Review: Girl Wonder by Alexa Martin

From Goodreads: As if transferring senior year weren't hard enough, Charlotte Locke has been bumped to lower level classes at her new school. With no friends, a terrible math SAT score, and looming college application deadlines, the future is starting to seem like an oncoming train for which she has no ticket. Then Amanda enters her orbit like a hot-pink meteor, offering Charlotte a ticket to something else: popularity. Amanda is fearless, beautiful, brilliant, and rich. As her new side kick, Charlotte is brought into the elite clique of the debate team - and closer to Neal, Amanda's equally brilliant friend and the most perfect boy Charlotte has ever seen. But just when senior year is looking up, Charlotte’s life starts to crumble. The more things heat up between Charlotte and Neal, the more Neal wants to hide their relationship. Is he ashamed? Meanwhile, Amanda is starting to act strangely competitive, and she's keeping a secret Charlotte doesn't want to know. Talented newcomer Alexa Martin delivers a poignant story of first love, jealousy and friendship, where the ups and downs of senior year have never been so complicated. What else can Charlotte do but throw her hands up and ride?

My Rating: 3.5 hearts

Thoughts on the Novel: Girl Wonder by Alexa Martin is a fast-paced debut exploring themes like friendship, family, sex and drugs through the eyes of a girl trying to figure out who she is and her place in the world. With a father who is a famous author, a mother that is a professor and a genius younger brother, Charlotte feels like a misfit because she has dyscalculia. When her family moves and Charlotte is forced to go to public school because of her learning disability, Charlotte meets Amanda and is thrilled when the popular Amanda begins to take an interest in her. Unfortunately, the rise to popularity can often require a steep price to be paid.   

While I may not have liked Charlotte as a character initially because of her shallowness (e.g. she chooses not to be friends with a girl she considers to be a nobody), Martin’s portrayal of Charlotte as a teen was very realistic. It can be incredibly hard to resist peer pressure and not make stupid decisions if you desperately want to fit in and aren’t self-confident. Though I found the ending to be underdeveloped, I liked that by the end of the story, Charlotte acknowledges that many of her problems stemmed from the fact that she preferred beauty over substance, and learns from her mistakes to become a stronger character. 

Girl Wonder was released by Hyperion Book CH on May 3, 2011. 

Comments About the Cover: The cover is actually what caught my eye because although the girl is facing away from you, she seems self-assured based on her pose and bright pink hair. It makes you want to know more about her, and that’s exactly the vibe that Amanda conveys.  

In exchange for an honest review, this ARC was received from the publisher (Disney Hyperion) for free via NetGalley.