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A hilarious and heartfelt novel about a neurodivergent theater nerd that tackles slut-shaming, what it means to be a friend, and the power of forgiving others—and yourself.
There are countless good reasons to hate seventeen-year-old Jess Lanza, Stone Bridge High's premier autistic theater nerd and Champion of Questionable Life Choices. Unfortunately, the cyberbullies that hounded her all summer are stuck on last year's life-ruining mistake, the one that earned Jess the title "Boyfriend Stealing Slutbag." To relieve the bullies of their stale content, Jess vows to dazzle them with online posts about her own ridiculous fails and embarrassing character traits. But somehow, all of Jess's posts circle back to her friendship with Chloe—the friendship her alleged sluttiness pulverized—and the gaping hole she left in Jess's life. As Jess chases Chloe's forgiveness, she must confront some of her darkest weaknesses—and darker still, the truth of what happened with Chloe's boyfriend, a story neither of them wants to hear. Told through a series of blog posts and short scripts, this cleverly staged and structured debut novel crackles with spot-on dialogue, features a range of fully developed neurodiverse characters, and sharply evokes high school in all its hilarious and agonizing complexity.
"Metallo balances acerbic comedy with insightful prose to present an intimate character study... .Characterization is a standout feature of this aching and self-aware novel; through Jess's appealing first-person perspective, Metallo crafts interesting and realistic teens and adults, and offers a unique and nuanced view of an autistic teen experiencing high school." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A potentially interesting drama in need of greater clarity." —Kirkus Reviews
"Susan Metallo has the best YA voice I've read in years—sharp, hilarious, and heartbreakingly honest. I couldn't put this book down." —Rachael Allen, author of A Taxonomy of Love and Harley Quinn: Redemption
This information about Reasons to Hate Me was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Susan Metallo is a neurodivergent author and youth services librarian.Reasons to Hate Me, her debut novel, was selected by the American Booksellers Association for Indies Introduce Kids (Summer/Fall 2025) and was honored by SCBWI, the Seven Hills Literary Contest, and Book Pipeline. She lives in New Mexico with her family.
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