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Surviving High School is a novel co-authored by vine superstar Lele Pons (and don't worry, I had never heard of her either. I am more of a youtube kind of gal.) and author Melissa De La Cruz. Surviving High School is a standalone young adult contemporary comedy. This book cracked me up. It is certainly not a book to take overly seriously. It is very irreverent, but hilarious! I loved all of the pop culture references, and the main character, Lele is a hoot. She is not the most serious or deep individuals ever to grace the halls of high school, but she cracked me up. I am not really sure if this is based at all on Lele's high school experience, and I don't know what to think if it was...even very loosely. Either way, this is a book to read, laugh and not take too seriously. If you do that, I think you will have a good time.

Surviving High School seems to be a very polarizing book for readers. People have either loved it or intensely disliked it. Honestly, I really enjoyed Surviving High School. I took it for what it is... a pop culture filled, irreverent and sarcastic story about a high school girl. It is kooky and wacky, and I get that may not be for everyone, but I think if you are in the mood to read something that will have you giggling away, this is the book for you. If this is not your cup of tea, then this is certainly not the book for you. But I thought it was a fun ride. Lele is a girl that goes insta-famous on the internet, and we get to watch how that rolls over to her "real-life". I loved this concept because in a world of social media stars, this could be a very real reality for some teens. I have no idea whether it would be this extreme for them or not, but it was fun reading, because it didn't seem so far to stretch for me. Sure it was over the top, but that added to the humor for me.

This book reminded me of Mean Girls, like the summary says, and also It's All Your Fault by Paul Rudnick. It has that same kind of hold nothing back, everyone and everything is fair game contemporary humor. It seemed like every sentence had a pop culture reference of some kind. I love stuff like that because I am kind of a pop culture junkie. (my head is full of all kinds of useless pop culture facts.) It kind of made me want to go watch Lele Pons vine video's to see if they are anything like the book, and to see if the Lele from the book is anything like the real life Lele. I would love to know how much of this overlaps with real Lele's life.

Bottom line: if you are looking for a light hearted read that is not serious at all, check out Surviving High School. Pull up your pop culture wikipedia and get ready to laugh.

This review was originally posted on Book Briefs