Category: Riot Grrrl!

High school senior Ruby finds herself in a precarious position when her alcoholic mom ditches her and she is left to fend for herself in the six months left before her eighteenth birthday. She tries making a go of it on her own, hiding the fact that the water and heat in her rented house have been turned off, but she is eventually found out and sent to live with her uber-successful lawyer sister Cora (who she hasn’t seen in years) and Cora’s technological whiz-kid husband Jamie. Being catapulted from skid row to the equivalent of VH1’s The Fabulous Life of… leaves Ruby suspicious and unwilling to believe that the good times will last. In fact, she still keeps the key to the old house around her neck just in case she needs an escape hatch. But as she begins to collect new friends who gently but insistently begin to demand her attention (bossy, cell-phone obsessed classmate Olivia, OCD-suffering boss Harriet, more-than-just-a neighbor and smokin’ hot Nate) Ruby begins to relax into her suddenly safe and spacious new life. Until she discovers that perfect Nate has some family secrets of his own, secrets that she unfortunately understands all too well. Can these two fiercely independent teens learn to lean on each other? Or will their pride keep them apart? Sarah Dessen maintains her signature deep and introspective style in this, her eighth novel, and fans will recognize some familiar characters from Dessen’s other works embedded in Ruby’s story. If you like Lock and Key, you’ll want to go back and read Dessen’s backlist, especially my favorite title of hers.

This. Is. One. Badass. Book. Seriously. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if Maureen Johnson had also joined in the fray. So, three awesome chick lit. authors banded together to write this hilarious Florida roadtrip story via email, each adopting a different alter-teen-ego: “Christianpants” Jesse, tough-girl Vicks (who is described as having b & w hair, and I imagined her looking like voted-off-too-soon A.I. Season 7 Amanda Overmeyer), and shy, upper-class Mel. I won’t be the one to spoil the surprise of who wrote what, but friends, it was ALL good. Vicks’ s boyfriend Brady has gone off to college in Miami, which would be fine except he hasn’t texted or called in two weeks and Vicks is worried. So worried that she can’t even share her fears with her best friend, Jesse. Jesse, whose fine-looking Mama can still compete in wet t-shirt contests, has just learned that same sassy Mama has been diagnosed with breast cancer and is so worried about her mother’s possible demise and loss of her eternal soul (according to Jesse, wet t-shirt contestants go straight to Hell, without passing go or collecting $200 dollars) that she doesn’t tell Vicks. Instead, Jesse suggests a road trip to see Brady as a distraction for them both. Third wheel Mel invites herself along because wants a taste of the BF love that Vicks and Jesse share (and also, she’s the only one with an AmEx who could spring for the hotel). After three stinky days in a broken down Opel, an unsupervised house party, two ‘gator “attacks” (one stuffed, one real), a melt-down in a pirate themed-hotel room, and a glorious all-expenses-paid trip to EPCOT, they’re not just friends—they’re badasses (or “badbottoms” as Jesse would say) to be reckoned with. Not since Thelma and Louise has it felt so good to be this bad. The perfect title to be tossed in your backseat next time you hit the open road with your best buds!

So how big of a nerd am I? Pretty big, my teenage friends. Pretty damn big .So big that when my brand spanking new copies of the revised-and-updated-for-the- ipod-generation Sweet Valley High volumes 1 & 2 came from the publisher (yeah, sometimes it’s kinda cool being an unpaid teen book blogger—you do get some freebies), the first thing I did was run right over to my living room bookshelf and pull down my copies of the original versions, circa 1983 to compare. Yes, dear readers, I am the proud owner of the first 100 original SVH paperbacks, collected through the years from friends and second hand bookstores. When I was in 7th grade, my best friend Amy H. had the whole series sitting pretty on her white painted bookshelf in her huge canopied bed-bedroom, and to exorcise my adolescent envy of that unbroken line of perfect paperbacks (Amy was VERY neat), I was determined to hunt down my own set. Were they completely unrealistic and unapologetically soap opera-ish? Absolutely, but there was just something so reassuring about those perfectly turned out teenage sisters, their wholesome school and agreeable family—Elizabeth was good and Jessica was bad, and you could take that to the bank. Plus, you have to remember, this was 1983. YA literature was in a rut. There weren’t a million and one chick lit series to choose from like there are now. It felt like me and my friends graduated right from Beverly Cleary to Danielle Steel and V.C. Andrews. So, what’s the verdict on the new girls? Well, from just a casual perusal, SVH appears to be just as cheesy and squeaky clean as I remember. Now sixteen year old California twins Jessica and Elizabeth have cell phones, drive a red Jeep Wrangler instead of a Fiat, and Elizabeth maintains a blog as well as writing for SVH’s website. But Elizabeth is still pining for captain of the basketball team Todd Wilkins, and Jessica is still chasing anything in pants. Of course, nothing too sexy ever happens in Sweet Valley. In Double Love, when Jessica accidentally gets in over her pretty little head with SVH dropout Rick Andover, a notorious playa, the cops conveniently show up before Jessica’s virtue is threatened. I know, too tame for you, right? But if your little sister keeps stealing your Gossip Girl books and she’s already read all of the Clique, throw these shiny new paperbacks her way. They oughta hold her—at least until the next Clique comes out. And who knows? Maybe she’ll grow to love good old Jessica, Elizabeth, Enid, Todd, Bruce, and the rest of SVH gang as much as me and my Gen-X compatriots did. Now that you’ve traveled down nostalgia lane with me, I’d love it if you would post YOUR memories of your fav series from when you were a kid.

