Reasons to Hate Me

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.

Susan Metallo is a neurodivergent author and youth services librarian. Reasons to Hate Me, her debut novel, won the SCBWI Work-in-Progress Award for Young Adult Fiction and the Seven Hills Literary Contest and was honored by Book Pipeline and the Searchlight Writing for Children Awards. She serves as regional advisor for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators in New Mexico.