Smek for President! by Adam Rex

Tip is frustrated.  She and J.Lo saved the world but no one knows it.  Her mom has finally decided to start acting like a mom when Tip has been taking care of herself her whole life.  So when J.Lo suggests visiting the Boov's new home planet, New Boovworld, Tip agrees, even though her mom told her no.  The two pack up Slushious (their flying car) and head to New Boovworld to clear up the whole misunderstanding about J.Lo letting the Gorg know where the Boov were and all.  Things do not go as planned.

I loved The True Meaning of Smekday and was very excited for a sequel I didn't even know was coming.  It did not disappoint.  Maybe it wasn't quite as delightful as the first one, but it was still pretty delightful.

We are reunited with all our old friends, Tip, her mom, J.Lo, Dan Landry, who's taken all the credit for conquering the Gorg, and meet lots of fabulous new characters.  We are finally introduced to the legendary Captain Smek, who's having some trouble on New Boovworld.  It seems that some of the Boov are calling for the first presidential election the Boov have ever had!  Captain Smek is in trouble.  But capturing Public Enemy Number One (who happens to be J.Lo) might make him look a bit better.  When J.Lo is arrested and put in prison on New Boovworld, Tip teams up with a friendly flying billboard she names Bill to try and set things right.

Like the first book, beneath all the hilarity and silly antics of the Boov, it's a story about family and friendship.  Tip is struggling with some growing pains and the relationship with her mom, who she knows loves her but won't get off her back.  And as much as Tip says she doesn't care if no one knows she saved the world, she does, in fact, really care that no one knows she saved the world!  I mean, SHE SAVED THE WORLD! 

The story was funny, sweet and had some great twists and surprises.  And lots of hilarious Boovian accents.

Smek for President! comes out February 10, 2015.

The Glitter Trap by Barbara Brauner and James Iver Mattson, illustrated by Abigail Halpin

Lacey Unger-Ware (yes, her real name) is in for a boatload of trouble when popular girl Paige Harrington's fairy godmother, Katarina, gets trapped in Lacey's hair.  With Katarina out of commission, Lacey has to take over Katarina's fairy godmother duties and get Paige her heart's desire.  If she doesn't, Lacey's heart's desire will never come true either!

Poor Lacey.  What were her parents thinking?  Bad enough to hyphenate Unger-Ware, but then to name their child Lacey?  Terrible.  Lacey was a fun character.  She's not popular, but she's also not a loner or desperate to become popular.  She's a bit intimidated by the popular kids, but she's got a great best friend, Sunny, and seems a pretty happy, well-adjusted kid, despite getting teased about her name.  She's got a great family.  Her parents are warm and supportive and has an adorable/annoying little sister.

Paige just came to Lacey's middle school that year, but is already the most popular girl in the class, and one of the kids who calls Lacey "underwear girl."  Lacey doesn't know much about Paige, just that she's pretty and popular and seems to have a personal spotlight shinning on her wherever she goes, while Lacey feels awkward and, well, like a middle school kid!

Spoilers

Sparks: The Epic, Completely True Blue, (Almost) Holy Quest of Debbie by S. J. Adams

Debbie has been in love her with best friend Lisa for ages, but has never told for fear of losing her.  Now, Lisa seems to be considering going all the way with her new boyfriend.  Debbie knows she doesn't have much of a chance, but she HAS to let Lisa knows how she feels.  And so Debbie finds herself on a crazy adventure with new friends and devote Blueists, Emma and Tim, to track down Lisa before the night is over so Debbie can declare herself.

I totally loved this.  It was sweet, but with a tiny bit of an edge.  It had  fun, relatable characters that were a delight to read about.  The whole "Church of Blue" things was weird at first, but then ended up being quite nice.

I liked that all the action in the book takes place over one day.  Just one day.  And what a day it was!  We get to see Debbie, through each crazy adventure that happens over the course of the evening, take it in and realize something about herself.  By the time she actually manages to find and talk to Lisa, she is in a very different place then she was in that morning.

Chomp by Carl Hiassen

Wahoo has a somewhat nontraditional lifestyle, the fact that he lives in a zoo is a major factor and his father Mickey definitely tips that scales into weird. After his father gets hit on the head by a frozen iguana, it's up to Wahoo and his mother to make ends meet. This desperation leads Wahoo to accept a TV offer for Expedition Survival. They've contacted Wahoo and his father to set up scenes with tame animals in controlled environments, which should be an easy job with a big pay off.

