A review by shanyreader
The Boyfriend List: 15 Guys, 11 Shrink Appointments, 4 Ceramic Frogs and Me, Ruby Oliver by E. Lockhart

1.0

I feel like I'm the only one who actually didn't like this book! Scrolling down the reviews, everyone seems to be giving it five and four stars. It only gets one from me. There were so many things I felt were just wrong with the book from the minute I started reading. I wanted to put it down and return it to the library. The characters were SO annoying. It was unbelievable how annoying and nosy the parents are,they never let her speak, and they argue all the time. Are parents in real life honestly that possessive of an only child? Also, those "friends" of her. I agree with Noel in the later part of the story. They were NEVER her friends. It was so heartbreaking to me how cruel they could be over a guy. I've been shunned because of guys, stupid things were said about me concerning guys, but it always blew over. What happened to Ruby should be illegal! There was so much hate and angst in the book it was overwhelming and scary. The switching back and forth between middle school, elementary school, high school, after Dr.Z just lost me. It was only at the end of the book I realized the story was progressing without me even knowing. Last complaint, sorry, I had a lot to complain about when I stayed up last night to finish this--Jackson and the other guys. They're jerks. The whole lot of them, with the exception of Noel and Hutch, every single guy she fell for was, or is now, a jerk. I feel like the author just WANTED to put this poor girl through every pain possible. Bad parents, bad friends, bad guys who feel her up, verbally abuse her, and give her TERRIBLE gifts, etc. It never ended, and there has to be parts where it will end, because it didn't balance out the book for me. The flashbacks were never enough to make up for the depressing main story. The footnotes, going from one page to another? No, never, nope. I can't do that. Not really. I'm glad I finished this book and found out that Ruby's life is still shattered except for a sudden friendship with two random people I never would have guessed. So overall, this was a miss. I can see why some people would love it, maybe they haven't been shunned because of a guy or something, or maybe they feel like they can relate...but oh my goodness, the POOR GIRL. I wanted to smack her and hug her at the same time. Now I'm just ranting. Ok, it gets a star because although I didn't like it, I did like the basic writing style, and the scene between her and Noel at the end. THAT made me squeal and give this book a 1.5 in my overall rating.