Book Review: New Girl by Paige Harbison

At First Sight: From the moment she arrived, Manderley Academy was Becca Normandy's territory, and not even her disappearance at the end of last term changed that. 

But as a new term starts, a New Girl has come to take the open spot at the school and she'll find herself sleeping in Becca's room, and surrounded by Becca's friends - some of which think she's trying to take over Becca's life. 

But New Girl doesn't want any of that, she mostly wishes she were back home with the rest of her friends and family for senior year, and that everyone would stop referring to her as New Girl, as if no one after Becca deserves a proper name. 

But then she meets Max Holloway, Becca's old boyfriend, and she gets even more tangled with the mysteries of a girl she has never met. 

Second Glance: New Girl was a bit different of what I expected. It's a sort of modern spin on Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier - I haven't read that one so I can't say how close it follows the book, though. New Girl has a dual narrative, parts of it are told by the New Girl of the title and the others from Becca's perspective  in flashback chapters. 

I liked New Girl over all, I thought it was well written, and I liked the characters for the most part, but I felt that some of them needed more development. For example, I liked "New Girl" but I also didn't see what was so awesome about her either - if you read the book you'll understand what I mean - she was nice and likable, and ultimately learns to appreciate her own true worth, but I didn't see anything particularly extraordinary about her. 

UK Cover

As for Max and Johnny, I felt like other than because they were handsome, it's never explained why they are so popular, and Max sometimes acts so hot-and-cold that it's just confusing because he reveals so little of himself.

And I honestly didn't like Becca, at all. She wasn't charming or fun, at least not to me, and I'm actually quite repelled by people like her so, after a while, I sort of started to get a little bored by her chapters. I couldn't muster much care for what would happen to her. 

Bottom Line: New Girl is a good read, enjoyable too. I genuinely liked the main character, but I felt like some things could have been developed a little more, some things a bit more explained, but the book has a nice soap-opera feel and it's easy to read. 

Favorite Quote: "Trust me," he said with a smile, "I'm an artist."

"Paint me like on of your French girls,"  Oh, the worlds spilled from my mouth before I could stop them.

He dropped his hand and looked at me. "DId you just made a Titanic reference?"

"Maybe."