Revenge of the Homecoming Queen

Hale, Stephanie. 2007. Revenge of the Homecoming Queen.

Aspen Brooks is beautiful. She's beautiful and she knows it. Not that she's deep in her heart of hearts a total snob. Not completely. Oh, on the surface, Aspen may be your typical beautiful, shallow girl who dreams of nothing but winning the tiara. But deep down there has to be something more, right?

This is such a movie moment. This is the part where the fabulous herone's dream finally comes true. I, of course, am the fabulous heroine. My dream of becoming homecoming queen is just moments away. I can almost feel the weight of the tiara on my head. Eww . . . I hope it doesn't mess up my hair because I'm having a stellar hair day. (1)

Homecoming week. The time has come. Will Aspen's dreams become reality? Yes and no. Is the title of homecoming queen hers? No. Sadly, she's just a princess on the court. But that could be the best thing that ever happened to our heroine. Rand Bachrach has just been named King. Rand? Really? A person she doesn't deem popular enough to even speak with in passing let alone be friends with? Something strange is going on here. Something or someone is out to ruin her perfect life.

A strange life-altering week is on the way for our heroine and her friends and family. A week full of ups and downs and hidden moments. The time has come for the ultimate test--Is Aspen Brooks a snob? A shallow, mindless snob? Or is there something deeper, something greater, something more deep within and waiting for the perfect moment to show itself...

Fun, lighthearted, enjoyable. The only thing that irks me about this book is that it shows our heroine drinking a hot drink--cocoa or chocolate or something similar--through a straw. Realistic? No. Here's why. It's impossible to drink a hot drink through a straw without burning your tongue. Not just a tip of the tongue that you can get away with ignoring. But the whole darn thing. You won't be able to properly taste food for a week. So I'm totally not buying her excuse that she doesn't want to dribble chocolate on her clothes so the straw is the only way to drink hot chocolate. Not hot chocolate bought at a restaurant or coffee shop. It would be too hot. Way too hot. Maybe at home where you can heat it and know that it is just lukewarm and not hot hot. But still. She calls this the best hot chocolate of her life. There's no way it could have come through a straw and been appreciated. If she had sipped the chocolate through a straw she'd be saying something alright--but it wouldn't be kind words or happy thoughts about how good it was. I just don't buy that anyone would volunteer for this experience more than once. But other than that the book is fine.