Book Review: Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disasters

Kelsey Finkelstein is fourteen and FRUSTRATED. Every time she tries to live up to her awesome potential, her plans are foiled – by her impossible parents, her annoying little sister, and life in general. But with her first day of high school coming up, Kelsey is positive that things are going to change. Enlisting the help of her three best friends — sweet and quiet Em, theatrical Cass, and wild JoJo — Kelsey gets ready to rebrand herself and make the kind of mark she knows is her destiny.

Things start out great - her arch-nemesis has moved across the country, giving Kelsey the perfect opportunity to stand out on the soccer team and finally catch the eye of her long-time crush. But soon enough, an evil junior’s thirst for revenge, a mysterious photographer, and a series of other catastrophes make it clear that just because KELSEY has a plan for greatness… it doesn’t mean the rest of the world is in on it.

Kelsey’s hilarious commentary throughout her disastrous freshman year will have you laughing out loud—while being thankful that you’re not in her shoes, of course…

Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disasters
Publication Date: 2012
Pages: 288 (ebook)
Part of Series: -
Purchased: For Review by the author
Rating: 4/5 stars
Buy: Book Depository || Amazon (US) || Amazon (UK)

REVIEW: 
Here in Greece, our schools have nothings to do with the schools in America. No proms, no sports, no clubs. We are happy to have a small library to say the truth. And that's a reason i always loved reading those teens books. It was like getting into another world.

Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disasters was amazing. I did not expect it to be that good, and in a way different. It was light and fun. And i liked how the writing (from words to style) matched the age of Kelsey. The book is written at first POV, and it was nice to have actually Kelsey speaking than the author. Everything was described, exactly how Kelsey was seeing it and it was exactly what the book needed.

As for the story, it's a usual story of teens in high school with romance, mean girls, break ups, friendships, etc. What makes the book different? 
1) It's long. It's not around a certain aspect of Kelsey's life but you see more of it. Family, friends, boys, lessons, clubs, parties, proms. It lasts long enough so you get a good idea of everything. Though i wouldn't mind if it would be even longer.
2)Kelsey and her friends are a little more mature than what i expected from the usual 14 year old i've met in books like it. I'm not talking about what they are doing but also on how to handle things (from friendship to gay friends). That means Kelsey did not annoy me :P
3)Kelsey is a great character. She does stupid things but she is clever. And i liked how she managed to keep up with her problems and instead of being in a corner and crying, searched for her friends, tried to make fun, even talked to her mother. I was close to her for some reason. In some aspects she really reminded of myself.


If i had read the book at my teens i would have put it 5 stars. It was exactly what i liked reading at the time. But i'm a little older now, and sometimes i found it a little childish. I laughed, and enjoy it. I went back to school and i was a teen once again for a while.