Rebel, Bully, Geek, Pariah

by Erin Jade Lange

The Rebel: Once popular, Andi is now a dreadlocked and tattooed wild child.
The Bully: Sick of being the less favorite son, York bullies everyone, especially his brother.
The Geek: Boston, York's brother, and obsessed with getting into an Ivy League school.
The Pariah: Sam, now that her mom is sober, she just wants to get through one day at a time.

Andi, Sam, York, and Boston find themselves in the woods together when a party gets busted by the cops. Trying to run rather than get caught, they hop into the nearest car they see and take off . . . until they realize the car they've taken has a trunk is full of stolen drugs. Now they must rely on each other or risk their lives. Should they run or turn themselves in? Would anyone even believe the drugs aren't theirs? Every decision could determine the rest of their lives . . . but how can any of them trust people they barely know.

In a cinematic, heart-pounding race against time, four teens learn more about one other in a few hours than they ever knew in all the years they attended school together. And what they find out isn't at all what any of them expected . . .

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Fiction, Teen, Young Adult Contemporary, Adventure

320 pages, Paperback

First published February 16, 2016

About the author

ERIN JADE LANGE is the author of 5 novels for young adults, including the upcoming, Mere Mortals. Erin is the winner of the Friedolin Youth Book Prize in Germany and the Sakura Medal in Japan. She has also been nominated for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize (twice), the German Children’s Literature Award and multiple state book awards. Her debut novel, Butter, was a 2013 Teens’ Top Ten Pick, and her books have appeared on several state reading lists. Erin is a recovering journalist and a lover of books. She lives in Phoenix, Arizona.
www.erinjadelange.com
@erinjadelange

Reviews

[Alienor ✘ French Frowner ✘ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Available now... and obviously I didn't like it, but hey, to each their owns^^

Four words : Too. Stupid. To. Live.

Oh, wait, I'm feeling generous - Three more words : Suspension. Of. Disbelief.

Rebel Bully Geek Pariah, where do I even start? See, while I was trying to overlook...

✘ ... the way Sam, the main character, keeps referring to girls as "barbies", for some unknown reason.

✘ ... her obsession for hair - yes, hair, and especially ponytails. I know, I know, it doesn't seem like something we would notice in a book but... Somehow Sam seems under the impression that describing any other girls with her hair is something interesting to do. Spoiler alert : It isn't. So you have loads of ponytails (usually blonds - a girl is even named ponytail by the mc O_o) but also dreadlocks, because diversity! Or not.

✘ ... the writing that without being frankly bad never managed to draw me in. To be honest, I didn't like Sam's voice - the only POV, by the way. Contrary to what the blurb could let us think, it isn't a multi-POV.

So, yeah, I was there.

Trying, you know.

But then it came to my attention that these characters - and Sam more than anyone else - were just plain stupid. Think horror movie parody stupid.

► I'll pass over the fact that I have no idea why cops would shoot teenagers for the sole reason that they were drinking underage in the woods, search their cars even though the sub mentioned teenagers aren't in them, least of all driving. At this point, I was already starting to frown, because really, who freaking does that? But, okay then. Let's suspend our disbelief.

► So, here are four teenagers running in the woods, none of them friends with Sam, trying to escape the cops. Poor Sam was led to them through circumstances (a girl she barely knows stole her cash and her mum's violin, to be specific). One of them is drunk.

Who do they let drive an abandoned SUV they find? Can you guess? Duh, the drunk one, 'f course. For reasons.

► When the drunk driver - surprisingly! - does a shitty job at keeping to the road and hits someone with the car, what do they do? They leave the stranger to die and it doesn't occur to them that maybe, just maybe, they should at least change their driver if they want to play at runaways.

► When they realize that - surprisingly, again - the SUV they stole near the cop they left to die is, in fact, a cop's car, do they decide to stop their running nonsense and surrender? No, of course not.

One might say that these teenagers are acting out of survival instinct and don't think clearly. Okay, okay, I'll consider that. Perhaps it is explained after, I'll give it the benefit of doubt. Actually, from what I read elsewhere, there is a twist coming and it is not my intention to judge the plot solely on the 30% I read.

But.

► Then tell me, just tell me, why in the world the main character, who didn't drink, who didn't do anything really, decide to stay with them when they offer her a way out? WHY? It doesn't make any sense, and she knows it.

"GO!"
But I didn't want to go.
The feeling hit me like a wrecking ball.
I had Mama's violin. I had my phone, and permission to leave. Maybe I didn't have my cash, but who cared? I was going to spend it on the violin anyway. This was my moment to escape this whole crazy night.
And yet my feet didn't move."

