A Review: Geek Girl's Guide to Cheerleading

“Some who have read the book, or at any rate have reviewed it, have found it boring, absurd, or contemptible; and I have no cause to complain, since I have similar opinions of their works, or of the kinds of writing that they evidently prefer.” - JRR Tolkien

“Prolonged, indiscriminate reviewing of books is a quite exceptionally thankless, irritating and exhausting job." - George Orwell

I don't normally do full blown reviews here, but today I am and I'll explain why.

A few weeks back, Charity Tahmaseb (published author *G*) sent me an ARC of her book. I was going to read and review it for the LASR site in preparation for the spotlight she and Darcy were having.

At the very last moment, I decided to let one of my other reviewers review it and bought her a Kindle copy. She did so here.

I passed off the book because I wanted to make sure she received a completely unbiased review. I feel like I can provide one, but would I really know?

But now... YOU guys get to hear me gab about it instead, because ... I really did enjoy the book.

Charity turned me on to YA a little while back when I was bemoaning my disenchantment with the romance genre. She gave me some unusual suggestions like "I Am the Messenger" by Marcus Zuzak (a fabulous book -- even my mom read it in ONE day and loved it), and got me to start browsing the YA section of the library.

So, when I had a chance to read "The Geek Girl's Guide to Cheerleading" I was thrilled. And I wasn't disappointed. The book contains a wide variety of kids-- geeks, jocks, cheerleaders, average joes--and they all have their place in the book. Each character was clearly drawn from our H/H (Bethany and Jack) down to the freshmen wrestling team (whom I loved!!).

The plot isn't a new one, but Darcy and Charity made it fresh. Geek girl tries out for cheerleading on a whim and, shockingly she makes it! Now what? No one quite knows what to do with her. Her geek friends feel betrayed by her defection, the popular girls snub her and she's lost her place. Where does she fit in?

But then... be still my heart... the guy she's been crushing on forever TALKS TO HER. Maybe there is something to this cheerleading gig after all.

Still, even though she can now make it through the gauntlet (what's that? Read it to find out!) relatively unscathed, that doesn't mean the popular girls aren't out to make her life miserable. And she suddenly has to juggle worries and responsibilities she never had to before, such as: what do you do when someone dumps beer all over you?

The book addresses so many important things: underage drinking, the importance we place on external looks (and how that affects the girls), sex, peer pressure. It doesn't glamorize any of them, but presents them realistically and without apology. Bethany is a good example for girls because, while she is frequently frustrated and confused, she has a good moral compass and lives by it. She's not a goody-two-shoes or holier-than-thou, she's just a good kid trying to make it through high school.

Charity has talked about the difference between YA romance and adult romance with me before, in the context of the "Happy Ever After" vs. the "Hopefully Ever After" and it's reflected in this book. Does geek girl end up with popular jock? After many mishaps and misunderstandings, of course she does (and no, I don't consider that a spoiler -- it's much like saying that in a standard romance the H/H end up together. We know they will, but read it for the journey). But, she's a kid and still in school... it's not as though the book will end with a proposal, or even an "I love you, move in with me." or just a simple "I love you." It doesn't work that way. And, even though my brain realizes this, my heart wanted a little bit more. An epilogue that shows that they made it in the end, because the two of them have a lot of obstacles to overcome.

And the fact that I wanted this only shows how wrapped up I became in the characters. I loved them all and want to continue following them on their journey through life. I sighed when the book ended and wished for more. And, if that isn't the mark of a satisfied reader, I don't know what is.

It's a good book for adults AND for your teenaged daughter. I can't wait to see what the authors come up with next (and I hear Bethany and Jack might make a cameo in one or more of the upcoming works... WOOT!).

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Review: The Break-Up Diet

I'm hosting author Annette Fix on my blog today, and was excited to receive a copy of her book, The Break-Up Diet, a Memoir.

Annette has a truly crazy sense of humor, so you can only imagine how much I enjoyed reading this book. I admit, it took me a little while to get used to the diary-style entries done in sometimes seemingly unrelated vignettes. Each one could nearly have stood alone as a "Life in These United States" type story, but were interlinked by the thread of sadness at the loss of the man she thought was the love of her life.

Cleverly written, the book tells the story of how Annette slowly recovered from being unexpectedly dumped (via PHONE no less) by the man she thought she'd be marrying. I loved her chapter titles -- "The Wishbone's Connected to the Guy Bone", or "Does Mapquest Give Life Directions?" and "Landscaping and Other Acts of Foreplay".

