You know what the funniest bit of this is? I wouldn't have given that negative review any thought without the author's reaction.

It's perfectly believable that some dumb kid would fake a kidnapping. It's been done. And believable that a friend would want to find out what's going on without alerting the authorities first. Maybe not the smartest move, but I could see it happening, especially with young, not-too-bright, don't-always-think-things-through types. And since the reviewer can't give any solid examples of why the male character's such a jerk, I wouldn't pay too much attention to that.

But reading the author's response instantly tells me that 1. she can't write for crap, her book probably does suck, and 2. she's a whiny drama queen with a rather odd grasp of reality, so the reviewer's probably right about the books being unrealistic.