Reading up a storm

Five months ago, Valerie’s boyfriend Nick was responsible for a shooting at the end of their junior year of high school. Valerie was shot as she was trying to stop Nick from shooting another student before Nick turned the gun on himself. Ever since the day of the shooting, Valerie’s tried to put her life back together. It’s been difficult, especially since the Hate List was made public. The Hate List was a list that she created and she and Nick added names of people they hated. Her parents along with a lot of people at school think she’s guilty and was somehow involved in the planning of the shooting.

Now Valerie is returning to school and trying to deal with the guilt she feels. To complicate things the girl whose life she saved is one of the names on the Hate List. She also struggles to reconcile her feelings about Nick — Nick the boy she loved and Nick the shooter.

Nothing in this book seemed fake to me. I was gripped by Valerie and her struggle to be forgiven by the people who she needs most in her life. Having dealt with being teased in junior high and high school, I completely identified with Valerie. I think this book could be a really great book to open up a dialogue with teens about bullying and it’s effects.