Review: Defying the Diva

Title: Defying the Diva
Author: D. Anne Love
Published: 2008 by Simon & Schuster
Obtained: Library

For Haley Patterson, freshman year of high school boils down to having a good time with her two best friends and making a name for herself at the school newspaper. But when Haley reveals one too many juicy details in her gossip column, superdiva and queen bee Camilla Quinn makes sure that Haley's life changes...for the worse. Completely ostracized by everyone at school, including her best friends, Haley finds herself alone and miserable.

 Reprieve comes in the form of a summer job at an exclusive mountain resort, where Haley forges new friend-ships, snags a cute lifeguard, and learns how to trust again. But her newfound hope is not bought without some heartbreak.

 As the summer draws to a close, an unexpected confrontation with Camilla forces Haley to face her fears. Will she continue to let Camilla control her life? Or will Haley find the confidence and courage to stand her ground?

I was very pleasantly surprised by this book about facing your fears and learning to trust again. I really only picked it up because it was on my reading list and it was really only on my reading list because I had compiled a list of books which were nominated for the same award as The Hunger Games. And since it’s impossible to top The Hunger Games, I’m trying to read all the books on that list (with the exception of some that I know I’m not into that kind of story). This one was definitely a good book, although I’m not sure how you can compare such different books as this and The Hunger Games.

Pretty much the plot goes like this: Haley was doing fine in school. She was on the newspaper team and was maybe going to get her own column. She had two best friends and life was just fine. Then the evil queen bee of the school, Camilla, gets mad at her and sets the whole school, including her two friends, against her. Haley begins to think everyone is out to get her, and doesn’t trust anyone. Then she goes to her aunt’s for the summer and ends up working at a resort. There she meets lots of new people, some nice, some confident, some boring, and some mean. But through it all she learns that she can be confident and not let others push her around.

I enjoyed Haley’s journey of self-discovery. The characters are all marvelous. Even the side characters show different sides to themselves, and so as the reader you feel you know all of them pretty well.

Basically this made me want to work at a resort this summer.

Rating: 7/10 – Enjoyable, a good summer read, but nothing spectacular.

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Content Warnings: Kissing, some language.