Aww that's too sweet. Why, you ask? Because for once she's been invited. REALLY girl. You're ready to follow teenagers you barely know after one of them killed a cop because for once you're invited. Really. I'm supposed to understand that.

Nope.

► Don't worry, though. She has everything figured it out. *whispers* she knows that she doesn't risk anything.

"I think driving out to the middle of nowhere to some deserted cabin with two boys I don't really know is the kind of genius idea that gets girls raped and murdered in the movies. But the blond bimbo always gets killed first, and since neither of us is a blond bimbo, maybe this won't turn into a slasher flick."

*facepalm*

With bulshit like that, you won't restore my faith in humanity, girl. I cannot spend 300 pages in your head. I can't, and I won't.

*an arc was kindly provided to me by Bloomsbury through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

For more of my reviews, please visit:

[Take Me Away To A Great Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

REBEL BULLY GEEK PARIAH by Erin Jade Lange
Bloomsbury
Release Date: February 16, 2016
Rating: 5 Stars

I would like to thank the publisher for providing me with an advanced reviewer copy for an honest review.

REBEL BULLY GEEK PARIAH is a fantastic book that took me back to one of my favorite movies but was still fresh. It definitely made me want to go and watch The Breakfast Club again, although I think this book may be just as good if not better than the movie. I couldn’t put it down and flew through the pages. This book is narrated by Sam who is the Pariah and like the character Allison from the movie. It does go back and forth with before and after, so you do get some backstory on what they were like before. You soon get the other characters but it is all from Sam’s perspective.

FULL REVIEW GO TO: http://takemeawaytoagreatread.com/201...

[Bee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah...it wasn't the Breakfast Club. The author obviously tried to do the same thing where they do something crazy together and then splurge all their feelings like they've known each other for centuries, but it didn't really work. The romance was just plain stupid, and completely unnecessary, and the teens seemed to keep making the wrong decisions! You definitely have to keep reading to understand how the plot *and I use this word tentatively* works. It was kind of fun, even though it was super crazy.

[Jen Ryland (jenrylandreviews & yaallday)]

Although The Breakfast Club is a favorite movie of mine, I haven't had great luck with YA books that try to replicate the formula. You know, the four high school kids who seem to have little in common get trapped in a situation that helps them know one another better. I do like thrillers, though, and was surprised to find out that Rebel Bully Geek Pariah was a thriller too. Who knew?

While Rebel Bully Geek Pariah had some good points, for me it was a book that struggled to cram the character development/backstory necessary to pull off the whole Breakfast Club thing AND the precise plotting and pacing of a thriller all in in a few hundred pages. The book definitely had its moments, but some hiccups as well.

The story is narrated by Sam, a girl with a tough home life, and her narrative uses a before/after format that I found confusing and unnecessary given all the other aforementioned complicated stuff going on. Besides Sam, the book features three other main characters: Andi (rebel), Boston (geek) and York (bully). The four of them wind up at the same party, and when that party is raided by the cops, the foursome ends up on the run in a stolen car that's hiding a big surprise in the back. Ruh-roh!

This car-stealing-with-strangers part of the story necessitated a huge amount of suspension of disbelief for me - I just wasn't buying the fact that a group of kids who didn't know each other could, at the spur of the moment, all agree to steal a car and flee (hello, felony!) rather than take their punishment for being at a party where there was some drinking. And as they speed away,things go way downhill for them from there. But hey, undeveloped prefrontal cortex...

As they are on the run, the four characters get to know each other a little better (yes, the magical Breakfast Club formula). But it seemed to me that the "unlikely friendship" aspect of the book was at odds with the book's thriller elements. I thought the story suffered a little from wildly inconsistent pacing, alternating between chunks of dialogue-heavy narrative (to further character development) that were suddenly interspersed with some very fast and suspenseful scenes. That issue, along with the before/after technique I mentioned before, gave this book a slow-fast, back-forth kind of pace that was jarring to me.

I've read other books by this author (I'm a big fan of Butter especially) but this for me didn't quite gel together as both a thriller and a story of unlikely adolescent friendship. The world of film is filled with Unlikely Couple Thrillers, so maybe if there had been two characters instead of four, and a dual narrative, these elements could have meshed better.

Read more of my reviews on YA Romantics or follow me on Bloglovin

Thanks to the publisher for providing a free advance copy of this book for me to review.

[Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is being compared to The Breakfast Club, and in many ways it's very similar: it follows four socially outcast teenagers as they find themselves stuck together one night.

The beginning was absolutely crazy. After a party bust, our four anti-heroes are on the run from the cops. They steal a car, pick up supplies at a gas station, and find a cabin to hide out in. Over the course of the novel they begrudgingly become attached to one another and open up about their pasts.

