All's Fair in Love, War, And High School [Turtleback]

Janette Rallison (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 3, 2005

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY.

--This text refers to the Library Binding edition.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up-Samantha has bombed her SATs, and her prospects for college are looking dim. What can she do to redeem herself in the eyes of college admissions? Head cheerleader isn't exactly awe inspiring, so she decides that politics is her salvation, and she begins her campaign for student body president with the help and support of her fellow cheerleaders. Branching out of her clique to enlist others to help leads to a bet with Logan, her eighth-grade boyfriend, that she cannot go two weeks without insulting someone. In the process, Samantha makes new friends, loses old ones, dates a hunk from her past, and learns something about character. Readers who find comfort in a familiar plot will be drawn to this book because the standard "hate him, love him" device finds form in the romances here. The characters are all familiar as well, so there are no surprises. Teens who are looking for a predictable, comfortable love story will be most taken with this novel.
Lynn Evarts, Sauk Prairie High School, Prairie du Sac, WI
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Janette Rallison is the author of Playing the Field; All's Fair in Love, War, and High School; and Life, Love, and the Pursuit of Free Throws. She lives with her husband and their five kids, in Chandler, Arizona, where she continues to dream up book titles that use a whole lot of commas.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Turtleback
• Publisher: Demco Media (September 3, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0606345884
• ISBN-13: 978-0606345880
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Janette Rallison is old. Don't ask how old, because it isn't polite. Let's just say she's older than she'd like to be and leave it at that.

Janette lives in Chandler, Arizona with her husband, five children and enough cats to classify her as "an eccentric cat lady." She did not do this on purpose. (The cats, that is; she had the children on purpose.) Every single one of the felines showed up on its own and refuses to leave. Not even the family's fearless little Westie dog can drive them off.
Since Janette has five children and deadlines to write books, she doesn't have much time left over for hobbies. But since this is the internet and you can't actually check up to see if anything on this site is true, let's just say she enjoys dancing, scuba diving, horse back riding and long talks with Orlando Bloom. (Well, I never said he answers back.)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Samantha is not your typical cheerleader!, April 19, 2005

By 

The Colors of Amy "Amy Alderson" (Missouri) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All's Fair in Love, War, and High School (Hardcover)

She's brash, self-centered, totally hot, and completely obsessed with the implosion of her universe because of what she thinks others think of her. Therein lies the heart of this story. Would Samantha be so hypercritical of everyone else if she realized her potential to be so extraordinary? As Rallison writes it, so Samantha realizes it, but not without a few bittersweet lessons along the way.

This is the story of a girl who, despite a high self concept, suddenly realizes she is typical and even a lesser mortal than many of her peers. She discovers she isn't as smart as she thought she was when she takes the SAT and scores miserably low. Then, to top it all off, college entrance applications seem to demand a higher profile and lofty character traits that Samantha is conviced she has mastered. The problem is that she has no real proof of her expert qualities other than her cheerleading. So she enters the student council elections in a campaign to prove she has the right stuff, and to polish off her resume. So what if she has to reveal a little trash on her opponents? A little gossip couldn't hurt much could it? Samantha's strategy isn't without flaws.

I loved Samantha's personality. She is exactly the kind of girl I secretly admire, but go out of my way to avoid. She is confident, a trait that is appealing in many characters. Samantha's confidence is daring and sophisticated though, making her almost clandestine in pride.

Samantha is also obsessed. Her ego drives her to chide an exboyfriend, and belittle a potential best friend. Soon she discovers that her ego is self inflated and learns that she must let the air out every once in a while if she expects to be accepted by the populus.

Samantha is sincere. In fact, her brutal honesty about companions as well as opponents constitutes her real flaw. She is so honest and sincere that her ability to freely gossip almost spoils her only true friends and threatens to destroy her image and reputation. She frantically struggles to recover from her own undoing. Fortunately in the end, the bitter pill she must swallow leaves her character sweeter and more loveable than when we first meet her on page one.

I really loved this book. I have only read it once, but enjoyed it enough to read it again. Actually, with so many books in my To Be Read Pile, I will probably keep this for a while before I read it again. I will however pick up a copy of any of Rallison's other books. She did a fantastic job here, and I thirst for more.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitely worth picking up, October 10, 2004

By 

Kara E. Erickson "zerick33" (Mill Valley, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: All's Fair in Love, War, and High School (Hardcover)

At first I was a bit put off by the title, All's Fair in Love, War, and High School. Although it's clever, i immediately labeled it as a shallow teen book without substance (sorry). but it completely surprised me! i couldnt seem to stop reading and i finished it in one sitting...the plot was good, if predictable (but in a way that made it completely satisfying in the end) and i love how the main character, Samantha, changes from the shallow, critical, but ultimately well-intentioned popular girl that she was in the beginning. and the romance was perfectly executed.

Anyway, the story is about a junior in high school named samantha who just finds out she bombed the SAT, is dumped by her boyfriend, and decides to run for class president (to look good on her high sschool transcript). she makes a bet with this guy she works with (and dated in 8th grade),logan, that she could survive two weeks without insulting anyone. the course of the story is basically about those two weeks and lots of events surrounding it. i would definitely recommend it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars All's Fair in Love, War, and Highschool, February 27, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: All's Fair in Love, War, and High School (Hardcover)

Alls Fair In Love,War, and High School
By Janette Rallison
ISBN: 0802788742
Walker & Co., 2003, 183 pp, $11.87

Samantha Taylor is the very image of perfection. Shes smart, pretty, talented, and nice to everyone she sees. NOT! In fact, Samantha is the very opposite. Though she is pretty, she got an 810 on the SATs, criticizes almost everyone who walks by her, and the only two things she is good at is seducing guys, and being head cheerleader. "Everyone whos hung out with Samantha knows that she cant go into a room with six people without insulting five of them."

So her ex-boyfriend Logan places a bet that she cant go two weeks without insulting someone. So she now has the burden of that bet on her shoulders. The hot brother of her mean and snotty, rival, Elise is coming back from college, her friend betrays her, and on top of all that, shes running for school president to put Leadership on her college application.

Alls Fair In Love, War, And High school is a story filled with responsibility, popularity, and determination. Almost every girl can relate to the main character, and has had experiences like Samanthas happen to them. I could relate to this book very well. It is a story that is guaranteed to reel you in and never let you stop turning the pages. The book is written in first person and the author Janette Rallison, really gets into the mind of teenage girl such as myself. This book has comedy, romance, and the thoughts of teenage girl Samantha Taylor.