Book Review: Kim vs. the Mean Girl

By Melissa Amster

I don't always review YA novels, but when I do, it's because they're written by my favorite chick lit authors. Recently, Meredith Schorr published a YA prequel to her Blogger Girl series. It was fun to see what Kim and Hannah were like in high school.

High school sophomore, Kim Long, is no stranger to the “mean girl” antics of Queen Bee Hannah Marshak. When Hannah steals Kim’s diary and in front of the entire class reads personal (not to mention humiliating) entries Kim wrote about her crush, Jonathan, Kim vows to enact revenge.

Kim and her loyal best friend, Bridget, come up with the perfect plan to put the evil Hannah in her place once and for all. But will their scheming have the desired effect of getting even, or will Hannah emerge more celebrated by her peers than ever?

Kim vs. The Mean Girl can be read as a young adult standalone novel, but it is also a prequel to the popular Blogger Girl adult romantic comedy series and is set in 2000. Told in the duo perspectives of teenage Kim and Hannah, fans of the series will get an inside look into Kim’s early passion for reading, writing (and Jonathan) and find out why Hannah is so darn mean. (Synopsis courtesy of Goodreads.)

As you can see on the cover, the only thing I didn't like was that it had to end. It reminded me of the Taffy Sinclair books by Betsy Haynes that I read in my preteen years, as well as Caprice Crane's Confessions of a Hater.

I enjoyed reading both Kim and Hannah's perspectives. I found myself laughing out loud at times, as well as cringing. I also enjoyed seeing Kim's friends Bridget and Jonathan as teens, as well as meeting some new characters.

Overall, it's an entertaining story that adults and teens will enjoy.  There were also some good lessons that I took from it. Maybe Meredith can fit in another prequel about Kim and Hannah's college years. (Although I also look forward to a follow-up from Novelista Girl.)

Thanks to Meredith Schorr for the book in exchange for an honest review.

More by Meredith Schorr: