REVIEW: New Girl by Paige Harbison

Author: Paige Harbison

Pages: 304

Genre: Young Adult

Publisher: HarlequinTeen

Amazon: New Girl

Release Date: 31st January 2012

Synopsis. (Goodreads)

They call me 'New Girl'...

Ever since I arrived at exclusive, prestigious Manderly Academy, that’s who I am. New girl. Unknown. But not unnoticed—because of her.

Becca Normandy—that’s the name on everyone’s lips. The girl whose picture I see everywhere. The girl
I can’t compare to. I mean, her going missing is the only reason a spot opened up for me at the academy.
And everyone stares at me like it’s my fault.

Except for Max Holloway—the boy whose name shouldn’t be spoken. At least, not by me. Everyone thinks of him as Becca’s boyfriend…but she’s gone, and here I am, replacing her. I wish it were that easy. Sometimes, when I think of Max, I can imagine how Becca’s life was so much better than mine could ever be.

And maybe she’s still out there, waiting to take it back.

 

REVIEW: 2.5 out of 5 stars

NOTE: This book is adapted and a tribute to Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier in which the main character's name was never revealed.Although we do find out New Girl's name toward the end of the book, I will be leaving it out for review/spoiler purposes

New Girl was kindly provided to me by Netgalley for HarlequinTeen.

'New Girl' has been accepted into Manderley Academy, a private boarding school in New Hampshire where she will complete her senior year, its a place she has dreamt of going for a long while and even though she is happy to have been accepted, she is also afraid of leaving her friends and family.

On arrival at Manderley, she meets her roommate Dana who is immediately hostile; from here on out everyone seems to know her as the ‘New Girl’ and she is only there to replace popular former student who is either missing or presumed dead – Rebecca (Becca) Normandy.

I initially felt really sorry for 'New Girl'; I would have been on the first bus home if I had of experienced what she was going through. She ended up having to create an identity for herself when everyone had already assumed she was trying to replace and replicate Becca.

We also read chapters from Becca’s POV and boy was she a piece of work, she craved attention and the spotlight, she seemed to lack affection from her parents and was putting on a fake façade and persona whilst at college, duping everyone as she went along with her trouble making and attention grabbing schemes.

Caught up in Becca’s games were Max Holloway and his best friend Johnny Parker, both of these characters I didn’t find appealing, they played into Becca’s hands and seemed to both want her for ‘one thing’. What 'New Girl' saw in Max was beyond me – she heard the rumors, was constantly reminded to stay away from him yet she still had an attraction to him, I really couldn’t enjoy their relationship, it wasn’t believable to me.

I found it really hard to rate this book, whilst I found the premise to be fascinating and intriguing, I just couldn’t connect with any of the characters, pretty much everyone at the college was cruel, judgmental and had a serious case of hero worship when it came to Becca – it was a tad bit unrealistic and strange to me. 'New Girl' also didn’t appeal to me as a main heroine, she had her strengths but she also at times acted just as she was being treated.

Although I didn’t love this book, I still struggled to put it down (more out of my need to find out what really happened with Becca), I did enjoy Ms Harbison’s writing and the plot is certainly unique but it just didn’t appeal to me.

This book is definitely for the more mature teen, there is language, drug & alcohol use and sexual content.

 Obtained: Netgalley