Falling Over Sideways, by Jordan Sonnenblick

After finishing Frog Kisser, a good fantasy fairy tale, I needed something more realistic, so I chose Falling Over Sideways, another OBOB book for the year, by an author of a previous OBOB book, Jordan Sonnenblick. The last book of his I read was Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie, which I enjoyed, if my pug memory serves me correctly. But Falling Over Sideways almost made me want to tip over sideways. It is realistic fiction, which I usually enjoy. But Sonnenblick tries to write 8th grade life through a female main character, and she comes off very predictable, forced, and false most of the time. I know he has several books in teen lit, but I don't know how many times he has tried writing from the viewpoint of a girl. As a girl, I can tell you, he didn't pull it off very well. Perhaps you will or have read this book, and get more joy out of it than I did. If so, please let me know! But I got to the very end, hoping something real would happen, and with only a few pages left, I couldn't finish. I have never not finished a book being that close to the end. This is a first. I hope you read it and have a much better outcome - sometimes true middlers enjoy books I don't...I'm probably too old or something. Anyway, not my favorite OBOB book of the year...in fact, my least favorite so far. Can't wait to start something else. 2 paws.