Elena Likes Books

A fun, satisfying end to the series. None of the series books, including this one, quite lives up to the first book, The Boyfriend List, but this was an admirable finale. As usual, I had twinges of, "Oh God, Ruby, you are an idiot," but, also as usual, Ruby learns from her mistakes.Throughout the series, I've loved Lockhart's attitude toward characterization. Every single one of her characters is a complex, fully realized individual who has faults both major and minor. The "good" characters have some extremely bad traits, and even the "bad" characters have good qualities. Bravo to Ms. Lockhart for that.Lastly, this book has convinced me that Ruby's parents need therapy a lot more than she does. There were at least three points when I felt Ruby could have reported her parents to social services and had them put in prison for child abuse and/or neglect, yet they're still somehow meant to be sympathetically kooky? No. Especially not her mother.