Our narrator, Sam, has a drug addict and alcoholic for a mother. When Sam was only six her mother was sent to prison for making meth. Andi, York, and Boston - her three new accomplices - all come from equally rough backgrounds.

“Grandma always said jail was for people who did a little bad and prison was for people who did a lot of bad.”

The plot was really fast paced and an easy read, but despite this, I felt like the characters were lacking some depth. They fit a bit too perfectly into their separate categories as rebel, bully, geek, and pariah.

Andi was a "rebel" in the truest sense of the word. As an ex–popular girl, she has now transformed into a wild, smoking kleptomaniac with tattoos and dreadlocks. The thing is, her character was barely developed past these broad generalizations.

She was presented as a tough "good girl gone bad," but that seemed to be all of her personality. The reason behind why she rebelled in the first place was barely touched on. Why did she feel the need to steal things? I found the same underdevelopment in Sam, York, and Boston, though I'm not going to take the time to dissect them all.

I liked how the characters got back on track (morally) at the end by deciding whether to turn themselves and a bag of 30-pound drugs in to the police. I would have liked more of the emotional experience Lange perfectly captured in Dead Ends, but I won't deny a group of rogue teens running from the police wasn't a fun read.

[Cynthia (Bingeing On Books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Okay, if I were to rate this one sorely upon believability, this one would have received a much lower rating. This book was compared to The Breakfast Club. Just as The Breakfast Club took place over the course of one day, this book took place over the course of one night and it was a CRAZY night. I was expecting more of a contemporary piece instead of this mystery. And the hijinks that these kids got to into were insane. I wanted to scream at them because they were making all these horrible decisions, one after the other. But you know what? It was very entertaining.

We only saw one POV, that of Sam, who would be the pariah in this book. I could relate to her a lot, mainly because she tried her best to make herself invisible throughout high school. Now I didn't have a drug addicted mother and I wasn;t bounced around from family member to family member every time my mom was serving time in prison so in that respect, I was nothing like Sam. There were also flashbacks of different scenes in high school where Sam encountered the other people she became involved with that night (Andi, York and Boston). These were four people who really had nothing in common and they all had mistaken perceptions of each other based on the role they played in their daily lives. I didn't really feel much of a connection with the other characters, mainly because we didn't read from their POV and we didn't learn much about them even during the night. We learned a little, just not enough to really connect with them.

Like I said, the four teenagers started out at a party and ended up running from the cops in a stolen car so the night was insane. But there were still a lot of moments of humor. That is probably why I gave it the higher rating. I laughed out loud at some of their antics and I loved seeing them get to know each other. I could see that they became friends by the end of the night. There were some twists that I did not see coming and one or two dozen more things that may or may not have been completely unbelievable. But yeah, we've already established that. This was still a very entertaining read about four very different people becoming friends. I enjoyed it!

[Kris Mauna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought I was going to get an ordinary ‘easy-going’ contemporary out of this book, but instead I got a thrilling mystery. I’m definitely not mad about it though.

The story starts off with our main character (and the only POV), Sam, introducing herself to us and telling us how a regular day turned into one crazy night. This story was incredibly interesting. There were some flaws throughout the plot, but honestly it was really entertaining.

As the story continues, I found it hard to connect to Sam because she just made dumb decisions after another, and I didn’t like her at all. As we are introduced to the other characters, I couldn’t connect with them either. It was too bad though because I really felt for all of them at the beginning. I loved how all of them were so different and no one was who they seemed to be.. but as quickly as my interest came it was gone.

The whole book takes place during one night which made the story very fast paced. As the characters begin their thrilling adventure they begin to connect and rely on each other, and I did enjoy this about them. It felt real because I know if I was in their position I would let my shield down if I thought I had nothing left to lose. So, I enjoyed this part of the story even though the romance felt forced and was definitely not needed to tell the story.

The ending pulled everything together nicely though. I appreciated the twist - that I did not see coming at all! I think Erin Jade Lange is a great writer. I enjoyed her style of writing through this book, and intertwining the ‘before’ and ‘after’ parts of the story really brought everything together.

Overall, this book was enjoyable. The characters and their actions were a bit annoying, but their decisions helped make a very entertaining story. If you’re looking for a quick thrilling read then this book is perfect for you!

[Kris · Rating 2 out of 5]

(Thanks to Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books and NetGalley, I received an ebook copy of this book for free to review.)

