After giving up on The Crown's Game, I wanted to read something short and fun. So, even though it was not, by far, the book that has been sitting on my self waiting to be read the longest, I picked up The Boy Book. It certainly delivered. I really get a kick out of Ruby Oliver.
The Boy Book is the second in the Ruby Oliver series which starts with The Boyfriend List. In The Boy Book, Roo is starting her junior year at Tate Prep, a private school for the elite kids in Seattle with some scholarship kids tossed in for good measure. Roo struggles with anxiety. She's had some complicated boy relationships, which, in part, causes her social outcast-ness. In The Boyfriend List, which takes place in spring of her sophomore year, she's come to some sort of terms, but things are not perfect. Her friendship group has changed, to the point where she really only has one and she's not what you'd call a perfect friend. Her feelings about several of the boys in her life remain complicated. She continues to work with her therapist about her issues. Her parents are still wacky, but loving and they sure try.
One of the things I like about these books is that things don't just tidy up all neatly (although sometimes I do really like that, too). Ruby doesn't find the perfect boyfriend or the perfect set of friends. She does, however, work on her stuff and things get better for her. Also, Roo is funny in a sort of low key (for me, at least) way. Thirdly, I like that she owns her sexual feelings. No, she's not a slut, even if so labeled by some of the kids at school, but she enjoys a good make out session and, really, that's perfectly normal, or at least one aspect of normal.
The Ruby Oliver books are engagingly written and, thus, I found myself reading until 11:30 last night to finish up The Boy Book even though I usually turn my light out around 10:30. (Yes, even on Saturdays. I'm an old person.)
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