We've all been through the types of things she describes to effectively -- the dumping and heartbreak. The depression and angst. Pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps and moving on as best we can. The fix-ups. The failures. The frustration.

The author is able inject irony and humor into nearly every part of her recovery and even includes recipes for each section like "Doubt Cake" and "Envy Pie".

If you're looking for a light, fun trip through someone else's break-up, break-down and recovery, I can't recommend a book more. My time is tight, and it usually takes me quite a while to read a book these days, but I finished this one in only two nights: record time. It's an easy read, but one I found myself returning to, now and then, to re-read little bits of her life.

Help yourself to a bit of the Break-Up Diet. I think you'll enjoy the stay.

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Monday Morning Meme and More

The finest clothing made is a person's skin, but, of course, society demands something more than this. ~Mark Twain



1. How many coats do you own? Do have a good coat? Casual coat? Summer jacket? etc. Do you wear coats very often? Or do you have a tendency to leave your coat at home whenever you go out? What is your favorite coat? Why is this one your favorite? Care to model it for us?

I have way too many, which is ironic, because I usually only wear one. I have a down SF 49ers jacket that I really never wear because it's TOO warm, but I can't part with it. I have a navy peacoat that is so completely worn out, but I LOVE it, and can't part with it until I find another one exactly the same (probably not going ot happen, but a girl can hope). I have a long down jacket that I bought when I was pregnant because it had a belt and would fit preggo or not -- and I do wear this for shoveling snow, but not any other time because it's too hard to get in and out of the truck while wearing it. I won't list all the others, but suffice it to say that I don't go coat-less.

But, man, I love that peacoat.

And, yes, I wear coats and/or jackets all the the time -- we have winter for 9 months here...

2. You’ve learned a thing or two about this thing we call blogging. Tell us one thing you don’t recommend to other bloggers. Tell us one thing you do recommend to other bloggers.

Don't: get too controversial, unless that's what your blog is for. I stay away from religion and politics for that reason, despite having pretty strong opinions in both areas.

Do: Blog regularly. If not daily than every other day. If you don't blog regularly, people won't show up. I like people (*G*), so I blog daily.

3. Is cursive writing a lost art? Should good penmanship be taught? Tell us about your handwriting - good / bad? Do you think your children have good handwriting (given their appropriate age, of course).

YES good penmanship should be taught. Sheesh... it's not like we can do EVERYTHING on the computer. My handwriting is actually quite good... big and loopy and easy to read. My DD's? Not so much. Her curriculum this year is on the computer and didn't come with a penmanship supplement. I noticed that her writing was getting worse, so I bought her a penmanship book recently to help her improve.

4. Have you ever struggled with infertility? If you haven’t, or if it wasn’t the hardest thing you’ve ever had to go through — what was?

Struggled? Not exactly. Took me forever to get pregnant, but that's partly because I had REALLY long cycles, so I only had a chance once every two months. The hardest thing? To be honest, I'm not prepared to address that here. Sorry...

But other difficult things? Being 3000 miles away from my mom. Losing my dog. Missing my best friend -- I haven't seen her in seven years. Hating where I live. Still, as "bad" things go, there are people who are far worse off than I am.

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It got into the 40s yesterday, with amazingly high winds. I'm shocked at how much snow melted... I forget, while I'm suffering through the winter, how quickly spring arrives here. It's not here yet, don't get me wrong. We'll most assuredly have more snow. But when it starts warming up here, it warms up fast and with incredible results (results called "MUD SEASON" here for a good reason). In no time at all, my crocus' and daffodils and hyacinth will be poking their heads out of the ground and blooming like crazy.

I.
Can't.
Wait.

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I finished Mary's "Hot Shot" last night -- one of the best books I've read in a while. It was already reviewed by someone else at LASR, so I'll just say this: it was well written, well edited (except one "till" vs. "'til" ... one of my personal pet peeves), well plotted and exciting.

Truthfully, I do wish it had been longer -- but that's something I'll say about every book I enjoy because I'm not ready to leave the characters. I did have the villain pegged, but it didn't affect my enjoyment of the book in any way. The H/H were good, strong protags with all kinds of issues (which made them interesting) and the hero was the kind of guy any woman would fall in love with. (Aside to Mary: I LOVED the scene in the hotel with the condom machine.)

So... going to have to go get "Where's There's Smoke" and enjoy Mary all over again.

Okay, gotta go write. I'm so far behind on JaNoWriMo! But... not for long.

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