This book is a thriller that follows four teens after an “accident”. They come from completely different backgrounds except for York (the bully) and his brother Boston (the geek). There’s also Andi who used to be the popular girl (now the rebel), and Sam who is a loner (the pariah). The story follows a night where a coincidence brings these four teens together on a journey of twists and turns.
Throughout the book I found myself questioning many plot holes that I hoped would be cleared up by the end of the book. I was sadly disappointed. I did really enjoy the writing style of the book it was a pretty quick and easy read. Also, I found the stereotypes surrounding each of the characters pretty accurate as to what I had in mind. I think I would have enjoyed the book more if it was written with each chapter alternating character points of view.
Overall I just felt like the plot twists were too much and a bit hard to follow. The twists were just too unrealistic in my opinion. I didn’t find myself connecting to any of the characters in the way I feel the author intended.

[Stacee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will absolutely read anything that is compared to The Breakfast Club. With that tag line and synopsis, I was expecting a multi-POV contemp filled with suspense...that's not quite what I got.

I liked the four MCs well enough. They each have an interesting backstory, but I don't think we were given enough information about any of them except Sam {since it was told in her POV}. I didn't see the connection between the characters, including the romance/flirting. Perhaps if we would have gotten into York's head because Sam seemed as confused as I was.

The plot was intriguing and I liked the idea of it. The before chapters were a clever way to keep the rhythm from settling and there were a couple of twists near the end that I didn't see coming.

Overall, it was a quick read that I enjoyed, yet I still feel like there was somehow an opportunity missed.

**Huge thanks to Bloomsbury for sending me the arc**

[Dahlia · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I thought this book would be based on the cover and blurb: a multi-POV Breakfast Club-type contemp
What it actually turned out to be: a fast-paced single-POV (Sam) thriller with high stakes that I'd rec to fans of OITNB and Trish Doller's The Devil You Know

Definitely unexpected, but definitely not upset about it.

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

File this under "what were they thinking?"

Four teens at a party, and the party is broken up by the cops. The kids run, and decide to steal an SUV to escape. And the SUV has a ton of heroin in it. Ad they may have killed a cop with the car as they sped away.

I mean, this is sort of like Very Bad Things, a brutally dark and funny movie from almost 20 years ago, except this isn't funny at all. It's sad and dark and you keep waiting for the light at the end of the tunnel or someone to get what they deserve or any sort of quality resolution, and nothing is coming at all. It's a dire, unfortunate read that just left me wondering what the impetus for this entire exercise was at all. A cool concept, just tough and terrible and weird execution. The writing is good but the entire tone and point were just way off.

Definitely skip this one. There's better out there like it.

[celine (celinereads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was approved an e-copy of Rebel Bully Geek Pariah on NetGalley from Bloomsbury.

I will be posting a more in-depth review on my blog

This book is a solid 3.5/5 stars for me because I couldn't put it down.

Yes, there are a lot of flaws in this book, specifically with the characters, but the plot was gripping!

Honestly, I was not a huge fan of any of the characters. I found all of them to be extremely annoying.
It was also very difficult for me to be able to connect to any of the character.

I rolled my eyes at the very little romance that happened in this book.

Overall, this book is average. It was a quick read and for the most part, quite enjoyable.

[Kelly Gunderman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Check out this and other reviews on my young adult book blog, Here's to Happy Endings!
When I first read the synopsis for Rebel, Bully, Geek, Pariah, I knew it was going to be a must read for me, especially when it was compared to The Breakfast Club. Since I discovered that years ago, I’ve watched it countless times and it never gets old. So I was pretty darn excited about this book. Also, let me say, yes, this book really did remind me of a more modern day Breakfast Club. I was not let down by that at all – it was exactly what I was hoping it would be.

The cover for this one is nicely done, too – I love the whole name tag thing going on there, and it fits so well, especially since none of the four characters have ever really interacted with each other before, and they don’t know each other all that greatl. It’s always great when a book cover is designed to really fit with the book, instead of something random that has no relation to the plot.

To start the book, we are introduced to our main character, Sam. Sam has had a hard life, with an addict for a mother and no idea where her father is (or even who he is, since her mother was a musician and made some choices that weren’t exactly great). Sam’s mother has been to jail and prison multiple times and for multiple reasons – most of them involving drugs and alcohol. Now her mother is almost four years sober, and Sam is trying to buy back her violin – something that she sold at a pawn shop back when she needed money for drugs. Sam has been working very hard at her job to save up enough money to buy it back, and when she gets to the pawn shop, she realizes she doesn’t have enough – and that’s where she meets Andi.

Andi used to be a really popular girl (also mean), and she spent her time with the rest of the popular girls, doing the mean things that popular girls often do. One day, she was replaced as the “queen bee” by another girl – and showed up wearing an army jacket with her hair in dreadlocks. No one really knew the full story as to what happened there, but they do know that Andi is pretty much a loner now. When Sam meets Andi at the pawn shop, and she takes the violin, Sam is appalled at her theft, but wants the violin badly, so she runs out after Andi in order to get it. She follows her to a party in the woods, which ends up getting busted by cops, and they meet up with York, the school bully, and Boston, the school’s geek.

