52 Reasons To Hate My Father by Jessica Brody

52 Reasons to Hate My Father by Jessica Brody.
Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
Pages: 352.
Release Date: July 3, 2012.
Source: Publisher.

Being America’s favorite heiress is a dirty job, but someone’s gotta do it.

Lexington Larrabee has never to work a day in her life. After all, she’s the heiress to the multi-billion-dollar Larrabee Media empire. And heiresses are not supposed to work. But then again, they’re not supposed to crash brand new Mercedes convertibles into convenience stores on Sunset Blvd either.

Which is why, on Lexi’s eighteen birthday, her ever-absent, tycoon father decides to take a more proactive approach to her wayward life. Every week for the next year, she will have to take on a different low-wage job if she ever wants to receive her beloved trust fund. But if there’s anything worse than working as a maid, a dishwasher, and a fast-food restaurant employee, it’s dealing with Luke, the arrogant, albeit moderately attractive, college intern her father has assigned to keep tabs on her.

In a hilarious “comedy of heiress” about family, forgiveness, good intentions, and best of all, second chances, Lexi learns that love can be unconditional, money can be immaterial, and, regardless of age, everyone needs a little saving. And although she might have 52 reasons to hate her father, she only needs one reason to love him.

I've read and enjoyed all of Jessica Brody's YA novels so I can say - for me, personally - 52 Reasons to Hate My Father is the very best one of them all. It's got all of the fun and lightness that Jessica is so great at capturing but this one is my favorite because it's also a lot more serious and dramatic. It's actually the perfect balance of both.

Lexington was such a conflicting character for me in the very beginning but I feel like it's supposed to be that way. I wanted to throttle her because her diva ways were so infuriating but then I also wanted to hug her because her family issues seemed so sad to deal with. I love the way Brody progresses her with the jobs she does and how a little chunk of her hardness melts away with every job she does. (Can we make every whiny hot mess in Hollywood do this? Lindsay Lohan, yes?) And by the end of the book, I was so happy with her character.

I absolutely loved her relationship with Luke. It starts off rocky (No instalove = I instalove the book) but their bantering is absolutely hilarious. Her video logs to Luke were so funny and snarky and cute! (I heard this was optioned for film and I really hope it happens because I have a feeling those will be some of my favorite scenes in the movie!)

And one of my favorite things about this book was how everything with her father was handled. When she talked about him in the beginning, it kind of tugged on my heartstrings and even though Lexi was pretty frustrating, I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. I love how Brody went about this aspect of the story. It's not sugar-coated and it's not what I expected, but I was so satisfied with where their relationship left off when I closed the book.

Overall, I loved 52 Reasons to Hate My Father so, so much. My favorite one from her yet! If you're in the mood for something light and romantic and funny but with a lot of serious substance, I definitely recommend this one! Now I'll go impatiently await Jessica Brody's next YA novel which is sure to be as great as all the others.

Other reviews for 52 Reasons to Hate My Father:
Alexa Loves Books.
I'd So Rather Be Reading.
The Book Scout.