Little does Wahoo know that the production company is going to involve more complications than first thought, mostly because of the star Derek Badger's ridiculous expectations of his own abilities. Added to the company is Tuna, a schoolmate of Wahoo's who has runaway from her abusive father. An abusive father with a gun.

I would first like to say that I listened to this on audiobook, and it's read by James Van Der Beek. That's right Dawson was reading the book, and he did a marvelous job. His portrayal of Derek Badger was fantastic, but he really made Mickey Cray become someone I wanted to get to know. It was crazy good.

I'll be honest and say that I haven't ever read any of Carl Hiaasen's books before this. First impression? He's incredibly funny, with a lovely grasp of the depth of emotions that children can latch on to. I think it's easy to make middle grade books rather shallow in the emotion department, but Hiaasen definitely touches on darker themes that are engaging and thought-provoking. I especially liked his view of Derek Badger and the corporate machine of television. Not to say that this was a complete discourse on the corruptness of media or anything like that, it just made suggestions that added to the depth and tone of the story.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

Mindy Kaling, of The Office fame, writes a series of essays on things such as karaoke etiquette, the day she stopped eating cupcakes, and franchises she'd like to reboot.

This was lots of fun.  I had several, genuine, laugh-out-loud moments, and chuckled through the rest of it.  I didn't find everything funny, but I would totally recommend it to someone with a, "This is really cute.  Take it to read on your airplane trip or to the beach.  You'll get a good laugh."

I think Mindy Kaling is totally someone I'd want to hang out with.  However, we would not be able to talk about comedy.  She finds people like Will Ferrelle and Sarah Silverman to be geniuses.  I cannot even watch them.  Then she'd get mad at me because she does not like to be criticized and then we'd be in a fight.

Mindy (I've decided we're not on a first name bases) writes about all sorts of things, but basically she takes us through her life, with some detours.  She writes about her happy, normal childhood with her parents.  She writes about college.  She writes about moving to New York and being unemployed.  She interrupts herself from the main story line to talk about how the term "hooking up" is confusing and wonders why men put their shoes on so slowly.

She mentions her weight a lot.  At one point she mentions that she's a size 8, but from the way she'd been talking about herself before you'd have thought she weighed 500 pounds.  I understand that in the Hollywood world, a size 8 probably might as well be 500 pounds, but I got tired or hearing her talk about weight and diets and so on.  That's really my only complaint though.

That and her terrible taste in comedians.  A fun read.

Waiting on Wednesday: Dark Frost

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine to spotlight an upcoming release that we're excited about. This week I'm waiting on Dark Frost by Jennifer Estep.

 I’ve seen so many freaky things since I started attending Mythos Academy last fall. I know I’m supposed to be a fearless warrior, but most of the time, I feel like I’m just waiting for the next Bad, Bad Thing to happen. Like someone trying to kill me—again.

Everyone at Mythos Academy knows me as Gwen Frost, the Gypsy girl who uses her psychometry magic to find lost objects—and who just may be dating Logan Quinn, the hottest guy in school. But I’m also the girl the Reapers of Chaos want dead in the worst way. The Reapers are the baddest of the bad, the people who murdered my mom. So why do they have it in for me?

It turns out my mom hid a powerful artifact called the Helheim Dagger before she died. Now, the Reapers will do anything to get it back. They think I know where the dagger is hidden, but this is one thing I can’t use my magic to find. All I do know is that the Reapers are coming for me—and I’m in for the fight of my life. (Summary by Good Reads)

I've been remiss, and haven't reviewed the first two books in this series. I have to say that I LOVED them. Super funny and action-y, Gwen is an incredible protagonist and this isn't a typical boarding school supernatural romance series. I can't wait for it to come out.

Dark Frost is the third in the Mythos Academy series, it comes out May 29th.

Underwire by Jennifer Hayden

Jennifer Hayden is a member of the webcomic collective act-i-vate where she publishes her autobiographical comic Underwire.  Underwire is a collection of the webcomics. 

Jennifer is in her forties, married, with two children.  Her comics tells stories of moments with her daughter, a dream she had about her husband, laughing and saying bitchy things about other people with her girl friends, and other little moments from her life.