It would also seem that York and Boston are brothers. And yes, their names really are York and Boston. I’ll admit, when I first read that, I wondered if that was for real, but it totally is.

When the cops bust the party, the four of them steal an SUV and try to get away, but it isn’t as easy as they would think – they end up hitting a cop with the SUV, and once they flee the scene, they realize that the cops who busted the party weren’t all really who they said they were – and that SUV they stole? It definitely didn’t belong to someone at the party. Also, there’s an interesting surprise in the back of the SUV that they aren’t really sure what they are going to do with. Little by little, as the night goes on and they try to figure out how to handle the mess they got themselves into, they learn each other’s stories – most of them pretty heartbreaking.

The writing in this book was so easy to get into – I read it in less than a day because I just couldn’t put it down. It was a fun read – but it was also kind of sad at points, especially when you start learning about each of the character’s backgrounds.

I had a difficult time connecting to Sam’s character, and as she was the main character in the book, I was a little disappointed. The decisions that she and the other kids made were downright stupid (I’m not even going to sugarcoat that), and it seemed as if they had no regard for their safety or their future. Boston was absolutely annoying, but for some reason, that seemed kind of fitting, so it didn’t really bother me. Andi’s character was perfectly done, in my opinion…as was York’s.

The ending was a bit of a twist…I didn’t see it coming, and that made the book that much better. I did find the last part of the book (like the last chapter, actually) to be kind of cheesy in that 80’s movie kind of way (The Breakfast Club, indeed), but all in all it was quite enjoyable and one that I could see myself picking up again when I feel the need to read something fast paced and fun.

Note: I received an ARC copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Andi (Andi's ABCs)]

This review was originally posted on Andi's ABCs
Don't ever let your idea of what a book is get in the way of what a book really is. What do I mean by that? When I went into Rebel Bully Geek Pariah I had an idea in my head that it was going to be a story that was reminiscent of The Breakfast Club. I expected high school shenanigans and maybe 4 different POVs. I expected something that read like an 80s/90s teen movie for some reason and I don't know why. After realizing Rebel Bully was not what I was thinking I reread the back and realized none of what was in my head was even alluded to. Instead it hunts at exactly what the story is, 4 kids that seem to be in a wrong place at the wrong time situation that spirals out of control and snowballs into an unexpected night.

Rebel Bully Geek Pariah is a story that basically takes place over one night. It's told from Sam, the pariah's, POV and follows the situation she finds herself in when a party is broken up by the cops. Up until this night Sam has always been invisible and suddenly she finds herself trying to stay alive with the help of Andi, the rebel, Boston, the Geek, and York the bully. What Sam thought her night was supposed to be quickly turns into her running with these other misfits to save all of their lives.

To be honest it is really hard for me to review this book without giving anything vital away. What I can tell you is that the 4 characters are very different people yet also the same. They are all searching for something in their lives, a place to just fit. They also all have built up their stereotypes so they can each have a place. But they are also all very lonely. I can also tell you that the plot is really well done. As the story unfolds each part entwines with another part leaving things connected and the reader trying to figure out just what is going to happen. It was written very well because of this and made the story a quick read.

Basically once I cleared my head of The Breakfast Club comparison that wasn't I found Rebel Bully Geek Pariah to be a great and interesting read. I was enthralled by what was going to happen and how everything would unfold. In the end I was really happy to have read it. I just recommend you have an open mind when you do read it, and you should definitely read it.

[Liviania · Rating 4 out of 5]

REBEL, BULLY, GEEK, PARIAH is one of those books that unexpectedly sucked me in. Even with the description, I didn't realize what a propulsive thriller this would be. (Possibly because the title sounds like a dramatic story about getting to know each other despite differences - which, to be fair, happens between running from guys with guns.)

Sam just wanted to buy her mom's old violin back from the pawn shop. But she ended up with formerly popular Andi, former football jock and current bully York, and York's little brother Boston in a stolen cop car. They accidentally hit a cop and the other cops started shooting at them. It says something about the current world environment that I didn't immediately twig that the cops were corrupt and the car was full of drugs. (Sam is half black.)

What follows is a mix of misfits hanging out and teens struggling to escape more skilled adversaries. There's plenty of twists and turns as the four try to figure out how to find the real cops and clear their names without ending up dead. Erin Jade Lange does a wonderful job of making the teens concerns seem real. Their worried about their lives, but they get tangled up in more mundane concerns too, like what this will do to their college prospects or whether their parents are missing them.

