Review: Ditched by Robin Mellom

Ditched, A Love Story by Robin Mellom
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
First published: January 10th, 2012
Source: NetGalley
Format: eARC
Pages: 282

Summary:
Justina Griffith was never the girl who dreamed of going to prom. Designer dresses and strappy heels? Not her thing. So she never expected her best friend, Ian Clark, to ask her.
Ian, who always passed her the baseball bat handle first.
Ian, who knew exactly when she needed red licorice.
Ian, who promised her the most amazing night at prom.
And then ditched her.
Now, she must piece together stain-by-stain on her thrift store dress—exactly how she ended up dateless…with only the help of some opinionated ladies at the 7-Eleven. But to get to the whole story, Justina will have to face the boy who ditched her. Can losing out at her prom ultimately lead to finding true love?

My Rating: 4.0 / 5

First thoughts:

This is a very cute and refreshing novel that I could finish reading very fast. It's chaotic, full of misunderstandings and a romance that will make your heart beat faster. As a story that is told in two different time periods - the present and (long) flashbacks to the past, it is easy to follow and no questions are left at the end. Lovers of light-hearted contemporary YA romance will definitely enjoy this. 

More detailed:

When seeing the cover of Ditched, A Love Story, I actually expected it to end up being more Middle Grade, but I loved finding out that it's definitely a Young Adult novel. Justina, who has a very unique name, which I love, is telling the story of her prom. A prom, which should have been the best night of her life but turned out to be a horrible disaster.

The narration is split in two different time periods: the present, in which Justina tells her story to a couple of quite awesome people, and the past, in which we can witness how her prom night turned into an exciting but disappointing event. Justina is a wonderful main character who is slightly paranoid, sarcastic but just wants to be loved.

All of the other character we meet in Ditched, A Love Story are just as amazing. Some of them are the cliché-high-school-students that need to be in almost every light-hearted YA story, others are perfect friends who I just wanted to hug all the time. Characters of the latter category are The Mikes, Serenity, Bliss, Hailey and, of course, Ian.

All in all, Ditched, A Love Story is a cute story about love and a girl's journey to finally find it. I would recommend it for everyone who is looking for a fun novel to distract them from heavier topics. It's a fast read and will definitely not fail to make you smile. Actually I'm sure that it will make you laugh out loud at certain points, as it did with me.

Challenge(s):

Debut Author Challenge 2012

YA Contemporary Challenge 2012

Interesting links (Robin Mellom):

Website | Goodreads | Twitter
First chapter of Ditched

Have you read Ditched? What did you think about it?

Do you plan to read it?
Carina