Hottie

Hottie #1

by Jonathan Bernstein

Alison Cole's got it all: She's gorgeous, dating a steamy surfer boy, and has just been crowned Beverly Hills High Freshman Class President. Then during a special "symmetry" surgery, a lightning bolt zaps her, and Alison instantly transforms into Hottie — that is, a totally sizzling superhero with the power to shoot fire from her fingers!

Shunned as a Pyro-Freak, Alison must adopt dorky David Eels as her crime-fighting sidekick. Worse, she's falling for the one guy who wants to "extinguish" her forever, Junior Class President of Cuteness - and wannabe firefighter — T. Hull. But she doesn't realize that a supervillain's lurking. . . .

Has Hottie met her match?

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Paranormal

312 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 5, 2009

About the author

I am the author of Bridget Wilder: Spy-In-Training.
Bridget Wilder is an adequate daughter, an unexceptional student and a mediocre friend. She's just found out she's also the biological daughter of one of the world's most lethal and notorious spies, the legendary Carter Strike.

Now Bridget lives in two worlds. One, where her family forgets her birthday and so-called class clowns call her Midget Wilder to her face. And another world, where she's trained by a covert CIA department to become a fast, smart, fearless ,gadget-toting secret agent who's tough enough to take on the most fearsome of bad guys.

How many secrets can she keep? And how many secrets are still being kept from her. When you're a a spy-in-training, do you ever really know who you can trust?


I'm also the co-author of Mad World: An Oral History Of New Wave Artists And Songs That Defined The 1980s, which features brand new interviews with the likes of New Order, The Smiths, Duran Duran, Echo & The Bunnymen, Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran, Simple Minds, Depeche Mode, Human League, Dexys Midnight Runners, OMD, Thomas Dolby, ABC, Thompson Twins and many, many more.


I also wrote the YA book Hottie which has been described, not by me but accurately, as Clueless meets X-Men. It's packed with as much comedy, action, unrequited crushes, requited crushes and destruction of designer clothes as I could pack into 320 pages.

It's ridiculously over-the-top sequel was titled Burning Ambition.

I'm also the author of Knickers In A Twist which is a dictionary of British slang that addresses Cockney rhyming slang, TV catchphrases, pop-culture references, swearing and incomprehensible abuse that I brought with me from my native Scotland.

My first book was called Pretty In Pink: The Golden Age Of Teen Movies which was an extremely un-intellectual look at the 80s, taking in every genre from slasher to gross-out and paying extended homage to the John Hughes canon.

I also write the occasional screenplay, with the Disney evergreen Max Keeble's Big Move, Just My Luck with Lindsay Lohan, Larry The Cable Guy: Health Inspector (I've got a mortgage, okay?) and the upcoming Jackie Chan movie The Spy Next Door to my name.

As I mentioned, I was raised in Scotland, spent some time in New York and moved to Los Angeles a few years ago.

I'm on Facebook and you can also find me on www. jonathanbernsteinbook.blogspot.com where I talk more about Hottie, discuss the latest reality show that's making me mad but I can't stop watching and post videos of ancient Scottish comedians.

I've also started a blog for my slang dictionary. Bookmark www.knickersinatwistbook.blogspot.com and learn a new word or phrase every day. Some of them will stop you getting punched in the face. Others will get you hit even harder!

Reviews

[Michelle Rebar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! HOTTIE is fun, clever and action packed.

Alison is the IT girl of the moment. She just became freshman class president, she the star of her own reality TV show and everyone loves her. She's not the smartest or the most confident person, but she really is sweet and she means well most of the time. When her friends get jealous of her they convince her to get a risky plastic surgery treatment that goes terribly wrong. The machine she's in gets struck by lightning and she now has the power to shoot fire from her hands. Fortunately, she now has a new ability. Unfortunately, she can't control it and her social life literally goes up in flames. She was once on top of the world and now the only person who will talk to her is dorky David who is obsessed with her new superpower. He convinces Alison to assume a secret identity, put on a snazzy costume and fight the evil-doers of Beverly Hills. He's even delighted when an honest-to-goodness super-villain shows up! Alison now has to juggle her superduties, school and her growing crush on, of all people, a hot firefighter. Well, at least they have something in common. Join this league of misfit heroes and read HOTTIE!

[Dana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, with a strange and unexpected but effective ending.

[Reader Rabbit · Rating 1 out of 5]

Alison Cole has everything. She has a good-looking boyfriend, she's been crowned the freshman class president and she has two great friends, or so she thinks.