It's also an opportunity, strangely enough, for Sam to leave her shell. An accident left her scarred as a child, providing an easy taunt for everyone on the playground. She had even more pressure on her because of her home life, where her mom moved in and out of prison due to her addiction. Sam knows firsthand how much damage the drugs they've found can do.

REBEL, BULLY, GEEK, PARIAH is a fast-paced read with appealing characters. Yes, they commit a serious crime, but there are hugely extenuating circumstances and this kids' first instinct is to turn themselves in. What follows certainly kept me turning the pages.

[Christina (A Reader of Fictions) · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Rebel Bully Geek Pariah was on deck for my next read, I’ve got to admit that I was side-eyeing it. I mean, it looked like it was going to be this dark contemp about bullying and gossip and stuff, not necessarily something I would typically go for. I’d requested it out of curiosity, but with a busy schedule and coming out of a slump, I just was not sure about it anymore. One of my favorite things is when I book I’ve already given up on turns out to be totally awesome and unputdownable. Such was the case with Rebel Bully Geek Pariah.

I went into this book with a totally clean slate. I couldn’t remember anything about it and I’d heard absolutely nothing from anyone else about its quality. The pitch of modern, high-stakes Breakfast Club is totally on point btw. It’s The Breakfast Club, only instead of being in trouble with their principal, they’re on the run from the law. So yeah, it’s pretty intense. And it is about bullying and high school drama and stuff, but it’s not treated in a heavy way. There’s a lot of friendly (and not) banter.

One of my book catnips is when people who don’t usually interact are forced together by circumstances and end up bonding, which is everything this book is about. The relationships are forged in a really believable way and their interactions rung true. The story itself stretched believability for me in a big way, but with characterization so good I really didn’t mind that. Plus, the action was exciting and had me turning the pages. My one real disappointment here was that the fledgling ship didn’t make any headway whatsoever. There’s some cute flirting but then nothing.

I highly recommend Rebel Bully Geek Pariah for readers who enjoy misfit groups bonding and fast-paced action.

[MeggieBree · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid 3.5 stars.

When I heard that Erin Jade Lange had written another book I was so excited, because I LOVED Butter, and then when I won the Goodreads giveaway I was even more excited!

Rebel Bully Geek Pariah wasn't really what I was expecting. I expected it to be from multiple POVs, and it wasn't (which was fine, just not what I was expecting). It took place over the course of one crazy (and somewhat unbelievable) night. The characters were alright, but besides the main character Sam, I didn't really feel like they were fleshed out enough. I really would have liked more backstory on the other three in the group.

All of that being said, I really love Lange's writing. I couldn't put the book down despite it's flaws, and what more can you ask for! I loved the pacing in the book, it never lagged, it kept me turning the pages long past bedtime.

Thanks Goodreads and Bloomsbury for the ARC!

[Tee loves Kyle Jacobson · Rating 5 out of 5]

What to say about this book? There is so much to say because so many things are going on and so much happening. I love stories like this because there is so much going on that you are not sure where one story ends and the other story begins.

You get to meet four different teens in this story. Andi who is the rebel. York is the bully. Boston is the geek. Sam is the pariah. Okay what the heck do these four teens have in common? They are completely different from one another but one thing will bond them together forever.

The teens go to a party when the police come and they decide to run into the woods together. Once on the other side of the woods the teens get into the first car they see and take off. As the night proceeds the teens get a glimpse of what happens when you make the wrong decision. By the morning they will need each other and have a lot in common with each other.

[The Sassy Bookworm · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books where you have to set aside your belief in logic and just go with the flow. The four main characters ventured WAY into TO STUPID TO LIVE land and on more than a few occasions had me rolling my eyes at some of their decisions.



That being said...the story sucked me right in from word go and kept me turning pages right up until the end. I found all four of the main characters likable, and I enjoyed the BREAKFAST CLUB type of vibe that they had going on. The ending was a bit of a letdown as it's left kind of open ended. I wanted a bit more closure, but it is what it is.

Overall a pretty decent read.

[Kelly Hager]

I loved this book. The Breakfast Club comparison is incredibly apt.

This book is told from Sam's perspective, so all we know about Andi, York and Boston is what Sam knows. I think that worked really well for this book, because it made every personality twist completely unexpected. And I love Sam the most, because obviously we were in her head, but I also really loved Andi and York and Boston. Every character in this is just perfect.

I have major hopes for a sequel. I want to spend more time with these people.

Recommended.

