**As an Amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
She Drives Me Crazy
Kelly Quindlen
High school nemeses fall in love in this queer YA rom com perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli and Casey McQuisten.
After losing spectacularly to her ex-girlfriend in their first game since their break up, Scottie Zajac gets into a fender bender with the worst possible person: her nemesis, the incredibly beautiful and incredibly mean Irene Abraham. Things only get worse when their nosey, do-gooder moms get involved and the girls are forced to carpool together until Irene’s car gets out of the shop.
Their bumpy start only gets bumpier the more time they spend together. But when an opportunity presents itself for Scottie to get back at her toxic ex (and climb her school’s social ladder at the same time), she bribes Irene into playing along. Hijinks, heartbreak, and gay fake-dating scheme for the ages. From author Kelly Quindlen comes a new laugh-out-loud romp through the ups and downs of teen romance.
-Excerpt taken from Goodreads.
Check Goodreads to see the book’s ratings.
My Opinion
“People break our hearts, but they create more room in them first, and that room makes it possible for us to become more ourselves.”
(3 / 5) I was really enjoying this book until one chick PAYS another chick to “date” her to become popular. (Cue the music to Can’t Buy Me Love!) But I wanted to see where it would go. So I continue on. Then the deal they make forces one of them to come out before she’s ready? I was not impressed!
There were some very cute moments and some very forward thinking that I really loved. But ultimately, I figured an enemies-to-lovers and fake dating concept would have worked a lot better than it did.
Thank you to Fierce Reads and Roaring Brook Press for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review. This book releases Tuesday, April 20, 2021.
The title comes from the song from Fine Young Cannibals and it’s been stuck in my head!
Content Summary: Language is excessive, with 42 F words. In contemporary teen books, I tend to find a lot of language, drinking, drugs and sex. This book had all those things. The intimacy is not detailed but it is talked about frequently.
Thank you to Fierce Reads and Roaring Brook Press for the gifted copy via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
The book releases April 20, 2021.
Detailed Content Review
Language
F***- 42
H***- 20
S***- 58
A**- 17
B****- 8
D***- 10
Bas****- 1
Religious Cursing
J****- 2
Chr***-
G**- 27
L***- 1
Derogatory terms etc-
Dickheads
Cluster-eff
Eff-head
‘gay Ginny Weasley.’”
Dick
Moron
Jerk
Alcohol, Drugs, Smoking
Teens drink punch and vodka at their high school dance. One young man goes back multiple times and is getting drunk. The friend who hasn’t been drinking drives.
Parents let a teen girl drink mead on Thanksgiving.
Alcohol is served at a teen party. A young woman makes herself a vodka and lemonade. Another drinks water and puts a lime on the rim to make it look like alcohol. Someone spills beer on a young man. A young woman sips beer. Later, a group of young women use someone who hasn’t been drinking to drive.
A young woman admits to drinking a lot previously.
At a previous party, pills were “everywhere,” some having bad experiences with the pills. A drunk teen wanted to drive and a young women said no and didn’t let another young woman go either.
A teen party serves beer. Hard liquor is available. One young man is very drunk. A young woman mixes herself a drink and “drinks hard.” Some are snorting drugs.
Intimacy, Sex, Immodesty
*Moderate LGBTQ+ aspects included; minimal details but prominent relationships throughout*
A young man kisses a young woman.
Two young women kiss. Again.
A young woman talks about her ex- girlfriend and how kissing her was “like a flash fire ripped through me.”
Two young women make out at a party.
A young woman asks a young woman if she slept with her ex-girlfriend. She says yes. She then asked if the other girl had slept with a girl. She says they did when they were both drunk.
At a previous party, young women were “feeling each other up while people watched.”
A young woman tries not to look at another young woman as she changes out of her swimming suit.
Two young women (in a relationship) sleep in the same bed.
A young woman kisses a young woman.
Two young women kiss.
Two young women kiss, one brushes her tongue against the other.
A young woman kisses a young woman.
A young woman kisses a young man.
Two young women kiss.
Violence, Weapons, Crime, Blood
None.
Potentially Intense Themes
A young woman is almost forced to declare she is gay and come out earlier than planned.
**Any quotes from the book are taken from the advanced copy and therefore may not be fully accurate or correctly compare to the final copy of the book.
**As an Amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Ugh! Another YA on my “avoid” list. Thanks for the content warning!
Yeah no thanks on the language and…yeah no thanks! Great content summary
I don’t like the fake dating trope.🙈 It just feels incredibly mean to me.
This doesn’t sound like a book I would pick up voluntarily – great review though!