 Hating Alison Ashley is a coming of age story about teenagers dealing with their self-inflicted angst, their embarrassing parents, their friends and those they would call their enemies. Erica Yurken s life sucks: her family is an embarrassment, her acting genius is unrecognized and because of her name, she is nicknamed  Yuk . So from the moment the perfect Alison Ashley arrives at school, Yuk knows there is going to be trouble. Yuk has always felt superior to everyone at Barringa East, but Alison is everything Yuk has ever wanted to be