Dirty Girls Social Club
The Dirty Girls Social Club by Alisa Valdez-Rodriguez
Saint Martin’s Griffin, 2003
This is your standard professional women in the city (the city being Boston) book with a a twist (the twist being that all of the women are Latina). It works. It’s fun, a little bit trashy and I enjoyed listening to it as an audiobook on my commute. Sums it up right there!
Haters by Alisa Valdez-Rodriguez
Little Brown, 2006.
When 16-year-old Paski is whisked away from her beloved hometown in New Mexico, she struggles to fit in and find her place in her new Orange County high school. Topmost of her problems is ultra popular and ultra mean Jessica Nguyen. Facing potential romance, a twist of psychic ability, and adult issues than she’s ever faced before, Paski rides mountain bikes, makes friends, and figures out where she wants to stand in the social world of her new school.
I liked the first half of this book. Paski is a refreshing character–she’s tough, she’s smart, and she’s unique. I also liked how the author tackled some very “growing up” issues like birth control, awkward (but so necessary) sex talks between Paski and her father and peer pressure. I also liked the way there’s just a touch of a supernatural story here, with Paski’s psychic ability. The problems I had with this book had to do with the ending. For all Valdez-Rodriguez’s realism at capturing the evils of the high school social world, the ending pushed way too far and felt tacked on and hard to swallow. That said, it was still an enjoyable book…just quite disappointing in its end.