Except, not really. She does have her problems, Alison and her stepmother have a mutual hate/hate relationship. And Alison still feels insecure about her less than gorgeous past.

Eventually, Alison's best friends get sick of being out shined and decide to trick her into going into an experimental face symmetry surgery. They convince her that her face isn't symmetrical enough and cause her to book an appointment for the surgery.

Of course, as it's an EXPERIMENTAL treatment, things don't go quite as planned...

An accident during the surgery causes Allison to randomly get the power to spout fire out of her fingers.

Her inability to control the power, at first, leads to her being deemed a pyro-freak and she's shunned by all of her former friends.

With her loss of popularity, Allison becomes friends with super geek David Eels and soon the two of them kick up a partnership...of the superhero variety and

HOTTIE is born!

But can Allison keep her secret identity a secret? Especially since she's falling for firefighter wannabe T.Hull...

Not to mention, what will Allison do when she finally meets her match? And who exactly is this supervillan?...

Okay, so I realize this book is meant to be a comedy. And while it does pull off that aspect, I found it lacking in other departments.

Yes, I realize that Hottie is not meant to be the deepest book in the world, but (in my opinion, anyways) I found it to be really, really shallow. Like, shallow to the point where I was bored for the majority of the book.

I couldn't relate to the characters at all. They were just too much. Too dorky, too popular, too crazy. I don't know. Even if that was the point, eventually it all got so tiresome.

I also felt like the book was a bit too long. It felt too stretched. I think everything could have been tied up in 50 less pages.

However, I don't want to make it seem like I completely hated the book. The writing style was, at some rare times, smooth and readable and of course, some of the crazy antics that the characters got into were laugh-worthy.

Despite being somewhat predictable, Hottie's premise is lingers on being remotely unique and it's possible that you MAY enjoy Hottie solely because of it's complete lack of realism and your desire to live in a fantasy world.

For what it's worth, Hottie pulled off what it was trying to do. For those with time to spare, it'll serve up it's purpose as a somewhat comedic read; however, don't be expecting something amazing. Or even remotely good.

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed by Jaglvr for TeensReadToo.com

I had to seriously ponder what category to place HOTTIE into when starting my review. I opted for the easy out with "contemporary," but HOTTIE is one of those books that could easily fall under "thriller" or "action-adventure." And if necessary, "comics" could even be applied, after knowing the premise of the story.

Alison Cole seemingly has it all. She's just won the election for freshman class president. Fortunately, it helps to have a film crew following your every move in the hopes of your own TV show. Unfortunately, her two best friends, who should be celebrating with her, are secretly plotting her downfall.

When her two (supposed) best friends, Kellyn and Dorinda, convince her that she needs plastic surgery to make her face symmetrical, the procedure is interrupted during a freak storm. It isn't until Alison gets into a cat-fight at Barneys with teen brat Treasure Spinney that the result of the procedure shows itself.

Alison gets so upset that flames shoot from her fingers.

At first, Alison doesn't realize it was her fault, but after another freak event in her boyfriend's car, and finally a blow up at a nightclub, Alison starts to put two and two together. To prevent backlash, her dad and her evil step-mom, Carmen, force her into therapy. And the school decides she needs a few days off to let the bad press die down. When she returns to school, Alison discovers she's become the school's pariah.

The only person she can turn to is David Eels, a loser geek that jumped out in a superhero costumer during her presidential thank you speech. David can't believe someone like Alison would come to him, but it's the perfect combination. David is a superhero fanatic and immediately helps Alison create an alter-ego persona once he learns of her ability.

As the two form a bond and start to battle the evil in L.A., Alison and her step-mom form a tentative truce. Alison helps with plans for Carmen's Christmas Ball event. All the elite rich will be in attendance. Little does either Alison or David know that the most evil of all, that which they've dubbed "Wettie," will also be in attendance.

HOTTIE is definitely one of those books that can appeal to many audiences. With its superheroes, hot chicks, catty girls, and all the drama high school has to offer, what's not to enjoy? The book was a riot to read and a fun time all the way until the final page.

This is the type of story that leaves you whining for a sequel.

[Alea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hottie was a fun, action-packed and funny book! I think my favorite thing was the author's way with words, the way he describes things, so funny. And he has a great talent for writing characters. From the girl that speaks with a fake French accent for fear of being overshadowed by her friend of the girl that looks like an anime character, there are some hilarious characters in this book. I have to say that I wish the main character Alison aka Hottie was a little less normal and had a few more quirks of her own, well besides her superpower of course! I also love that her best friend in the book is a total dork! And there is a great push pull between two love interests for Hottie, it's hard to tell who you want her to be with more!

