Hate List by Jennifer Brown

Synopsis:
Five months ago, Valerie Leftman's boyfriend, Nick, opened fire on their school cafeteria. Shot trying to stop him, Valerie inadvertently saved the life of a classmate, but was implicated in the shootings because of the list she helped create. A list of people and things she and Nick hated. The list he used to pick his targets.

Now, after a summer of seclusion, Val is forced to confront her guilt as she returns to school to complete her senior year. Haunted by the memory of the boyfriend she still loves and navigating rocky relationships with her family, former friends and the girl whose life she saved, Val must come to grips with the tragedy that took place and her role in it, in order to make amends and move on with her life.

My Rating

-4.5/5-

I felt like Hate List was just an amazingly good book.

A school shooting happens and Val is basically blamed for being a part of it. Her family hates her and won't forgive her. Her boyfriend is dead and basically everyone hates her. Val's life is far from easy, yet she decides to go back to school and deal with all of it.

This book was pretty sad I thought. I really hated how sad every seemed. Some people may think Val's character is whiny a lot but I thought other wise. She keep most everything to herself she didn't tell anyone but Dr. Hieler. She kept most everything in an battled to try and just be okay. Which just seemed like it would be hard. Almost everything was against her.

One of the things I thought that was great was that even though Nick was the one who shot everyone in the school and then killed himself, Valerie still loved him. She still seen him as the great guy that she loved and that she was with. To her Nick wasn't the kind of guy who went and shot up schools he was sweet and caring and all that. It was interesting to see how Val seen Nick and what Nick did and how they were different.

You got to see how other people didn't really get over the shooting. It wasn't just Val is sad most of the time and she is the only one. No you got a glimpse at other people and their sadness too. 

It had a lot of sad parts but it also had some happy parts. The ending was towards the happy side. Not completely but it wasn't a really sad ending.
All together I just really liked this book, it was so sad to read but it was amazing to read.  

I also found out that there is a novella to this book. I would like to read that too, just to see what that brings or maybe even adds to the story.