I picked up Natasha A. Salnikova's Mean Girl hoping for an insightful and perhaps nuanced look at high school social dynamics, bullying, and the complexities of teenage relationships. The title suggested a direct confrontation with the "mean girl" trope, and I was curious to see how the story would unfold. Unfortunately, while the book had moments that hinted at its potential, it largely left me feeling disconnected and underwhelmed.

The concept of navigating the treacherous waters of high school popularity and the impact of bullying has a certain inherent appeal, and Salnikova attempts to explore these themes. There were brief flashes where the narrative hinted at genuine emotional struggles or the awkwardness of navigating social circles. For readers who enjoy very light contemporary stories focused on school life, some of the foundational elements might initially pique their interest.

However, the primary issue I encountered was the execution of both the plot and the characters. The pacing felt incredibly inconsistent; at times, it dragged endlessly with seemingly trivial details or repetitive internal monologues, while at others, it rushed through potentially significant developments without adequate build-up. The world of the high school felt somewhat superficial, lacking the depth or authenticity needed to truly immerse me in the characters' daily lives or their social struggles.

The characters themselves, particularly the protagonist and the titular "mean girl," struggled to truly resonate. Their motivations often felt unclear or inconsistent, making it hard to connect with their decisions or emotional journeys. The friendships and rivalries, which should have been a source of tension and relatability, often felt forced or underdeveloped, lacking genuine stakes. The dialogue, at times, felt cliché or unnatural, further hindering immersion. The plot, while having a central conflict, often relied on convenient resolutions or felt unnecessarily simplistic without a clear payoff.

Ultimately, Mean Girl felt like a book with a promising premise that didn't quite hit its mark. While it touches on themes of friendship, honesty, and the impact of bullying, the inconsistent pacing, underdeveloped characters, and often predictable plot made it a challenging and ultimately unrewarding read. It might appeal to a very specific niche of younger middle-grade or early young adult readers, but for me, it simply didn't live up to its potential.

I would like to thank you for the opportunity to read this book, however I am no longer interested in reading this book.

I am sorry but this just wasn't for me. I felt I could sympathize with Corby for being bullied but I was so indifferent about her character I couldn't even feel that. Finding out this was translated made sense because the writing was sub par to say the least. The characters were all unlikable and the adults were clueless. I found this so far fetched that I often wondered if this was a satire.

Easy, fun and engaging read. I felt invested with the characters and the plot flowed organically. Perfect beach ir airport read.

Corby doesn't have an ideal life. She's bullied constantly and living in the shadow of her beautiful TV anchor mother. Her father is almost an aide in keeping her weight up and helping her to compress what she is feeling.

Then an unexpected encounter with one of the most popular boys in school makes everything worse for Corby. The girls that were bullying her are now completely fixated on making her life miserable. Constantly looking for things to do that will either hurt or humiliate Corby.

When one of the girls enters her family's store, Corby hopes that she can turn things around. Hopes that this is her chance to set things right and get away from the constant pain and embarrassment. Corby couldn't have been more wrong. Things take an unforeseen turn and from that point on its a downhill ride for the girl who wanted nothing more than just one friend.

An intriguing and suspenseful story.

My first experience with Natasha A Salnikova. I was pleasantly surprized. Emotional and typical description of teenagers, the traumatic effect of bullying, the horror of its effects on the teenage mind. It was a page turner that kept me up late at night. Well worth reading. 4/5

I found this book to be an easy fun read. Some good suspense that held my attention. The ending being too abrupt would be my one criticism of the book.

A full review of my opinions will be published on my website soon. In short, I wasn't a huge fan of this book. I think there have been books with the same plot which have done it better.

Mean girl by Natasha A Salnikova.
This was a very enjoyable read with likeable characters.  Some characters I didn't like.
Corby Mackentile is a fifteen-year-old girl who attends a private school. She has been bullied because of her weight since she was twelve, especially by the most popular girls. Her parents - her mother is a TV anchor and her father is a Buddhist who owns a butcher shop - are too busy with their own lives to pay attention to their only daughter. Corby has a crush on one of the most popular boys in school. He makes fun of her once, but then unexpectedly apologizes to her via text messaging. Corby has no idea why he does that, but from that moment, her situation with three of the popular girls becomes worse. Then, one day, one of the girls who had bullied Corby comes to the butcher shop where Corby works for her father after school. The girl doesn't miss a chance to tease Corby about her weight once again, but a pure, but horrible accident that happens during this visit changes Corby's life in a way she's never expected.
I didn't see that coming.  Very strange ending. 3*.

I had a hard time getting through this one. The entire story is told from fifteen-year-old Corby's perspective and inside that girl's head is not a pleasant place to be. She's hard to like and she wasn't interesting enough to keep me turning pages. Things just kind of happened to her.

This book was not what I expected. The premise was an interesting one, but I don't know if it was the writing style, but I just could not get into it. With all in the news regarding bullying, this book could have made a impact, but it did not. This book was not very realistic to me, yet at times, some of it was disturbing. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC of this book in return for my honest review.

Wow, I just put this book down and my head is still spinning...but in a good way :) Mean Girl is a story of bullying gone to far and the ends to which one girl will go to to make it stop. We all seek acceptance, but sometimes we find that acceptance in the wrong person. Mean Girl brought me back to my high school days and what I endured as an overweight teen. This is the first book I've read by Natashsa A. Salnikova and I'm interested to see what she comes up with for her next book.