High school sophomore Frankie’s tired of being her blustery dad’s baby bunny and playing sweet sib to her cool big sis Zada. She’s given the opportunity to prove that she’s more than just a pretty face and a smoking’ pair of legs when she discovers the existence of a boys-only secret society at her older-than-Moses private school. A secret society that her v. popular, v. cute upperclass boyfriend Matthew just happens to be a member of. But Matthew doesn’t know that she knows he belongs to it, and the longer Frankie waits for him to tell her, the more she begins to doubt his feelings for her. If he likes her so much, then why doesn’t he trust her with his deepest, darkest secret? Meanwhile, she;s decided to teach Matthew & crew a little lesson by secretly infiltrating their “Loyal Order of the Bassett Hounds” via email and pretending to be head “dawg” Alessandro “Alpha” Tesorieri, Matthew’s best friend. Alpha’s too embarrassed to admit to the rest of the hounds that he’s not the one perpetrating the amazing pranks that are growing from Frankie’s fertile mind, and also pretty pissed that he can’t figure out who the mystery prankster is. So, who will crack first–Alpha, Frankie, or Matthew? And what will the fallout be when one of them decides to come clean? This rollicking good read, which breaks the mold on the so-called “chick lit.” genre with its crackerjack plot and refreshingly smart heroine, references all sorts of interesting trivial doodads you’re gonna wanna look up, like panopticons, P.G. Wodehouse, and “neglected positives.” It’s also by the ever-inventive E. Lockhart, who just gets better with each book. This one will easily make my top ten of the year, if not one of my favorites of ALL TIME, so go out and get it already, will ya? And don’t blame me if it’s already sold out!

April and Wil have both ended up at Wellness Canyon (read: FAT Camp) for the summer. But while April saved all her babysitting money for a year to attend the exclusive teen weight loss spa, Wil is being forced by her famous fitness parents to go to camp and lose weight –or else! When this unlikely pair is assigned to room together, sparks predictably fly. But when they are both kissed and dismissed by the same “barely chubby” football jock, the unlikely allies partner up in a plan of sweet revenge (can you say, “Ex-Lax?”) This lightweight story about heavy issues pairs well with Cherie Bennett’s Life in the Fat Lane or Myrtle of Willendorf by Rebecca O’Connell. It also reminded me of the fav fat camp story from my youth, Jelly Belly by Robert Kimmel Smith. But I date myself–whether you like summer camp stories or weight loss victory laps, you’ll HUGE-ly enjoy Huge.

Fifteen-year-old Scarlett Martin lives in and helps operate a seen-better-days boutique hotel in Manhattan with her parents and three siblings: aspiring actor/big brother Spencer, sacrificial older sister Lola, and bratty little sister Marlene. Ever since Marlene had to be hospitalized for cancer a few years ago, the family’s finances have been depleted to the point where the Martins are barely keeping their feather dusters above water in the competitive New York City hotel business. Now each Martin has to pitch in to keep the drowning Hopewell hotel afloat, and while Scarlettt doesn’t mind doing her share, she wishes her upcoming summer could be about more than changing sheets and airing curtains. Enter Mrs. Amberson, a rich, aging diva with loads of attitude and connections. She books a room in the Hopewell for the summer with the intention of writing her autobiography and reliving the halcyon days of her storied youth, and quickly hires Scarlett as both audience and assistant. Having Mrs. A around will certainly liven up Scarlett’s weak-ass summer. But when the past-her-prime starlet starts dishing out unwanted advice about Scarlett’s barely-there love life, while simultaneously taking and making over Spencer’s struggling Shakespeare company, Scarlett realizes that Mrs. A may be way more than what the doctor ordered for her summertime blues. This madcap romantic comedy is my new favorite Maureen Johnson title. Like the classic movies Breakfast at Tiffany’s, or Philadelphia Story, it is full of witty repartee and blithe banter, especially between Scarlett and her beloved brother Spencer. (Methinks it was inspired in part by some of the playful word jousting that goes on in real life between Maureen and her good friend, fellow YA author John Green. Want to see some of it? Click here.) In addition, Johnson includes several sections from “guidebooks” about the imaginary Hopewell that lets readers know a bit about it’s glorious past, which read like love odes to some of the great NYC historical hotels (like the real Algonquin, which has quite a literary legacy) Whether you’re looking for a romantic romp, brilliant back-and-forth dialogue, or just a great New York story, Suite Scarlett is the book for you! (and how interesting that the cover model looks remarkably like another Scarlett : planned? or coincidence?) Reservations can be made at any library or bookstore near you.

Kayla and her best friend Rosalie have always viewed themselves as radical feminists warriors in the battle against society’s rampant mental and physical oppression of women. But now loud-mouth Rosalie wants laid-back Kayla to put her burgeoning investigative journalism skills to work by trying out for their school dance squad, The Lady Lions. Rosalie is sure the stacked dance crew won’t have anything to do with Kayla, because even though she’s got moves, Kayla’s a card-carrying member of the “itty bitty” A-cup club. Rosalie’s plan is for Kayla to write a scathing expose of the Lady Lions and their discrimination of those who happen to be bosom-ly challenged. But to both of their amazement, Kayla makes the team, and to her own surprise, actually likes being a Lady Lion. The dance squad girls aren’t nearly as snooty as she imagined, and really seem to want to be friends. But how can Kayla make her bossy BFF understand that she can be a feminist AND a proud, girl-power performer? Newcomer Sherri Winston’s story of a girl on the verge of discovering who she really is and what she stands for is sassy and outrageously funny. Winston’s message that girls can be both feminine and feminist is especially powerful in our current “girls gone wild” American society. And the appended lexicon of “Kayla-isms,” Kayla’s innovative made-up vocab for every occasion, probably won’t be long finding its way into teen text messages everywhere. I’m a personal fan of “crunktacular: an event that’s very nature is hyped-up, psyched-out, and leads to extra-wild reactions” and “blind-sexy: when someone looks so good even a blind person would go, ‘Mmm!'”