Review: Why I Loathe Sterling Lane by Ingrid Paulson

Why I Loathe Sterling Lane by Ingrid Paulson

Published June 6th 2017

Per her 537 rules, Harper Campbell keeps her life tidy—academically and socially. But the moment Sterling Lane transfers into her tiny boarding school, her twin brother gets swept up in Sterling’s pranks and schemes and nearly gets expelled. Harper knows it’s Sterling’s fault, and to protect her brother, she vows to take him down. As she exposes his endless school violations, he keeps striking back, framing her for his own infractions. Worst of all, he’s charmed the administration into thinking he’s harmless, and only Harper sees him for the troublemaker he absolutely is.

As she breaks rule after precious rule in her battle of wits against Sterling and tension between them hits a boiling point, she’s horrified to discover that perhaps the two of them aren’t so different. And maybe she doesn’t entirely hate him after all. Teaming up with Sterling to save her brother might be the only way to keep from breaking the most important rule—protecting Cole.

I received an unsolicited copy of this book from the publisher

There was so much of this book that I liked but I disliked the main character, Harper, so much and that really hindered me from falling in love with Why I Loathe Sterling Lane.
This was a fun, light, quick read and I read it within a few days. I liked the plot, the writing style, and I actually loved Sterling. He’s a stereotypical pretty boy that makes it his mission in life to annoy the one girl in school who doesn’t like him but he was so funny. I loved him from the moment he was introduced. To be honest, there wasn’t really anything different or original about him but I’m a sucker for witty dialogue and sarcasm so I thought he was a pretty great character.
Harper on the other hand, was not a great character, in my opinion. She’s the stereotypical (yeah, this book is like 90% stereotypes) straight laced girl that only has time for school and no fun but Harper was that times 10. She was so stuck up and had a stick so far up her butt, she was not fun to read about. I couldn’t relate to her at all and I can’t count how many times I rolled my eyes at her.
Granted, she did get better as the book went on but she was really terrible at the beginning of the book.
I did love the plot a lot. The prank war was a great touch and I really enjoyed that aspect of the book.
The writing style was also really good. I didn’t think it was overly detailed and had a great paced to it.
Overall, despite this book having a ton of tropes and Harper being one of my least favorite characters ever, I enjoyed this book. It was a fun, fluffy read and I’m definitely going to keep my eyes open for any other contemporary books from this author.