Monday, November 14, 2011

A Match Made in High School by Kristin Walker


Title: A Match Made in High School
Author: Kristin Walker
Genre: High school romance, comedy
Summary: On Goodreads
Pages: 278
Reviewing: Plot, style, characterisation and relationships
Rating: 7/10
There's gotta be something good about a book if you can read it in less than two days, and with A Match Made in High School, I ended up skipping a lecture to finish it this morning! Why? Because no book in recent memory has been able to make me laugh out loud as much as this did! That's just how hi-freaking-larious it was, folks.

With regards to plot, A Match Made in High School totally hit the cliche highway but was executed well enough to hold its own in the genre. Although I found some parts of the story to be predictable, there were enough surprises and awkward cringe-fests to keep me thoroughly entertained. The one driving force behind the plot was the fact that all of the seniors had to take part in a lol-worthy Marriage Education programme. Throw in Fiona and Todd, a mis-matched pair on opposite ends of the social spectrum who want nothing more than to kill each other, and you have a recipe for disaster i.e. awesome situation comedy! Notable highlights include their prank wars and every scene involving the school counsellor - the verbal sparring there had me cracking up every time!

The key factor in delivering the lolz is that this story is written in first person past tense, which makes us privy to all of Fiona's witty and sarcastic observations. Seriously, I love her narrative. If she was a person in real life, then she would easily win an award for being awesome. I really did feel as if I was following her every train of thought, and I think the author did a great job in capturing the teenage voice. My only issue is that sometimes the time jumps and scene changes were a bit abrupt.

At first, the only really interesting character was Fiona - I found it really cool that she didn't give a crap about what others thought about her, and how she's perfectly happy not having many friends. I like that the author hasn't portrayed her to be stunningly perfect - yes, Fiona is whiny, yes she's flawed, but boy can she stand her ground! Nothing like a smartmouth loner with geeky tendencies, eh? So it's a shame that the other characters were flat caricatures in comparison. But as the story progressed, I found Todd the asshole and cute lil Sam springing to life.

In terms of relationships, I'm a sucker for the love-hate kind of thing that Fiona and Todd have going on. They were the only pair that really had chemistry - I found it lacking in the other pairs, and that some of the developments towards the end of the book felt a bit awkward and forced, and it seemed quite obvious that the author was inserting things here and there to build up to the unveiling of a... *dundundun* Grand Pairing.

But then again, how can you hate a book where the main character's nickname is Princess Pisspants?

Final Thoughts...

In conclusion, this was a refreshing and light read, with just the right amount of bubblegum and sassiness - I'll definitely be looking forward to more of Kristin's works in the future.

7/10! ^_^

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