Latina or Chica Lit is the new big thing nowadays, with lots of titles coming into the market. Haters by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, gives a nod to the Latina aspect, but the ethnicity of Paski (the main character) is secondary to the rest of the story. In fact, there’s a lot going on in this book that you wouldn’t normally expect to see in Chica-Lit or Chick-Lit.

Paski, short for Pasquala Rumalda Quintana de Archuleta (hehe, you can see why she goes by a shortened version), feels like the “normal” person in her family. Her dad is a semi-famous cartoonist and her grandmother makes a living as a psychic. She, on the other hand, is a popular kid at school and enjoys mountain biking and being editor of the school newspaper.

Then her dad drops a bombshell on her – his Squeegee Man comic book character has been optioned for a movie and he’s moving them to Los Angeles, far away from Taos, New Mexico. Not only that, but he’s gone LA on her (as if he wasn’t kooky enough already), with laser-whitened teeth and a strange new wardrobe.

He’s also enrolled her at Aliso Niguel High, a school full of haves and very few have-nots. Her new neighbors in her apartment building warn her to watch out for the Haters – popular, spoiled rich kids who have no problem with making the lives of other kids miserable.

Before school even starts, Paski meets Chris Cabrera, the very sexy It guy in school, who happens to be dating the It girl – Jessica Nguyen. Chris shows an immediate interest in our plucky Paski, which immediately puts her on the hit list with Jessica.

Okay, so, so far that sounds like a pretty straightforward storyline you might find in any number of books (new girl catches eye of hot guy on campus, popular girl(s) have it in for her). But there are a number of things in Haters that are different…

For one thing, Paski has visions. She shares her grandmother’s talent as a seer, even though she doesn’t want to. She’s soon got a major conflict when she has visions of Jessica involved in a serious accident. Can she stop it before it happens? Does she want to, when Jessica so obviously has it in for her?

Then there’s Paski’s love of mountain biking and Jessica’s skill as a motocross rider (both figure prominently in the plot). It isn’t too often you see girls in books taking on such challenging sports – and excelling at them. Actually, I think you could safely say “kicking butt” at them.

And Paski herself is quite a conflicted character with a lot of internal turmoil. Sometimes she sounds like she wants to buy into the money-is-everything culture and then other times she doesn’t. Sometimes she curses her gift and connection with otherworldly things, other times she cherishes it.

And then there’s Jessica. Wow. This girl must have taken lessons on how to build an evil empire from Dr. Evil or Lex Luthor. She runs her friendships like a CEO and it’s hard to say when she’s worse – when she’s against Paski, or for her. She is seriously bad.

There are a number of other things going on, like Paski’s dad’s new romance and Paski’s other new friends (one of whom is from Jessica’s inner circle). I think you’ll find a lot to like in this one, with enough excitement and turns to keep you turning pages. And, of course, there’s Chris, who’s almost too good to be true (but isn’t that how all the guys are in Chick-Lit? Heck, that’s why we love ‘em, right?).

Recommended for readers aged 14 and up. You’ll fly through this one, trust me.

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