Rating 3 I want to hit someone stars out of 5
This is a story of a girl who has panic attacks and has to go see a therapist named Doctor Z. This was a little different for me. I suffer from panic attacks so I know what it’s like. It is very scary. For those who have not experienced a panic attack I’ll explain. With me it starts with my anxiety, My right hand will go all tingly, my chest starts to tighten and I can’t breath . It feels like someone or something is squeezing my chest not allowing me to breath. My heart feels like it about to jack hammer it’s way out of my chest. Again it is a scary thing to have a panic attack.
Ruby Oliver starts having panic attacks so her parents send her to a therapist. Doctor Z has her make out the boyfriend list. She writes down the 15 guys she has like, had a crush on, had a crush on her, made up, when she was little, who she kissed so on and so forth. The chapters all are the boys she was put on the list and why. She throws in tidbits of Jackson who was her first official boyfriend for six months.
The story explains all the way up to what happens to her to have these attacks. They mostly deal with what happened with Jackson but also with her three best friends who just stopped talking to her.
There were times I wanted to punch Ruby in the face. She seemed to take gifts a little to seriously. But then I would remember she is a teenager and that she sees her friends get amazing roses while she didn’t. One thing though is that Ruby needs to learn that you have to tell the truth and not let everything be bottled up.
There was a double standard that went on in this book and it made me want to rip out my hair and then punch Kim one of Ruby’s “best friends” in the face till she bled. (Harsh I know but what she did was horrible.) Ugh it made me so mad that I wanted to throw my Kindle. Actually throw it and then stomp on it. That’s how mad I am about this Kim girl and what her and Jackson did then have the gall to be mad at Ruby for kissing Jackson. I’m sorry but it is very rare for a person to find their true love their sophomore year in high school. Kim would be my least favorite character out of the entire book. I want to hate Jackson but he is a big douche so it’s expected of him but Kim really.
This whole thing made me realize that there are some really shallow people out there that need to be cut off and dropped on their head. But karma does all that. Ruby teaches us that in the end you matter to yourself. Who cares what people think. Just roll through life with the punches.
The Kansan Reader 