[Jessie Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75/5

I can see why this is being compared to The Breakfast Club, but whereas that was a contemporary coming-of-age, this is more of a contemporary thriller with a side of coming-of-age themes. It was actiontastic, it was twisty, and it had some really well drawn characters. Some of the plot is a leeeeetle too far outside my realm of believability (hence the 3.75/5) but this was a fast-paced, quick, involving read.


RTC.

[Gayle (OutsmartYourShelf) · Rating 2 out of 5]

As it's one of my favourite 80s films, the mere mention of "The Breakfast Club" garnered my attention, and I had high hopes. I ended up a little disappointed. It isn't that this is a bad book, it isn't, it's just very average. Far from being engrossed, I felt my mind beginning to wander a few times - never a good sign. My advice is re-watch "The Breakfast Club" instead.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this fast-paced tale of four mismatched teens who get into more trouble than they planned when an underage party in the woods is broken up by police. I thought that the teens with their various issues, and the growing relationship/friendship between them was dealt with sensitively and realistically.

The thriller aspect of the story kept me reading, hoping that the kids would come out OK despite some crazy decisions in the face of serious danger.

[J. Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're going to shoot a scum drug dealer why give yourself over to the police? She should have called him, walked away and got away with it. What was she thinking?

[Terry Maguire · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was just plain great fun & suspense! I loved the voice of Sam "Worm," who is the "pariah" of the group of 4 teens she suddenly finds herself a part of. This book is 1-part crooked cop story, 2-parts Breakfast Club, and 1-part romance. For people looking for a fast read about friendships formed under the most unlikely of circumstances and a book that shows that we are so much more than what we appear to be on the surface- this is a great choice.

[Celia · Rating 3 out of 5]

knew who was the liar a quarter through the book

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a world full of faults, it is not hard to see many people, either young or old, somehow disobey the law in some kind of action. This can be seen in the mystery book called “Rebel, Bully, Geek, Pariah”, in which the author, Erin Jade Lange, shows off four normal high school kids who end up joining a party and finding themselves in a whole other world. Lange perfectly captures the ideas and thoughts of the four teens and what they do as they go on with escaping the law and trying to prove themselves as innocent against corrupt cops.
The four kids known as Andi, York, Boston, and Sam are chucked into what is listed as criminal activity in a small town. The list starts with them stealing a cop’s car, then running over a cop, and finally, realizing there were a huge load of drugs in the back of the cop’s car. They are left with the option to either turn themselves in or run from the law. The teens, as expected, feel lost and completely out of touch with reality that they are criminals on the run to the law while they try to prove themselves innocent. Wherever their path leads them is left up to the four teens alone, and the reader watching over their decisions and actions and left to wonder, “what can these teens do to get out of their predicament?”
I would give this book around a 3 out of 5, as the plot was enjoyable and the action being attention-grabbing. But, there are a couple of spelling errors in the book and it is also hard to tell what genre it is as it has a mixture of stereotypical genres. Above that, I felt close to the readers as they were just normal teens trying to live their lives. It also was great to see a past perspective of the four before they all met at the certain party. The book was a great read, but it may have some areas to iron out.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm.... This is one of those books where you have to step back, take a moment, and contemplate just what the hell is going through your head. What I thought Rebel Bully Geek Pariah was going to be, was not what I was given. At this point, I do not know exactly what it is I am feeling. I liked it - I was pleasantly surprised by it - but I am also faintly annoyed by the fact that this was advertised as "The Breakfast Club" (which so happens to be one of my favorite movies ever). So, imagine my excitement when this book randomly crossed my path - it was obvious I was going to go nuts and request it.

Rebel Bully Geek Pariah does have its similarities to my beloved Breakfast Club, but that's about it. Four kids who are strangers - except for two who happen to be brothers (sort of ruins the vibe, doesn't it?) - end up caught in a severe moment which leads them into a wild adventure of spending two days on the run and fearing for their lives. So, the only similarity to The Breakfast Club is that a bunch of strangers become friends over a certain span of time due to a harrowing event - that in this case is not detention.

I do have to admit, though, that the character's did also have their certain charms which lead me to think of The Breakfast Club. While it wasn't as "traditional" Breakfast Club as I had hoped, the small similarities and quirks were still there. Rebel Bully Geek Pariah is told mainly from the point of view of a girl named Sam (moment of pleased silence for a female protagonist named Samantha). I was expecting it to be a multi-POV book, especially because it is supposed to follow four characters - but I do think the way this story was told worked for the overall purpose of the book. Sam is the pariah, the girl who people avoid simply because she is different and has a troubled past. I do have to admit, despite my reservations I quite enjoyed her slightly unreliable voice.
I loved all four of the characters. Much like the original Breakfast Club, each character has their own set of quirks that are slowly revealed as time goes on. The layers are peeled away the longer they are around each other - and I found that slow, burning development of friendship to be quite beautiful.

