She’s So Dead to Us

by Kieran Scott

Simon and Schuster. Young Adult. Paperback rrp $16.99

Reviewed by Barbara Brown

Ally Ryan is a sixteen year old who has gone through a personal hell to be dragged back to Orchard Hill, the town she grew up in and called home until two years before. Everything is different now for Ally Ryan. She used to be a Crestie but now she is a Norm. Crestie’s live on the crest of Orchard Hill, in big mansions. Norms live at the bottom of Orchard Hill in small houses or units.

Two years ago Ally’s dad did some “bad things” and the Ryan family escaped in the middle of the night to Baltimore to Ally’s grandma’s home. Two weeks later her dad disappeared leaving Ally and her mother to fend for themselves. Now Ally’s mum has got a job at Orchard Hill High and Ally is back.

When school starts Ally quickly realises her old friends want nothing to do with her, in fact their main goal now is to taunt and bait her. But the new boy in town, the boy that lives in Ally’s old house, sleeps in her old bedroom, is now her ex-best friend, Shannen’s, new best friend, - and also happens to be hot. Ally likes what she sees but Jake Graydon is a Crestie and she’s a Norm – and never the twain shall meet. Except Jake is also having a hard time with his emotions when it comes to Ally.

She’s So Dead to Us is more than your typical American girl/boy from opposite sides attract and get together story, there are strong elements of Romeo and Juliet. With peer pressure on both sides, Ally and Jake seem destined to never get together but love conquers all. Or does it? When the lies begin and the bitchiness escalates who knows what will happen.

I loved the book, told by both Ally and Ryan, but She’s So Dead to Us has an ending that is screaming out for a sequel. I was so frustrated and now want to see what happens in the next instalment, if there is a next instalment! There better be!

Editor's Note: The sequel He's So Not Worth It is due out mid 2011!


http://www.kieranscott.net/