My Parents Are Sex Maniacs...: A High School Horror Story

This review has some spoilers. Louise Harrison hangs on the fringes of the in crowd at her high school, tolerated by the queen bees because she's best friends with Sienna Marshall...until Sienna's mom performs oral sex on Louise's dad at his 50th birthday party, wreaking havoc on both families. Meanwhile, Louise gets a job at the mall to afford highlights, develops a giant crush, and gets into a fight with her best friend, making her the object of plenty of high school gossip. While there are a few predictable plot twists, even those are humorous in Harding's hands. There's an interesting story line about teen sexual orientation, with one student in the closet, and to Harding's credit, she paints that part of his situation with sympathy, even though he's otherwise a lout. Louise is a lovable misfit, her parents charming, especially her mom as she embarks on a new relationship, while the brother-sister relationship is one of tough love (and lots of cursing). While there are definitely lessons to be learned here, they're not done in a heavy-handed way, and Harding makes Louise the perfect foil for the obnoxiousness that teen girls specialize in. Louise plays things understated (such as when one girl is "gifted" with the chance to get busy with a certain popular boy) and, as such, wins over readers.

I love YA and My Parents are Sex Maniacs is perfect in so many ways. First of all, it made me remember how I felt in high school. It seems as though I was , somehow, always mortified by something my parents did (regarldess of what they ACTUALLY did) and reading this book made me go down memory lane.Louise and Sienna are best friends and they both get a nasty surprise, Louise's Dad and Sienna's mom are caught cheating together. As you can imagine, not only does this have a huge impact emotionally on both girls, it also serves as gossip for those around them and in particular, their peers in school.I loved this storyline, Louise was so incredibly melodramatic at every turn - I mean, yes, she had every reason to be confused and hurt, but she went overboard on the drama and, in many ways, milked this for everything she could. Yet, author Harding wrote the character of Louise in such a way, that throughout, I never stopped loving her as a character. She was at times annoying, funny and sad.One of the strongest points of this book is its humour - despite the very serious topic - and it worked well. There is a message here - one about wanting to fit in when you are a teenager - and that parents are NOT always right in their own life choices. I liked this book alot and recommend it .