Surviving High School by M. Doty Review

"What's the secret to surviving your freshman year of high school?

Emily Kessler thinks she has it all figured out. She eats, sleeps and trains for competitive swimming. All she has to do is keep her grades high and swim times short -- short enough to live up to her sister Sara's. But walking the crowded maze of unfamiliar high school hallways is like diving headfirst into shark-infested waters. Shark #1: Dominique, her biggest competition on the swim team and all-around mean girl. Shark #2: The adorable and popular Ben Kale... Emily can't resist his smile no matter how hard she tries. When the pressure builds to the point where Emily isn't sure she can stay afloat, she begins to question the strict path her life has always followed.
Maybe there is more to life than studying and swimming. Maybe the secret to surviving high school is just to have a little fun.

The hit mobile game Surviving High School comes to life in an original novel about perfection, failure, and following your dreams."

Remember the movie The Ice Princess? Well, it turns out Surviving High School is just like it. A boy, a swimming competition, and grades. It sounds really similar to The Ice Princess, eh?

Anyway, Surviving High School is a really good and short book (and this will be a short review too. Probably one of my worst because of my late owl habits). It's only two hundred to three hundred pages long, starring the Ice Princess plot without the ice. For those of you who don't know the movie The Ice Princess, let me explain. Or if you don't want me to explain, then you should read the wikipedia article for that movie. Last time I read it, it was kind of weird.

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Maybe you should read my quick summary of the plot. The Ice Princess: The girl wanted to do something awesome for her physics project. Girl studies ice skating and falls in love with it. Girl competes in competition and nearly loses. Girl struggles with parents and enemies. Girl wins. She competes and makes it to a new stage. She's on her way to success. Hip, hip, hooray.

Yeah, that's pretty much it. However, I didn't include the plot with the boy. The boy is pretty much a distraction from the true plot, like what's happening in this book. (But the boy, Ben Kale, is actually pretty awesome even though Emily seems to be the cheating type).

Of course, there's some notable differences. Like Emily being a swimmer from early in her life while the girl recently started ice skating. And Emily has a dead sister unlike the girl.

But it's easily said that the plot is virtually the same if you break it down. I can this: If you like the Ice Princess, then you will like Surviving High School.

Emily doesn't seem so sad to lose Sara. It's kind of as if she's suppressing those emotions. It's there, but it's subtle. The ending is very sweet and touching. I love how...oh wait, that's spoilers again. Let's just say that there was a little touch of the supernatural.

Rating: Four out of Five