Tween Tuesday: The Hot List by Hillary Homzie

3.5 yummy snickerdoodles.

Cover Love: It's cute and eye catching but not my favorite. I think the title and cover, though, will make for some good circulation for this book!

Why I Wanted To Read This Book: The Mix books are super popular in my library so I wanted to cover this one before it was released! I could not find a synopsis so read on to find out what the book was about.

I Kept Reading Because: I really liked that this book seemed more true to life for middle school than a lot of them I read.

Romance?: Yes--some very cute little tween crushes.

What I Liked (& Didn't):
We start with two best friends--Maddie and Sophie. When Sophie feels Maddie pulling away she decides to do something crazy and they post a list dubbed "The Hot List" in the bathroom of their middle school (where Sophie's dad is also the principal). The list takes on a life of it's own and determines the fate of several characters in the book.

While Sophie and Maddie do grow apart and there are some hurt feelings, Sophie also begins to understand that you can be friends with the person who was once your best friend...and you can open up to other friends.

I liked that the queen bee Nia, was not really a mean girl. She was just her own person who felt that everyone should live her way. I kept expecting Sophie and Nia to have it out (added in that their parents started dating), but they never really did. They just kind of came to a good understanding. And I think that is really true to life. Sometimes your tormentor is not really your tormentor--you just need to view it from a different angle.

This book also brings up the question of "is popularity worth it if you totally lose your true self?"

Middle school is all about growing apart and finding yourself. This book played that up perfectly. Also, Sophie was one of those not super popular girls, but not un-popular girls either. And, things really started looking up for her at the end of the book! It was a good ending.

To Sum Up: This book had a perfect tone for middle schoolers. I will be adding it to our collection for those girls who are not sure they want to go through the changes that middle school brings about!

Book from Simon & Schuster's Galley Grab! Thanks so much!!

Tween Tuesday is hosted by Sarah, the GreenBeanTeenQueen. Thanks Sarah!