How To Rock is a series of Young Adult novels written by Meg Haston. They tell the story of Kacey Simon, resident Alpha Bitch at Marquette Middle School in Chicago. Kacey is an aspiring journalist, a passionate actress, and a social dictator whose words and style basically define the behavior of the majority of the student body. She also has a problem: She's had eyesight issues for a while and her improper use of her contact lenses leaves her with an eye infection, forcing her to stop using them and get glasses. On top of that, a skating accident causes her to chip a tooth, requiring her to get braces. Practically overnight, Kacey goes from the top of the Popularity Food Chain to the bottom and has to join forces with a geeky neighbor and a local rock group in an effort to claw her way back.
There are currently three books:
How To Rock Braces and Glasses - 2011
How To Rock Make-Ups and Break-Ups - September 2012
How To Rock Best Friends and Frenemies - December 2013
If you're looking for the TV adaptation, go here.
Tropes used in How To Rock
- Alpha Bitch: Kacey, though most of the "bitchiness" was actually just Brutal Honesty. For all her cruel words, she genuinely thought she was helping people.
- Backstabbing the Alpha Bitch: In a rare variant, Kacey does this to herself: Shortly after recovering her status, she bails on a promise she made to Paige, the girl who helped her out, to hang out with her Girl Posse. Upon hearing the girls badmouthing another student, Kacey has an attack of conscience and publicly apologizes on her school news program.
- Big Damn Heroes: Kacey at the end, coming to the rescue when Zander starts losing the crowd during a cover of "Go Your Own Way".
- Braces of Orthodontic Overkill: Kacey acts like she gets these, even though they're really just basic metal braces (and headgear, but only at night). Most of her
Wangst comes from the fact that she'd rather get something like Invisalign but her treatment needs to be more extensive. - Brutal Honesty: See Alpha Bitch above.
- Canon Immigrant: Stevie from the TV Series appears in Make-Ups and Break-Ups, but the two versions aren't very similar.
- Character Development: Really the whole point of Braces and Glasses.
- The Conscience: Paige to Kacey, though her own moral rightness is open to interpretation. (For example, her reason for helping Kacey is that Kacey will owe her and help her win a school election, as opposed to it just being the right thing to do.)
- Heel–Face Turn: Kacey
- Jerkass Realization: Kacey has one over the course of the Braces and Glasses.
- Lovable Alpha Bitch: Kacey at the end of the Braces and Glasses.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Kacey in Break-Ups and Make-Ups, when she realizes how badly her efforts to get rid of Stevie have screwed things up.
