Book Review- My Invented Life

I read My Invented Life by Lauren Bjorkman for a blog tour for The Teen Book Scene back before the end of last year.

From Goodreads:

With Roz and Eva everything becomes a contest—who can snag the best role in the school play, have the cutest boyfriend, pull off the craziest prank. Still, they’re as close as sisters can be. Until Eva deletes Roz from her life like so much junk e-mail for no reason that Roz understands. Now Eva hangs out with the annoyingly petite cheerleaders, and Roz fantasizes about slipping bovine growth hormone into their Gatorade.

Roz has a suspicion about Eva. In turn, Eva taunts Roz with a dare, which leads to an act of total insanity. Drama geeks clamor for attention, Shakespearean insults fly, and Roz steals the show in Lauren Bjorkman’s hilarious debut novel.

When I read the description of this book, I thought it would be right up my alley.  Unfortunately, it just wasn't.

First of all, the characters.  The main character--Roz--got on my nerves.  Her way of talking and think just got annoying.  And enough with her invented life scenarios (yes, I know this is the title of the book, but we got it).  While I don't have a younger sister, I think if I did have one, and she was like Roz, we would not be close at all. A lot of the things she said and did were immature.  My favorite character was actually Eva.  Yes, I know she was standoffish, but there was just something about her that made me sympathize for her.  And I think she was a pretty normal teen that is an older sister--wanting her privacy.  And I didn't get Andie or Nico at all.  Andie was hot and cold,  cool in an eccentric way one minute, and just odd the next.  And I didn't find any appeal in Nico at all.  But I definitely like Jonathon.  I have a lot of gay guy friends and I could see a lot of them in his character.

Next, the writing.  All of the Shakespeare, olden days talk got old quickly.  At first I thought it was neat, but then it was just too much.  I was part of the theatre crowd in high school and college and no one talked like that.

But I do have to say that I like the way that it covered teen sexuality.  Like I said before, I have a lot of gay friends.  I have known some who came out when they were adults, and some who came out as teens, before I knew them.  Luckily all of my friends have supportive parents.  But I know that's not always the case.  And I know some of the guys came from a high school where being gay was completely accepted and others who were outcast.  And that's so wrong.  I think that there needs to be more books like this that bring light to being a gay/lesbian teenager and that everyone needs to be who they truly are.  They shouldn't feel scared to let their feelings known and I can't wait for the day when everyone has the right to love and marry whomever they want and be accepted for it!  Bravo to Lauren Bjorkman for shedding light on this very important issue!

I gave this book a 2.5/5.

*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free for an honest review as part of The Teen Book Scene.