Customer Reviews

Confessions of a Not It Girl

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Confessions of a Not It Girl starts off with a quiz, introducing you to Jan Miller. Jan, named after a favorite artist, is supposed to be pronounced "Yahn," but does not correct people when they call her "Jan." In fact, she prefers it.

Thankfully, neither she nor this book are a "Yahn." Jan's series of adventures in babysitting lead her to fall for her charge's older brother -- a male classmate that Jan hadn't looked twice at before. Suddenly, he's the object of her affection. Jan must balance this new crush with school, college applications and procrastinations, not to mention her best friend being named a New York "It Girl."

Kudos to Melissa Kantor for giving us a teen romantic comedy that is both funny and clean. The writing is fresh and modern without relying too heavily on pop culture references, so it will stand the test of time. It will appeal to adults and teenagers alike, as Jan is G-rated enough for the younger set but she is also fumbling and quirky enough for the twentysomethings trying to make their way through.

If you like the lively pace of books like Keeping the Moon by Sarah Dessen, The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot and the Gossip Girl series, you will love Confessions of a Not It Girl. Give it a try and you'll find yourself laughing almost immediately.

Jan's your regular girl who thinks her butt is way too big and has insecurities just like the rest of us. mostly because her best friend's an IT girl, and well jan isn't. where it starts getting interesting is when Josh comes back from Seattle and into Jan's life. she quickly falls for him but she thinks that he's got a girlfriend back in Seattle and drama ensues. this is a fun, easy read set in New York with a main character we can all relate to.

Confessions Of A Not-It Girl definitely has an eye-catching cover and a clever title. This is what led me to purchase it on an impulse buy during my latest visit to the book store.

However, the story itself -- if one dares to call it that -- didn't live up to the expectations that it promised. Given the title and the fact that author Melissa Kantor is a high school teacher, I expected this to be a fun story, told from the point of view of an outside, on the dynamics of the high school experience. What I got, however, was a 250-page whiny rant from a rich, spoiled, teen princess.

Don't get me wrong -- Ms. Kantor is a fantastic writer. Her descriptions are vivid and her dialogue is spot-on. Where she failed, though, was in creating LIKEABLE characters. Jan, the narrator, is just completely uninteresting. She has no hobbies, no interests, no ambitions, no PASSSIONS, other than snagging Josh, her current crush. She half-heartedly attends school and applies for colleges, mainly to get her parents off of her back. But while this is understandable (after all, how many teens really enjoy school?), it's her self-centerdness that really bugged me. This girl came from a relatively wealthy, stable family, yet all she did was drone on and on about her love life. Getting makeup on her chin was a major crisis; for teens who've dealt with much more serious problems, her shallowness was laughable. At first, I related to her, but after about 20 pages of hearing her bitch about her big butt, I wanted to tape her mouth shut.

I could've forgiven her actions had there been more to the character, but she was just boring. Other teen books feature young women obssessing over their crushes -- that's natural -- but what sets them apart from this one is that the characters come alive off of the page. Look at the Traveling Pants series, or any of Meg Cabot's books, for example. The girls in those novels dream of love and being popular, but they also have interests and stories that take them beyond the high school arena. Those works had an extra "something" to them - that element that took them from being a generic story about high school life to being books worth talking about.

Kantor has a bright future ahead of her. Like I said, she's obviously talented and has a great idea of what teen life is like. She just needs to come up with a decent story to back up her abilities.

Confessions of a not it girl is a teen love story/comedy. This book is about a young girl named Jan (yahn) who has a self-esteem problem. Her best friend Rebecca was just named the "It Girl." while Jan is obsessing over her big butt and how she is not good looking. She falls head over heals for an old friend (Josh) who just moved back into town. Then soon finds out he has a love from far away and Josh's cousin like Jan but isn't the beauty out of the family. Which makes some bad sparks between Josh and Jan. Then soon Jan and Rebecca have a falling out cause Rebecca and her new found love and getting hot and heavy. She doesn't feel obliged to tell her best friend Jan and that is upsetting to her. The author of this book (Melissa Kantor) she has a great writing style. She is talking as Jan. Jan is a narrator in the book. She also uses teen language as in "It Girl!" I really enjoy this book. I highly recommend this book to anyone. This might only be a pealing to girl though. Read it you'll like it.