Each comic is about 18 to 20 square boxes, drawn simply in black and white.  While I didn't love the style the comic is drawn in, I loved seeing these small moments from Jennifer's life.   She is able to say a lot in very few words, and even without her illustrations being especially detailed.  A strong feeling comes across in every story she tells.

Jennifer is very truthful.  She is not afraid to show that she's far from perfect, that her husband sometimes pisses her off, and that her kids both drive her crazy and amaze her.  I feel kind of bad for her family, that they are exposed in this way, but maybe having a mom like Jennifer has prepared them.  In any case, I very much enjoyed reading her stories.

Jennifer is currently working on a graphic novel, The Story of My Tits, that tells the story of her breast cancer diagnose.  It will be coming out in 2012.

Sandra and Woo: a Webcomic by Powree and Oliver Knorzer

Sandra is a twelve year old with a pet raccoon named Woo. He happens to have the ability to speak to her and they must make sure that this remains a secret from her father, friends, and the world. While the must work together to make sure that their friendship remains a secret, they must also face their separate lives in the wild and school and their relationships with animals, boys, and friends.

This webcomic is ridiculously cute and hilarious. I'm not sure if you understand how much I liked it. Sandra is a quirky kid who not only has a talking raccoon but also a fixation on and a love of video games and fantasy. She dates a boy named Cloud, named after a Final Fantasy character, who learns sword fighting and is generally a stereotypical nice guy. Her best friend Larissa is a pretty pyromaniac with a penchant for manipulation. These three are all quirky, funny, and endearing. Hipsters in training.

Woo is full of hijinks.... which sounds corny but is really the only way I can think of describing him. Adorable, sarcastic, and hungry for anything, Woo must balance the fact that he is a pet with his feral nature.

I read through this in essentially one night and have been checking back in with it regularly. I strongly recommend it. I think you'll all like it too. The art is clean and suits the storyline perfectly, the characters and secondary characters are all memorable and engaging, and the storyline is super engaging.

Sandra and Woo updates Mondays and Thursdays.

My Boyfriend is a Monster: I Love Him to Pieces

Dicey, the only girl on the high school baseball team and Jack Chen a D&D playing science genius, end up partners for the classic health class egg baby project.  Just as Dicey and Jack Chen are seeing the blossoming of their relationship despite their different interests, a virus sweeps through the town turning people into mindless zombies!  Dicey and Jack Chen are on the run for safety, and when Jack Chen is bitten, they are rapidly running out of time.

Adorable.  Totally.  Loved it.  Dicey is pretty fabulous.  She's an amazing baseball player and takes it very seriously.  She likes Jack Chen from the start, but she isn't about to fall all over herself to get his attention.  It doesn't occur to Jack Chen (who is always referred to by his first and last name) that someone like Dicey could ever be interested in him, and it takes him a while to figure out that she likes him and that he also likes her.

Their relationship is really cute.  Despite their different interests, they get along really well and have a lot of fun working on the project together.  By the way, did your school make you pair up for the egg baby project?  And did you do it in high school?  Eggs babies were definitely a middle school project for me (got to teach the children when they're young) and we weren't paired up with anyone.  We were all single parents.  Anyway, Dicey and Jack Chen take an interest in what they other one likes to do, but of course, isn't it always the way, right when things get going disaster strikes!

Now, luckily for Jack Chen, both his parents are scientists who were working on finding a cure for this disease, which was not suppose to jump to the town so quickly.  So when Jack Chen is bitten, Dicey knows she has to get him to his parents before he succumbs to it.  At one point, Jack Chen tries to take off without her so she won't be in danger, but Dicey is having none of that and tracks him down and sets him straight.

It seemed like the whole town got zombified pretty fast, but everyone seemed pretty up beat at the end, so maybe it wasn't as bad as it looks.  I will definitely read the following volumes.

The story is told through black and white drawings and is done with a fairly traditional comic book format of panels.

Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Hidden Gallery by Maryrose Wood

The Incorrigible children, Alexander, Beowulf and Cassiopeia, are staying in London while Ashton Place is repaired from that disastrous Christmas ball of Lady Constance Ashton.  Of course, their governess, Penelope Lumley, will be accompanying them.  Penelope is thrilled at the thought of all the wonderfully educational things London will offer the Incorrigibles, and the chance of seeing her dear, former headmistress of Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, Miss Mortimer.  But almost immediately after leaving Ashton Place, strange things begin to happen.  From gypsy prophesies to hidden rooms, Penelope fears the children might be in danger again.

