High Before Homeroom By: Maya Sloan

Title: High Before Homeroom

Author: Maya Sloan

PAPERBACK

Amount of Pages: 299

Publisher: Gallery

Release Date: June 22, 2010

Geared Towards: Teens

From: Publisher (Review Copy)

"I will become a meth addict, or I will kill myself trying."

Summary (From B.O.B):

Losers, now you can get the bad-boy rep the girls find positively irresistible! Unleash your dark side with the Doug Schaffer plan for drug addiction and rehabilitation! (Kids, don't try this at home.)

At sixteen years old, Doug Schaffer knows two things for sure:

1. He is doomed to live in the shadow of his older brother, Trevor, a former high school football star who is stationed in Iraq.

2. Free-spirited Laurilee, the hot ear-piercing girl at the mall, only dates bad boys.

Cue Doug's foolproof plan to tarnish his own unremarkable reputation. The first step is to develop a drug addiction. His mom's too preoccupied with organizing care packages for the Mothers Support Our Troops Northwest Oklahoma City Chapter to stop him. Besides, he just needs to get hooked on meth long enough to come back from rehab a totally different person. Someone people notice.

With the help of Trevor's strung-out former high school buddy, drug addict Doug has the confidence that loser Doug never mustered. He stays out all night, scores girls, and stands up for himself. Then Trevor unexpectedly returns home with a dark secret of his own, and everything Doug thought was true is shattered. Soon the brothers find the common ground they never knew they shared as they discover that the price of pleasing others is the freedom to be yourself.

Wdebo's Review: High Before Homeroom was a pretty good book, though not really the type of book I am used to reading. The whole novel was filled with so much sexual desire, it just got a little awkward to read, but I did enjoy Maya Sloan's way of writing (Minus a lot of the sex thoughts.) there was moments of sarcastic humor and heart which is very nice.

However, I found it disappointing that there was so much leading up to the whole going and taking drugs, so much talking and thinking about taking drugs and illustration about "loser" Doug, but then when he does take the drugs the book seemed to be going too fast, I was hoping there would be more details on that because there was so much details leading up to it. Except never actually understood why druggies are thought of as cool, because taking drugs is just ew. But, on the other hand, she did describe everything very well, just needed a bit more meat to the second half of the novel.

I was not the biggest fan of Doug, he seemed too, eh, not that likeable and I couldn't really get myself to like anyone else, they all seemed very steryotypical. But I did feel bad for Doug, he did have a very craptastic life, there were times where I just felt like hugging him cause his life sucked so badly at times.

Cafe Cover Chat: I think the cover looks kind of cool, and I believe the person on the cover is Maya Sloan herself (?) (B-)

All in all, quite a well written debut novel by Maya Sloan, it will appeal more to people that are interested in this kind of topic, but if you are feeling edgy, I believe you will enjoy this novel also.

Grade: B+

Wdebo :)