us, He's
So Not Worth It, This Is So Not Happening
Author: Kieran Scott
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Books for Young Readers
Publishing Date: May 25th
2010, June 7th 2011, May 1st 2012
Length: 288 pages, 360 pages,
320 pages
Keywords: YA, contemporary,
romance, friendship, intrigue
Source: Simon & Schuster
Galley Grab/ Bought
Ally Ryan would rather be in Maryland. She would rather be anywhere,
in fact, than Orchard Hill, site of her downfall. Well, not hers
exactly—but when your father’s hedge fund goes south and all your
friends lose their trust funds, things don’t look so sunny for you.
Her mother moved her to Maryland to flee the shame, but now they’re
moving back. Back to the country-club, new-car-every-year,
my-family-came-over-on-the-Mayflower lifestyle that Ally has
outgrown. One bright spot, however, is gorgeous, intense Jake
Graydon. But it won’t be easy for the two of them to be
together—not if his friends (her former friends) have anything to
say about it. Is Ally ready to get thrown back into the drama of the
life she left behind?
Summary by Goodreads
Ally Ryan's life is
complicated and it's one-hundred percent made up of drama. She's
returning to Orchard Hill where the rich and beautiful live and back
to her old problems. And now that she's back, she's an outsider and
her old friends hate her. Even though she's been dealt the outsider
role I wasn't too fond of our main character Ally. She's often
unreasonable and it takes her a long time to learn from past
mistakes. Just too long for my sympathy to last through all three
books.
Her so-called friends were even worse.
They were nothing but shallow and not at all sensitive or there for Ally
when she needed them most. Kieran Scott explores the lives of the
upper class, their worries and the things that make their lives so
fancy and entertaining. The time they spent at their beach houses in the second book was
the most fun part of the entire trilogy, giving it a light summer read
quality.
At first I really liked Ally and Jake
together and the time it took for them to figure out what they had.
The dual point of view was enjoyable. You get chapters from
Ally's point of view and sequences from Jake's perspective and their
very different lives. Jake could be cute and thoughtful when he
wanted to be, but sometimes he didn't exactly shine as the perfect
male main character or stand out for his hyper intelligent and
reasonable personality.
I hate to say it but at some point I
just couldn't bring myself to care about these characters anymore.
Ally and Jake's relationship is one of the on-again, off-again kinds
and just as much as it frustrated them to be confronted with all these obstacles it frustrated me, too.
Their thinking is often reigned by a
rather childish urge to insist on their pride, knowing they would
damn themselves to misery. The HE'S SO/ SHE'S SO trilogy is
definitely TV show drama material that has the quality to make you
cheer for the characters to finally be happy, for the friends to make
up and for everyone to overcome their differences and grow up
already.
SHE'S SO DEAD TO US was the part of
Ally's story that was still entertaining and that offered a story
with a few conflicts I wanted to see solved in the end. The second
started up right where the first book ended and it added a few more
well-placed twists and turns to Ally's story. If it weren't for the
ever same circles of spitefulness and scheming behavior that never
made any of the characters look like friends I could've enjoyed it
more than I actually did. If Kieran Scott had mainly concentrated the
story on reuniting the friends instead of the immature fights
between them, it could've worked as a decent sequel. I'm more into
stories that work towards a positive example of good friends, of
people who support each other and are there for each other even when
one of them isn't as lucky or rich as before.
Don't even let me get started on the third book, THIS IS SO NOT HAPPENING. I could've very well
done without a third book in the series, because it opened up a whole
other can of worms that got on my nerves all the time.
3/5 *** HE'S SO/ SHE'S SO Series -
The rather juvenile YA version of The OC and Gossip Girl, with drama, gossip and a
ton of romantic complications.
The HE'S SO/ SHE'S SO series was
entertaining in a very basic way. It's an original high school read and
Kieran Scott definitely put in all the topics teens have to deal
with in every good TV drama and in real life, too. There are sports, cat
fights, teen pregnancy, first times, alcohol and all the other things
that make your teen years so exciting and scary.
"My legs pumped the pedals with all their might as I raced away from Connor's house, my breath coming short and shallow, until I reached Harvest Lane. There I placed my feet on the ground and glanced back over my shoulder in the direction of Vista View. Somewhere back there behind the trees was my old house. My old life. The life that I, apparently, could never go back to." ― p. 29
the HE'S SO / SHE'S SO series you might also enjoy BOYS, GIRLS AND OTHER HAZARDOUS MATERIALS by Rosalind Wiseman, THE BOYFRIEND THIEF by Shana Norris, KEEP HOLDING ON by Susane Colasanti. More mean girls, intrigues and eventful high school experiences.
* Can't get enough of Kieran's books? Read GEEK MAGNET next.
* Click here for an excerpt of SHE'S SO DEAD TO US.
* Listen to Kieran Scott talking about SHE'S SO DEAD TO US here.
* For more information about Kieran Scott and her books visit www.kieranscott.net.