Much like the first book, The Hidden Gallery was hysterical.  Did you like Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events?  The Incorrigible Children series is wonderfully Snicketesque.  That dry, matter-of-fact, tongue-in-cheek, wandering off on tangents way of storytelling.  I love it.  It is not for everyone.  I think that if you like British comedy, you'll also like books like this.  If you don't, I'm not sure.

In this second volume, the plot thickens.  Considerably.  The Incorrigible children had been raised by wolves and taken in by Lord and Lady Ashton, although we're not sure why, as Lord Ashton has no interest in them and Lady Ashton totally hate them and blames them for everything.  They are cared for by our heroine, the plucky governess Penelope.  In The Hidden Gallery, Penelope begins to piece together the Incorrigibles' confusing background.  Things become more and more confusing the more she learns.  But Penelope is a Swanburne girl and Sawnburne girls are curious, resourceful and determined and she'll get to the bottom of it sooner or later.

I love how the children are a combination of hanging onto their wolf-like characteristics (they have a tendency to drool, chase squirrels, and add "awoo" to the ends of words), but they're also learning Latin and about the Peloponnesian War and randomly come up with things that show they're considerably smarter than most of the people around them who think they're little savages.  Penelope believes in setting standards high, so who cares if they have a tendency to howl at the moon?  She sends them off to fetch their protractors and graph paper.

Also, the art is just perfect.

Spoilers!  Sort of.

Dumpling Days by Grace Lin

The third in the Pacy Lin series, this time Pacy's family is going to Taiwan for her grandmother's 60th birthday party. While Year of the Dog and Year of the Rat dealt with friendship and finding out who she wants to be. This time Pacy must figure out what she is - when she's at home in America she doesn't feel like she fits in because she looks Taiwanese and when she's in Taiwan she's discovering that her insides are all American. Where's the balance? Where does she belong? On top of these racial issues, she must also deal with night markets, chicken feet, and competition in art class.

I got this book from the lovely people at Little, Brown and Co. for a book group I do at my elementary schools. I hadn't read any of Grace Lin's books, but I've since listened to The Year of the Dog and finished Dumpling Days. They're pretty fantastic: funny, nuanced, and a lot more depth in themes than what you would expect in a middle grade book.

Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine to spotlight an upcoming release that we're excited about. This week I'm waiting on The Twilight of Lake Woebegotten by Harrison Geillor.

A small town... a plucky heroin, a shiny vampire, and a hunkey Native American rival with a secret. But all is not as it seems in Lake Woebegotten. Let Harrison Geillor reveal what lies beneath the seemingly placid surface. You''ll Laugh. We promise. When Bonnie Grayduck relocates from sunny Santa Cruz California to the small town of Lake Woebegotten, Minnesota, to live with her estranged father, chief of the local two-man police department, she thinks she''s leaving her troubles behind. But she soon becomes fascinated by another student - the brooding, beautiful Edwin Scullen, whose reclusive family hides a terrible secret. (Psst: they''re actually vampires. But they''re the kind who don''t eat people, so it''s okay.) Once Bonnie realizes what her new lover really is, she isn''t afraid. Instead, she sees potential. Because while Bonnie seems to her friends and family to be an ordinary, slightly clumsy, easily-distracted girl, she''s really manipulative, calculating, power hungry, and not above committing murder to get her way - or even just to amuse herself. This is a love story about monsters... but the vampire isn''t the monster. (Summary by Goodreads)

As someone who loved Twilight and then came to her senses and a native Minnesotan, this spoof tickles me. It looks hilarious and I'm totally going to read it. Edwin Scullen... *smirk* The Twilight of Lake Woebegotten comes out Oct. 18th.

Astronaut Academy: Zero Gravity by Dave Roman

Welcome to Astronaut Academy, a boarding where students learn important skills such as anti-gravity gymnastics, fire throwing, advanced heart studies and Spanish.  It's also where Hakata Soy, former space hero, has been sent by his parents.  Unfortunately, his enemies won't leave him alone!  With the help of his new friend Miyumi San, he'll try to make it through his first semester. 

