Provided by NetGalley
I'm very conflicted about this book. I didn't love it, although found it very enjoyable to read. Reshma is a valedictorian candidate at a competitive high school in the Silicon Valley. In fact, she works so hard at it by believing she is better than everyone else, and therefore justifies every single horrible thing she does. The only real voice of reason is her mother, and Resh treats her horribly. Not sure if it's a horrible person repenting of wrongs and coming out as a nice guy type of book. I think that's the intent of the book, but it didn't fit that bill so much for me. Maybe more of a everyone is different so try to understand type of book?
But, 4 stars is what I'm giving the book. First of all, I love that I hate Reshma. I would have loved to have a DSM sitting next to me to see if she is truly narcissistic, borderline, or what have you. Also, in seeing this from a high school librarian's viewpoint, I think it would be a fantastic read to those seniors who are literally freaking out about where to go to college. And lastly, I applaud the style of writing. I wasn't sure if I was reading the novel that Resh was writing, or if it is simply a narrative. But who cares, it worked!
Didn't love the love interest- too predictable. And I couldn't figure out the friendship between Alexandra and Reshma. When did it happen? Crazy. And why is the therapist always crazy in books?
Overall, good book, and as said, will be purchased for our library.