[Review] Confessions of a High School Disaster - Emma Chastain

Summary: In the tradition of Bridget Jones’s Diary, a lovably flawed high school student chronicles her life as she navigates the highs and lows of family, friendship, school, and love in a diary that sparkles with humor and warmth.

I’m Chloe Snow, and my life is kiiiiind of a disaster.

On the plus side, I got the lead in the musical!

On the down side…

1. I’m a kissing virgin (so so so embarrassing).
2. My best friend, Hannah, is driving me insane.
3. I think I’m in love with Mac Brody, the most popular senior guy, whose girlfriend is so beautiful she doesn’t even need eyeliner.
4. My dad won’t stop asking me if I’m okay.
5. Oh, and my mom moved to Mexico to work on her novel. But it’s fine—she’ll be back soon. She said so.

Mom tells me everything is copy. So I’m writing down all the horrible things that happen to me in this diary.

This is the worst year of my life so far, unless maybe it’s the best. (Pub Date: Mar 7, 2016)


Review based on an ARC provided by Edelweiss. I want to also thank the publisher for giving me this opportunity.

This story betrayed my expectation in the best way.

I started having the feeling of another YA written in diary format trying to be funny. In fact, the beginning reminded me too much of  "Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging", which I read earlier this year and with which I couldn't connected at all. And then...

First, the story. Chloe has a mom away from home and a high school life beginning at the same time. She doesn't understand what is up with her parents and she's scared of school. Still, she's sure she'll find some boy to kiss before New Year's Eve.

Her search begins light-hearted but I loved the approach. Still, the story itself takes long to develop. Please, be patient if you choose to read this book and, like me, you aren't a 14-year-old. I kept thinking: so there are some YA I'm already too old for? Then it happens. You finally understand the title wasn't a mere exaggeration to catch your eyes.

It's not the plot that thickens but Chloe begins to mature and thus the situations grows serious. In the end, even though I had been reading like 5% per day, I just couldn't put down the book.

This story has romance—though much less than I had thought—, family drama, real problems affecting teenagers and great life lessons.

I also have to underline here that, although I don't recommend this to younger teenagers, I really liked how Chloe promoted reading. Even I wanted to read the books she talked about.

Moreover, I'm sure this would be a great book for a group discussion. So many themes—what did you think of Chloe and Mac's relationship?

Anyway, just hold tight through the beginning of the story. This gets better and better. Poor Chloe, she was really in for a big disaster.

Rate: 4 out of 5.