Bad Apple by Laura Ruby

Amazon.com:

"If I really wanted to open up, I'd confess that I really am the liar everyone believes I am."

High-school junior Tola Riley has green hair, a nose ring, an attitude problem, and a fondness for fairy tales, which are a great escape from real life. Everyone thinks she's crazy; everyone says so. Everyone except Mr. Mymer, her art teacher. He gets her paintings and lets her hang out in the art room during lonely lunch periods.

But then rumors start flying and Tola is suddenly the center of a scandal. The whole town is judging her—even her family. When Mr. Mymer is suspended for what everyone thinks is an affair, she has no choice but to break her silence. Fairy tales won't help her this time . . . so how can she tell the truth? And, more importantly, will anyone believe her?

Bad Apple has a perfectly weird sense of humor. For me it just worked. From Tola insisting on referring to her sister Tiffany as Madge to "Madge" being somewhat of a strange character herself. It really just worked for me, the author created a sassy, quirky, and awesome main character in Tola and a handful of other oddballs in the secondary characters.

I really liked the plot as well. Did something inappropriate happen between Tola and her art teacher or did someone lie or blow it out of proportion. What really happened? What is revealed is an intriguing web of gossip, mean girls, truth and lies, innocence and guilt. It sure gave me a lot to think about.

Another interesting thing about the book were quotes from characters after each chapter about stuff that had just been discussed in that chapter. It helped move along the story in an interesting way, how it was sort of outside of the actual story but at the same time not.

For me it's a rather detailed book with a lot of different layers! If you are looking for something bizarre and humorous Bad Apple might be a perfect fit for you!

Bad Apple will be released on October 6th
Genre: Young Adult
4.5/5 Stars
ARC provided by publisher