New Girl Featured Hot

So freaking cool! And not just because it was set in New Hampshire...because it's cold there. Punned! Anyway, with this book, I pronounce myself a Paige Harbison fan. Last year, I read her debut Here Lies Bridget and I liked it, but it wasn't too much out of the ordinary. This one, though, just blew me away.

Why? Well, I've always had a weakness for books based on other books. New Girl is based on Daphne DuMaurier's Rebecca, which I have not yet read. Unfortunately, I had to look up a summary on Wikipedia, because I did not want to miss any references. Hopefully, I will forget about some of the plot twists before I try to read the book.

Anywho, based on my extensive knowledge of Rebecca (aka Wikipedia article), Harbison did a really amazing job modernizing this. The transitions she made in some of the characters, like turning Mrs. Danvers into Dana, Becca's roommate who refuses to let her go, is quite clever, as is the changing of the scene with the dress.

The story is told alternatingly between the New Girl's perspective in first person and Becca's perspective in third person. You might think that sounds clunky, but it really wasn't. This makes the fact that you never learn the New Girl's actual name but are so familiar with Becca's completely natural; I didn't even notice until partway through. Of course, I wanted to punch Becca in the face the whole time, but I really liked New Girl.

For those who like clever teen lit, you'll probably quite enjoy this. It's full of drama and told in an interesting way. I also suspect that people who love Rebecca and don't ordinarily read teen lit will, at the very least, get a kick out of New Girl.

When I picked up this book, I truly had no idea how intense it would be. Filled with lust, envy, mystery, and jealousy, this book sucked me into its web of drama at Manderley Academy.

First of all, let me clarify that this book takes place mostly at a boarding school in New Hampshire. Before even reading the full synopsis, I knew that this would be a great book. Boarding schools always provide a certain inexplicable quality to books that I just can't get enough of.

The perspective switched between Becca and New Girl, Becca's being a year before New Girl's present year at Manderley. I loved how both girls were telling what happened to them at the same time of year. For instance, if New Girl was telling about a dance, so was Becca, only a year before. Before she went missing.

The mystery behind Becca's disappearance I found very intriguing. She had a terrible manipulative and impersonal attitude, but behind her shell was a person more complex than any one of her worshippers at Manderley ever could have imagined. She just got fed too much of popularity and it gained control over her actions. I was constantly wondering if she went missing on purpose to attract more popularity or if someone took her or worse.

New Girl was a frustrating read, but in the best way. The New Girl was always presumed by her peers to be trying to take Becca's place and be exactly like her. That wasn't her intention at all, of course, but people never showed any sign of knowing it. Especially Dana. She was bipolar or something was not right in her head. Not only did she blame New Girl incessantly for Becca's disappearance, she was always chanting songs in her sleep and furiously insisting that Becca was still out there.

From the beginning, I knew that Dana knew more than she was letting on. More than anything, this book was unpredictable. So much so, that I didn't dare predict what was to happen. There were new surprises around every corner and suspense galore!

The New Girl used to want to go to boarding school at Manderley, back when she was younger. But there wasn’t an opening back then. Suddenly, there is one and her parents are excited to let her go. Only, she’s not crazy about the idea now, that was her dream back then. But her parents are so excited for her, she agrees to go along with it. Once she shows up, she finds herself living in the shadow of the girl who disappeared last year.

Overall, I thought the plot was pretty good. I understand it is a retelling of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, but since I had never read that one, I didn’t know what to expect.

At first, I liked the New Girl’s character. She had a nice group of friends and she got along with her parents, even agreeing to go to the boarding school just to please them. Then, she arrived at the school and turned into a total weakling. I felt sorry for her as she arrived at this new school, kind of looking forward to it, only to be immediately shunned for no reason. She was in the dark about who Becca was and why she was so popular. Her new roommate was obsessed with Becca (I wondered if maybe she was in love with her) and all the kids in the school wanted to talk about was Becca. But New Girl just put up with it all, not asking questions or standing up for herself. After she agreed to go to the school just for her parents, I guess it would be considered characteristic of her to just lay down and let everyone walk all over her like that.

As for Becca, I never understood why she was such a beloved person. She lied and cheated and wormed her way around the school bending everyone to her will. She was a terrible girlfriend to not 1, but 2 boys and they both let her get away with it. Although, thinking about it now, I imagine the mystery of her disappearance made her infamous and that probably had a lot to do with her popularity once the New Girl arrived.

All of the other people in the school were thoughtless at best and some were downright cruel. The teacher’s were clueless and had no idea how much Becca’s disappearance was affecting everyone, especially New Girl.

Harbison did a fantastic job of describing the school and grounds; they were easy to picture in my mind, with foreboding buildings and the dark musty boathouse. There was some sex talk/doing and while it wasn’t super graphic, it might give younger teens pause. Lots of recreational drinking and drug use, including date rape drug use. There was a bit of a surprise ending; I thought I had it all figured out but I was wrong, which was good. If it had ended any other way, it wouldn’t have seemed as realistic.

I never read Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, so I can’t comment on any similarities – as such, the story was completely new to me.

I liked the main character – it startled me at the end when someone said her name. I hadn’t realized that for the entire book she’d only been called “New Girl.” I liked that she figured out pretty quickly that she was worth far more than what her classmates made her out to be. I liked that she stood up for herself.

I pretty much hated the rest of the characters, even Max. Yes, even Max.

They all treated her so horribly – as if she were trying to steal Becca’s identity – when all she was trying to do was live her own life. They were mean to her. They were petty.

I think that’s why the book left me so unsettled – I couldn’t find a redeeming quality in most of the characters I met. Max managed to redeem himself – somewhat – but no one else did.

While I didn’t care for the characters so much, I can’t deny that the writing was high quality. If Harbison hadn’t written such descriptive characters, I wouldn’t have ended up feeling the way I did – and I wouldn’t have been so eager to find out what happened to Becca and how things would end up for everyone.