The New Rules of High School ***1/2

Nelson, Blake. The New Rules of High School. 2003.

This book was just OK. The main character, Max, is wound so tight, he's lucky doesn't explode. He decides to break up with his girlfriend Cindi for no real reason, which leaves him really sad. He is the new editor-in-chief of the school paper, and this gives him added stress. Then this girl Lydia starts to obsess over him, and sort of stalk him. He is totally stressed and, eventually, starts to unravel.

The problem I have with this book is that things don't seem to come together right. He doesn't like Lydia, and she is really crazy, yet he begins to strike up a friendship with her. His friends start getting into fights for no apparent reason. He also seems to be in total control and starts to lose it inexplicably toward the end. He should have been showing signs of losing it all along; perhaps I just missed it, I don't know. And then there is the annoying way he talks about people, often using their last names for no reason whatsoever. He would refer to his friend Bob as "Bob Hollins" all the time. It was annoying after awhile. It's not like there were multiple Bobs in the book.

This wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't great either. Read something else. I much prefered Rock Star SuperStar by this author.