This book felt like it had been done before. I had no emotional connection to any of the characters and didn’t necessarily care what actually happened.

As someone that was bullied in school for her weight, I can attest to the fact that the author captured all of the emotions that are felt during that time period. However, the main character in this book took matters into her own hands and we see a change in power between her and the girls that are bullying her. The author did a superb job of writing this so that the reader can feel the emotions that the main character felt and understand why she chose the actions that she did. Definitely recommend.

Mean Girl is a very hard book to review without ruining a lot for the next reader. I really enjoyed the book which I received from #NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased review. I will gladly recommend it to others and I would definitely read more from this author. Without spoiling anything the book is about bullying and the effects it has on the children who are exposed to this everyday of their life and leave a lasting impact on them totally ruining their future. I give this book 5 stars for a great story line and strong characters.

Thank you NetGalley for granting me access to this, but it is a tough book to review.
The story focuses on Corby, a young girl who is bullied and who ends up taking control of events in a most unorthodox way.
Throughout the story you feel some sympathy with Corby for her situation. However, the initial action that prompts her behaviour is a little flimsy in construction. Nobody seems to know what’s going on, her parents ignore her and the way the bullying is described is rather juvenile. Girls can be much more vicious, and I feel this makes her behaviour hard to understand.
Once we reach a certain point it becomes so far-fetched I continued reading just to see how bad it got. The answer...pretty bad.

I really wanted to like this book as bullying is an ever-increasing problem in schools, but it was just too weird and not terribly realistic--kind of like a bad Lifetime movie. Corby goes to private school and is overweight so she is taunted and bullied every day by the popular girls. And yes, she gets revenge in the worst way imaginable. The writing was odd; I think this can be attributed to it having been translated from the original language, but it seemed to distance the reader from the characters and there was no one at all likable in the book. All the adults--from parents to teachers and administrators were portrayed as idiots and the teens were barely believable because their personalities seemed to change every moment. I found myself saying, "huh?" way too often.
I do love a good psychological thriller, but this one--while gruesome and gory--did have a premise but it was just too unbelievable for me. I can usually suspend disbelief but not this time.

I tried, but it was like one of those straight-to-DVD horror movies which just suck. I think tackling bullying is really important, I mean who hasn't had a rough ride at some point from one bratty kid or another? And why should that be an accepted part of growing up? And if you've ever been truly affected by bullying, you'll know that it is utterly disgusting and deserves more coverage in the book world to change how we treat others. But this book isn't, in my opinion, the way to go about spreading positive messages about how to overcome this.

For me, Mean Girl shows bullying on a really superficial level. The nasty girls use unoriginal, overused "insults" repeatedly, and whilst this is definitely enough to wear at someone, this just doesn't portray the real magnitude of bullying at all. The author had the perfect platform here to really showcase how utterly devastating bullying can be, how psychologically damaging and draining it is for a person to have to work through. And she just didn't take that opportunity. Equally, the ways in which Corby decides to defeat her bullies are just not realistic. I'm sure lots of young people will pick this book up hoping to relate to Corby and see how she moves past her struggles, and I think the outcome is disappointing and not at all the kind of motivator these readers will be reaching for.

The main explanation for this has to be that the writing style in this book is just weird. I think the author genuinely tried to tackle important issues, but the execution caused the key messages to be lost. The writing is choppy, sometimes doesn't add to the story, and can be quite obtuse and blunt. I get that these kind of (allegedly) psychological thrillers can sometimes benefit from a disjointed narrative, but this is utterly emotionless, very simple and really dry. I didn't feel anything for any of the characters, and usually I'm quite affected by their inner workings.

I have great respect for any author who challenges such an important topic, and I don't think beautiful prose is necessarily needed to capture that; we just need more books out there that accurately portray what it means to be bullied, or perhaps even to be a bully. But the execution of this one misses the mark for me, and I won't be recommending it.

I will be honest that I found the first few chapters very hard to get into. The writing style was a bit stilted and I found myself struggling to deal with the sheer amount of backstory and exposition stuffed into the chapter. I think it's been translated into English which could explain the stilted English but after a while though it settles down and quite enjoyable.
Corby is bullied by school mates for being overweight. She just tries to keep her head down and get through the day. Her parents have their own problems, being a TV anchor and a vegetarian Butcher.
When Corby accidentally kills one of the mean girls her life starts to change.
Its interesting to see the downward spiral of her psyche and her burgeoning eating disorder.
I think the real twist was the attitude of the boy she fancies and his actions once he finds out.
A nice read but probably not one I'd read again.

Fifteen-year-old Corby Mackentile, honor student at a private school, is an overweight girl who is severely bullied. She has developed a strategy of survival. This is imperative because there are three girls in particular who bully Corby.

Corby's mother is a TV anchor, and her father is a Buddhist, and, oddly enough. owns a butcher shop. It is at this shop where a shocking tragedy occurs to one of the three girls. This forever changes Corby and her actions. She goes from being an unhappy, overweight girl to one who has a change in power. Despite this, it is quite sad that her parents have been oblivious to her until now, and by the time they recognize her changing, it is really too late. This is where the story becomes rather morbid.

Mean Girl by Natasha Sainkova is a true psychological thriller. Chilling. Brutal. Unsettling. I had to put it down more than once. It was as if I were watching a horror movie with the remote control in my hand, ready to press pause or even shut it off completely. Of course, I was impelled to see it through. There are astonishing twists and turns that lead to a shocking ending.