At times Alison aka Hottie got a little too ditzy girl for me but overall you could tell she meant well and she had a pretty good mouth on her, especially when it came to talking back to her stepmother Carmen. Hottie is 14 but I think it would have made more sense to me if she was like 16 or something, seemed rather young for some of the things she was up to.

And as you know, I'm all about pop culture references so I love to see them. But they are also hard to do at the same time, you want to keep a book fresh and current but you also want it to last and work years down the road as well without it seeming dated. I'm not really sure where i'm going with this... but I thought this book had a good number, not like 2 but not like 200, it was a good balance.

One thing that made me stop and go HUH, was that Hottie's friends who had been there when she first noticed that flames came out of her fingers, didn't realize it was her who came in and acted as superhero later on in the book. Yes yes, she was wearing her superhero garb that time, but come on, how many girls shoot flames out of her fingers!

Overall a fun book that's a cross between some California fun and superhero antics! It seems like it might be the beginning of a series or at least a set of books so I can't wait to see where it goes and read more from this hilarious author!

[Liviania · Rating 4 out of 5]

But hey, we all know not to judge a book by its cover. It's the content that matters. And I was almost as worried about the content as the cover a couple of chapters in. The first sweeps through the head of several characters of varying importance, as Alison receives news of her election. None of the characters come off as particularly sympathetic. Alison then gives in to her friends manipulation to get plastic surgery - at fourteen.

But when her bad decision goes wrong, HOTTIE gets moving. There's a wonderful sequence of destruction as Alison discovers her new flamability, at which point she realizes she needs the help of her high school's comic book geek, David. Their adventures together help Alison become less shallow and David more self-actualized. (Plus, their driver - an older teen who can be paid to chauffer people to parties - gets off some of the best lines.) Then she discovers her arch nemesis: Wettie. (So they don't know her powers . . . it makes sense.)

I really enjoyed how the love triangle was done. Both boys were nice, cared about Alison for Alison, although one had the advantage of knowing her secret identity. Love triangles work much better when there's reasonable belief either of the choices could win fair maiden. (I'm looking at you TWILIGHT.)

After the disastrous beginning chapters, HOTTIE becomes a funny and entertaining story. There's crime-fighting, friendship drama, family drama, and romantic drama. Pretty much any kind of drama you can think of, which is a nice counterpoint to the comedic elements. Jonathan Bernstein likes to make pop culture references, most of which blend in fine, except for an unfortunate one to Chris Brown. Of course, I read my copy shortly after the news broke so the reference will likely become less jarring as time goes on.

I'm partial to superhero stories, but even taking that bias into account I enjoyed HOTTIE and stayed up late to finish it. The ending is a little far-fetched, but I like how it calls back to an earlier important conversation in the novel enough to accept it.

HOTTIE is available now, and is Bernstein's debut novel.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unlike regular superhero stories, Hottie brings a fresh new outlook on the definition of superheroes.

What I loved about Hottie was the comedy and the genius-ity of the entire thing. I had this déjà vu when I was reading it and realized at the end that it reminded me of the 1-800 Meg Cabot series. Especially with that whole being-zapped-by-lightening-can-produce-superpowers thing. Did anyone else get this similarity?

I loved Alison. She is so funny. And not only does she have a sense of humor, she’s also really smart and outgoing when she’s not being shunned by the world. I loved how she seemed to have a split personality especially when she wore that Hottie costume. When she wore it, she became this whole new confident-boosting gal which is so unlike her typical self especially after she was shut out from all her ex-friends and stuff.

In the really beginning though, I really didn’t like Alison. Why? Because she was so stupid. Seriously. Well, stupid in a naïve way. She believed everyone – her friends and family. And when her mean, nasty friends thought that she needed a symmetry surgery to fix herself even when they knew that she didn’t need to do it, she believed and trusted them and put herself in incredible danger. That danger turned out to be a good thing…at the end.

And the villain? Totally predictable. Well, that’s only to me because I read too many superhero books so I can kind of guess my way through.

The ending…was something I could totally see from my head. When I was reading it, I imagined it how it would be if it was a movie…and was reminded of this witch in the Wizard of Oz that got squashed with only her legs sticking out.

[Lizzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was drawn to this book because of the unique sound of the premise. I couldn't think of any stories that focus on a female teen superhero (can you?), and jumped at the chance to read it. The fact that being a superhero helped to increase Alison's confidence, and allowed her to meet people who supported her growth, made the book even better.