While the book starts off on the slow side, it does pick up with the addition of a thriller aspect the more you read. Now, this is the one downside of the book in my eyes. I would rather have a story of friendship without the added, unnecessary drama that was created by a ridiculous and completely avoidable situation. Not only was the thriller aspect sort of trivial, I found it to just be plain stupid. Running from the cops? Please. You put yourself in the damn situation because you went to a stupid forest party... just no. I do understand that the characters are young and scared, but the events were so unrealistic that it was hard to power through in order to get to the end without popping a blood vessel. Give me friendship with no stupid attached or give me death.

Rebel Bully Geek Pariah is a special type of book. Despite my pet peeves and undeniable obsession with everything Breakfast Club, Rebel Bully Geek Pariah creates a new name for a beloved classic. It is exciting, heartwarming, and quirky - everything a remake of The Breakfast Club should be. It highlights the complications, absurdity, and sometimes sheer idiocy that comes with being a teenager in today's society. Rebel Bully Geek Pariah is a beautiful, though sometimes ridiculous, real world expression of what it means to be a teen - of what it means to be real.

[Jessica Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars*

There are two reasons why RBGP is compared to The Breakfast Club:

1) this book is written around four characters whose social status/personalities are polar opposites, just like in TBC, who are suddenly forced to be together

and

2) the further into the book you get, the more the characters open up to one another and grow to get to know (and even like) each other.

Now that you know what those TBC references in the blurb are about (it's written VERY accurately, to be honest), throw them out the window, because that's where the similarities end, and there's no sense in getting disappointed in a great read that's totally worth your time.

Rebel Bully Geek Pariah is a thriller told in one point of view (which is great because four would have been too much) that takes you on a crazy ride. The first chapter-ish opens up sort of setting the scene a bit (and leaving you kind of confused, but not for long), and then everything takes off, and before you know it, you've gone from driving 25 in the school kiddie zones to zooming down the highway one hundred miles an hour.

I loved all four characters, but probably enjoyed the brothers Boston and York the most. There's something about siblings and the interaction when it's written so naturally that makes you feel like you're there with them, maybe watching them a little more than you really should. (Not that I didn't enjoy Sam or Andi--they all had an important part to play, Sam especially, and she was never so "poor me" that you got sick of her, which does happen to these sort of characters sometimes.)

Aside from the craziness of the storyline, what stuck out to me most was that the flashbacks of "before" the main and current situations was never so much that I wanted to skim through them (nor did I get annoyed). When telling a story this way, it's easy to go so "backstory crazy" that you drive your readers nuts; but Ms. Lange gave just enough to count and to help you understand a little more of why things were the way they were before dropping you right where you'd left off.

Last, I really do wish this would be adapted for film. It would be so fun to see the characters and everything that happens! Whew!

Highly enjoyed RBGP and can't wait to read more by this author!

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Miriam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Crosspost: TheReadingBelle.com

The synopsis is honestly what made me interested in picking up this book. A modern version of The Breakfast Club sounded like a brilliant idea at first. I am not comparing this book to the movie at all. The only similarity it has with the movie is the group of misfits, and that’s about it. I thought this book was going to have multiple points of view just from reading the synopsis. That was not the case. Instead, this book has one pov. and it’s Sam, otherwise known as the “pariah” from the group.

Sam has a sad backstory. Her mother is a recovering drug addict, and Sam feels that she is responsible for her mother when she slips back into her cycle of addiction. Throughout her live, Sam choses to be invisible to make her life easier. She has no friends at all. I felt bad for Sam, but there were some moments where I didn’t feel sympathy for her. Sam thinks that by living as an outcast, it will make her life easier for her. She easily gets offended when people ignore her or don’t even remember her.

Honestly, I didn’t think the book needed romance. I felt no chemistry between York and Sam. Sam thought he was a hot guy who she encountered several times. I would have liked to seen York’s perspective and the reason why he fell for Sam. He tried flirting with her, but she didn’t seem to realize that he liked her. In the situation they were in, which was stressful already, didn’t need the romance.

I really wished that this story included more backstory on the other characters since it felt that this was Sam’s story rather than the others. It was a really quick read. The story overall was crazy. Most of the story, the group ran away from the “crooked cops”. There were not many action scenes as I would have hoped. It did get really exciting by the time I was 90% done with the book. I really felt that this book would have done better as a movie. For most of the story, it was told in the past. It did end on a sweet note, but I did not like this book as much. I really thought it was okay, and not as memorable as I hoped.

Final Review: ⭐️⭐️ (2.5)