Review: Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disasters by Meredith Zeitlin

This book just reminded me how fun high school was.

Title: Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disasters by Meredith Zeitlin
Pages: 288
Release Date: March 1st 2012
Published by: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Source: Publisher
Buy: Amazon | Book Depository

Summary:

Kelsey Finkelstein is fourteen and FRUSTRATED. Every time she tries to live up to her awesome potential, her plans are foiled – by her impossible parents, her annoying little sister, and life in general. But with her first day of high school coming up, Kelsey is positive that things are going to change. Enlisting the help of her three best friends — sweet and quiet Em, theatrical Cass, and wild JoJo — Kelsey gets ready to rebrand herself and make the kind of mark she knows is her destiny.

Things start out great - her arch-nemesis has moved across the country, giving Kelsey the perfect opportunity to stand out on the soccer team and finally catch the eye of her long-time crush. But soon enough, an evil junior’s thirst for revenge, a mysterious photographer, and a series of other catastrophes make it clear that just because KELSEY has a plan for greatness… it doesn’t mean the rest of the world is in on it.

Kelsey’s hilarious commentary throughout her disastrous freshman year will have you laughing out loud—while being thankful that you’re not in her shoes, of course…

Admit it, at that moment you stepped inside the halls the first day of freshman year, you have dreams of taking over the school. And like everyone else, you find out it's difficult. Then hilarity ensues! Freshman Year was my story!

I think I speak for everyone when I say Kelsey was once our voice when we were in high school. Most of the time funny, always whiny, sometimes bordering on crazy but one who knows how to have fun and enjoy being a teenager, Kelsey's got such a vibrant voice that is such a delight reading this story! I can not only relate to this book, I lived what's in it! Although there were moments I felt irritated with her too, and makes me wonder if she's just really fourteen. I cannot do what she did when I was fourteen. At the same time it makes me wonder what I was doing when I was fourteen. Was I really trying to rule my own little corner of the world back then?

Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disasters brought me back to high school and showed me how much fun it was. Kelsey and her friends reminded me a lot of my own set of friends, four girls who are much different but bonded so closely together. The drama, the conflicts, the boys, the crushes, everything makes me want to just go back in time and relive that point in my life when I was starting to learn a lot about myself, about relationships. It's that wonderful time where you're in between everything, where all of it is confusing and you're trying to find your way towards being a full fledged teenager.

Meredith Zeitlin created a very vibrant character in Kelsey. It was easy to relate to her and even though some of the scenes felt a bit exaggerated, what made me love this book is the way Kelsey went through what we all went through when we were in high school. The trial and errors of love and first loves, the complications brought about by friendships and girl codes and doing the crazy things and finding our own identities and places in life. All of it is part of being a teenager. And Meredith made us get on a ride down memory lane with each chapter of Kelsey's life we read of. Also, it wouldn't hurt that with it comes along the giddiness and the warmth, pleasant feelings of having crushes and trying to figure out how relationships really work.Who said only girls were going through awkward stages growing up? Boys too, and Ben was a reminder of that.

Outrageously funny and silly, but overall a sweet read, Freshman Year and Other Unnatural Disasters is one solid debut from Meredith Zeitlin. The bubbliness and the over-all cheerfulness of the book makes it the perfect book to read if you want something funny and light to take your mind of the heavier books you read. Good debut, Meredith!

Content (plot, story flow, character):

Shining: Worthy of a Goddess' Love!

Book Cover:
Love the colors!

I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.