Not my Favorite Zarr Book

As I have said before, I am a HUGE Sara Zarr fan.  Along with Sara Dessen, she is one of the most talented young adult writers.  I thought I read everything by Zarr until I saw this book at the library and realized I somehow missed it. I felt like I had won the lottery!  Story of a Girl delves into the consequences of one incident and how one mistake can ruin an entire reputation.  It tells the story of Deanna, a thirteen year old who was caught by her father in the backseat of a car with her older brother's seventeen year old friend.  Years later, she still carries the label of school slut and her father has yet to make eye contact with her.  She carries the burden of making one mistake and having to pay a huge price.  To make matters worse, she has feelings for her best friend, who happens to be the boyfriend of her only other friend.  This book was probably my least favorite Zarr story.  I really did not like the character of Deanna and I had a hard time feeling bad for her because of it.  I felt like she was totally consumed with self-pity and that if she could find a way to move on with her life, maybe others would too.  She seemed to want her friends to pity her for what happened and her entire existence revolved around her obsessing over her sad life.  I wanted to scream at her to get over it or do something about it.  Deanna further irratated me by making all the wrong choices, and failing to learn from her mistakes.  Even after her life is "ruined" by Tommy, when she reunites with him at her job in a pizza place, she picks up where they left off, in the backseat of his car.  This drove me crazy!  When she makes a move on her best friend, I wanted to throw the book.  Despite the decent story, Deanna irritated me for the entire story and I was glad to be rid of her when I finished the book.