This thrilling novel called Confessions of a Not it Girl by Melissa Kantor is over filling with juicy gossip. This is a non-fiction book and is mainly about a senior named Jan, although it is pronounced as "Yahn," she never corrects people when they pronounce it otherwise. She actually favors it. Her best friend, Rebecca, is an official New York "It Girl," that always knows only the latest about fashion, makeup and nevertheless ... boys.

Her series of adventures rise from babysitting her old crushes sister (whom, may I add, just moved back from Seattle), to her brother's coming home affair, to actually filling out papers to possibly apply to a college, failing her French class. This goes on with herself, Rebecca, Ryan (Rebecca's secret "lover"), Josh and DRAMA.

This book is definitely one of the most hilarious books I have ever read. From her, putting together an outfit when she baby-sits Josh's little sister (of course with the hope that he'll be there), quote UN quote "I am a responsible baby-sitter who will not abandon your child to pursue pleasures of the flesh" and "I am a sexual dynamo." Her little play dialogues of her day-dream life are pricelessly witty.

I most definitely recommend this book to anyone who is into the series "Gossip Girl," or any teenager seeking an amusing, cliff-hanging and just amazing novel. I promise you, that if you read this book, you will have no regrets whatsoever. What happens when Jan baby-sits Hannah, Josh's little sister? Who is this Henry guy, and why does Jan feel so stressed around him? Want to read more about Ryan and Rebecca and the seducing New York City skyline? Ah, oui! The only way to find out is to read this book yourself!

Even though I think I am well beyond the years of reading teenage drama queen books... AMAZON recommended this book to me, so I thought why not give it a try. There were a few lines or thoughts that were funny, but it didn't pull me away from the fact that this is your average teen book... (You know where the girl has this huge crush on a guy and she is just waiting the entire novel to see if he feels the same...) The ending was too pretty and predictable for my taste.... but then again like I said I don't think this book was written for me. Hopefully, like Jennifer Hubert said, Kantor will do better in the future.

Melissa Kantor really made a hit! This is a fun and refreshing story of falling in and out of love as experienced by high school senior Jan Miller.

Jan makes her problems obvious: her awful name, (it's supposed to be pronounced "Yahn"), her friend who is an official "It" girl (Jan officially isn't), and her extremely huge butt. And of course, her nonexistant love life.

What follows is a comic romance story that any teenage girl can relate to: babysitting, parties, college applications (yuck!), and trying to make that special someone notice you the whole time! Definitely a fun, feel-good read!

After all, why is it that everyone else seems to be able to use the New York skyline as an instrument of seduction?

Kelli
Future Star

This book was absolutely awesome. I loved the plot, and I loved the characters. It shows an easy, mellow version of New York instead of the wild, fast, and crazy version that most people believe to be the only thing there.
This book was about Jan Miller, an average girl, and her best friend who was an "It" Girl. Jan likes Josh, who is the girl she babysits older brother, but she can never really figure out what to say in front of him. And her best friend also gets involved with an older college guy, and Jan doesn't know really what to think of it. The ending is probably the best part, but I'm not going to spoil the surprise!
Melissa Kantor is definitely going to be one of the best teenage writers ever!

i know this may not be a good review, but thats okay.

so yes this book is SUPER funny, and although it isnt something that may actually happen to a teenager her age, its still QUITE entertaining.
its a really good book and people who are interested in teen books would definetly like it.

I was viewing reviews on a seperate book and that book was in a list that this book was also apart of. I decided te give it a try. I loved the way the author (Melissa Kantor) talks in this book. Its like reading a novel by your best friend. It's everything I love in a book, comedic events, out of the ordinary situations, friend problems, love, boys, and school. This book however does rely on sexual related events a little too much. Although I would reccomend this book to anyone I would make sure the person is mature enough for it, considering you are old and mature enough for the book, I would give this book a no-doubt-about-it 5 stars however just the chance that you may no be ready for some of the situations i have to give it a 4 and half stars.

I am looking forward to Melissa Kantor's next novel becuase this was obvioulsey a great first novel. With strong personality's, strong opinions, real life situations and Intriguing baseline's this book has it all to keep the reader hooked.