The Boyfriend List & The Boy Book

The Boyfriend List
written by E. Lockhart

This is pretty much a YA classic, definitely high up there on the list. I love everything about this book--the characters are all lovable, even though some are only seen in one chapter. Each of them has their little quirks and memorable qualities, and everything just seems so bright about this book. Ruby can get a little annoying, but overall, she's just so...normal. She's going through everything girls go through, and thanks to E. Lockhart, she gets a little help along the way from her therapist, Doctor Z (again, major kudos, I wish I could see more therapy in YA fiction!) You can actually find many parallels between this book and John Green's An Abundance of Katherines--lists of significant others, same quirky narration, even the awesome footnotes! The one thing I felt John Green was lacking in Katherines was a logical order of the girls, and that's exactly what E. Lockhart does here with the guys, the stories are told in a logical order, and all of the stories are told. Even the style (cover, page numbers on the sides, etc) of the book is eye-catching and grabs your attention. It's the perfect book for any teenage girl--school drama, relationships, dealing with life in general, it's all right here. I've got nothing but the highest praise for Ms. Lockhart with this one!

Rating: 5/5

The Boy Book
sequel to The Boyfriend List



From the beginning, it was quite obvious that E. Lockhart was going to create the exact same atmosphere as the last book--and thank goodness she did! Reading them back to back, the transition was seamless. The tone had stayed the very same and Ruby was still the same lovable Ruby. You knew from the title that Kim would play a part, so I did love the resolution between those two. Plenty of new ideas were introduced (Ruby working at a zoo was a perfect fit!) and the suspense was killing me. The characters seemed to evolve even more, all in good ways. The one thing that did frustrate me was the lack of resolution in Ruby's love life, which was why I was very relieved to find out that there will be a third Ruby Oliver book, and let's hope she finally gets the guy in this one (I'm rooting for Noel!)

Rating: 4.5/5