I should point out that it's fairly obvious who the villain is in the story, but the predictability didn't really detract from the fun of the story.

Although I grew to like Alison over the course of the book, I wasn't really sure whether I was going to connect with her character. Plus, I was worried that she wouldn't show any emotional growth. She started off with great (or so she thought) friends, popularity, and she's just been elected class president. In my opinion, most high schools girls (not all, mind you) would be extremely jealous of Alison's current situation. It soon became obvious that, despite all of the aforementioned positive aspects of her life, Alison had self-esteem problems, a scummy boyfriend, and an evil stepmother. Eventually I did connect with her, although I wish that there had been more points where she showed a bit more depth of character.

The one question I had regarding this book involved Alison's plastic surgery. If a girl is under 18 doesn't she need to have written permission, or a parent/guardian present? What kind of doctor would preform surgery on a girl who may not have even finished growing/puberty/etc (ok, a greedy one).

Overall a fun, and fairly quick read.

[E. Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alison Cole is the coolest girl at her Beverly Hills school. She is beatiful, popular, and even nice. After a successful run for president (sponsored by a reality show crew filming every moment), she has a lot of plans for making her high school even more awesome. But her bffs have other things in mind - they are jealous of everything Alison has and convince her to undergo unnecessary plastic surgery. During the procedure, lightning strikes the building and when she wakes up, Alison can shoot flames from her hands. It's not long before she realizes her friends have been sabotaging her, so she turns to David, the school's supergeek, for help. Together they turn her into Hottie, a smokin' superhero. But Alison still can't get past her relationship with her stepmother and David is starting to have feelings for his protege. It will take a supervillain's superscam to straighten out Alison's life, and her new alterego is just the thing she needs to boost her self-esteem. At first glance, this is the corniest book on the market. But Bernstein works all the Beverly Hills cliches to his advantage to build a super-girly superhero comedy, a la Clueless meets Spiderman. Maybe Hottie isn't for everyone, but it's not a book you can judge by its cover. (

[Anna Schroeder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plot:

This book had a very original plot. I haven't heard about the idea of a girl becoming a superhero too much in the young adult genre. However, I thought the story dragged on a little longer than it had to. To me, it started out a little slow, and it took me a really long time to get into the story.

Characters:

While the characters were written and described nicely, the main character, Alison (aka Hottie) really got on my nerves. After a while, I got sick of her "oh gosh, my friends hate my, my step-mom hates me, I hate my life" routine. It got old after a little while, and I get even more annoyed with her once she got new friends, but still continued this routine. She kind of redeemed herself in the end, yet I couldn't get over how much I got annoyed with her during course of the book.

Wow Factor:

I was pretty wowed with this book. While it took me a while to get into the story and I was annoyed with Alison/Hottie most of the time, it was still a good story, and when I got past those two major things, it was a wonderful story.

[Kelli · Rating 1 out of 5]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

That is what I have to say about the premise of this book. Her fingertips shoot fire and the romantic lead is described as dorky David Eels, a social reject. My friend found this so hilarious, that she bought this book for a dollar and gave it to me. I think the cover of this book is a ball of pink genius.
Especially the flaming word "hottie". BUT we cannot judge a book by its cover, so I read some of it. I will say the writing isn't half horrible and its only for a dollar. So if you are a teen, this might be a pretty fun + lazy beach read. Who knows. At least authors and publishers give us book covers and premises, like this one, for laughs.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

My thoughts: This novel was incredibly well written but not my thing. I don’t really like most books that could come across as fantasy or such so this was just different. I think most people could enjoy the quirks and characters. I guess I just don’t have much to say because to me it was just… average.

Recommendation: I would recommend this to girls in 7th grade and up who like books with a little fantasy spin on them.

[Erica Handley · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this story is set like a typical ya book (mean stepmother, mean girls, popularity, cute boyfriend) it has a superhero twist. It took a little while to get into but I can't wait (hopefully) for another book.

[Tricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a nice, easy read and really relates to the language used by teenagers today. I'd reccomend this to anyone who just wants to take a break and read something fun.

[Whooopdeedooo · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a good book. I don't know what else to say.... :)

[Chris Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is one of the best novels in the world.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book had me laughing from the beginning till the end.

[Carla Lee · Rating 1 out of 5]

Could not get past the first few chapters.

[Laura]

Another ARC I rec'd. Currently reading it. It's interesting.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read for professional review.