She's So Dead to Us by Kieran Scott

She's So Dead to Us, by Kieran Scott, is a well -written teen drama.  There are mean girls, crushes, sports, pranks, and miscommunication.  The book centers around Ally Ryan, a high school junior who moves back to her hometown after being away for a year and a half.  When Ally left her town, she was one of the rich kids, a "Crestie" who lived in an exclusive area.  Thanks to some financial mistakes made by her father, she returns to town with only her mom and lives in a condo in the Norm side of town.  Going from Crestie to Norm is rough considering that her old friends are shunning her.

Jake lives in Ally's old house.  He is a Crestie who is immediately drawn to Ally.  He fights a battle between going after the girl he's got a huge crush on and his friends who won't understand.  While the mean-girl Cresties plan pranks to pull on Ally, he grows closer to her.

The novel switched between Ally's point of view and Jake's.  I enjoyed being able to get Jake's perspective on things as most of the young adult books that I read are told from a female view.   The writing is sharp and the dialogue is all very natural.  Both characters have issues to work out and neither are perfect.  This is also a relief as I'm tired of perfect teen characters.

The only problem that I had with this novel, and it's something that is really bothering me lately in Young Adult fiction, is that there wasn't a great ending.  There was a conflict, drama, and then the novel was over.  The resolution was missing.  I'm guessing there is a planned sequel and that is why it was left the way it was.  Maybe not, maybe the rest is up to our imagination.   I'm just seeing a trend and it can be irritating to a person like me who likes happy ever afters and long, detailed epilogues!

One other note. . . I am a child of the 80's and with main characters named Ally Ryan and Jake, you can bet my mind put those names together to be Jake Ryan.  *sigh*  The perfect teen movie hunk.