This was pretty silly.  It was also very tongue and cheek in a way I enjoyed but I think most middle school students, which is who it's written for, wouldn't really understand.  I don't think that would prevent middle school students from enjoying this silly space adventure though.

The story is told by many different characters, from Hakata Soy and Miyumi San, who were the main characters, to Hakata's roommate, who on the outside seems to only care about fireball, but actually has a sensitive side, to Maribelle Mellonbelly, the richest and meanest girl at Astronaut Academy and Miyumi's nemeses, to Cybert, the Hakata look-alike robot that has been sent to Astronaut Academy to eliminate Hakata Soy.  And many, many others.

The main plot is that Hakata is sad and mopey and missing his friends, and he can't contact anyone and no one contacts him!  Little does he know that the bad guys, knows as Gotcha Birds, he previously defeated on Hoppiton (home of bunnies, that look like old-time Disney characters), are jamming his signal!  One of his old fellow heroes, missing Hakata and unable to contact him, makes a robot that looks just like Hakata to keep him company.  But then the Gotcha Birds steal it and reprogram it to sneak into Astronaut Academy and kill Hakata!

Meanwhile, Miyumi , who has enough problems of her own fending off Maribelle Mellonbelly, befriends Hakata and ultimately ends up saving his life with her incredible fireball power!  In between there is much ridiculousness, like dinosaur riding and panda bears who teach Spanish but are really secret agents.

At the end, since Hakata hasn't been able to contact his family, Miyumi invites him over to her place for the semester break where her grandfather will see if he can fix Hakata's communication device.

So cute, silly and fun to read.  It's drawn in a decidedly anime style.  Kind of anime-lite.

Uncommon Criminals by Ally Carter

Kat has been busy since the Henley job. She's been single-handedly stealing back the pieces of art that were taken from Jews during WWII. She's left behind her crew, her family, and the boy. It's all so much easier when she has to rely solely on herself. That is until she gets back from a job in Moscow, and is conned by another thief. Suddenly she must not only try and steal a cursed emerald twice but also deal with all the emotions that she thought she had outrun.

Have I mentioned that I have an abiding love for witty heist television? Really like Hustle and LOVE the show Leverage. I just can't help myself, they're so exciting and funny! Which is why I've loved this series so far. This is the second book in a series call Heist Society. The first was called Heist Society, and it was generally about Kat getting back on the thieving horse after being out for a while, and doing an impossible job while staying ahead of Interpol and a shady business man. Awesome. This is about her dealing with the issues of getting back in the game and with the people that know her best. Because even as Kat builds a reputation of being able to pull off the impossible and forbidden, she's really a very emotionally stunted girl. So it's good she has family to rely on to steer her in the right direction and save her when she can't save herself.

This is kind of a short review, mostly because there really isn't anything to say about this book other than it's fantastic and you should go read it now. BECAUSE IT'S AWESOME! It's summer, this book is entertaining and won't make you think too hard. So go. Do it. Read this book.

Spell Checkers by Jamie S. Rich, Nicolas iItori De, Joelle Jones

Jesse, Kimmie, and Cynthia have rules the school for as long as anyone can remember. They are perfect, smart, and have enough attitude and hate for their fellow man to make most superhero villains seem like amateurs. This could be because these three girls are witches, and they use their black magic to live the easy life. Until one day a graffiti artist starts tearing apart the girls' reputations. They are losing control of the sheep that some would call their peers and their powers are diminishing. *GASP!* As the bullying of the bullies gets worse, the girls start to turn on each other and things start becoming less perfect.

The characters in this book remind me of the characters in the Gossip Girl books (I haven't watched the TV series so I can't comment if they're similar, I know I can't believe it either). They are mean, spiteful, hateful, and beyond redemption. And they don't care, which perversely kind of delights me. They don't care that they've done horrible things, they don't care that they step all over the little people, the only thing that they care about is that they've got it made. No apologies. It helps that they happen to be clever, not book smart but clever. So when they eventually figure out what's going on, their revenge is kind of awesome.

I'm not going to say that I loved this, it had some things that were fine. The whole bitch thing got kind of old though. No qualities that made me like them enough to share in their gloat at the end. Do I think some people will read it and become addicted to it? Yes. Was that me? No.

Nerds Heart YA: A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend by Emily Horner

This is one of two books Anna and I are judging for the Nerds Heart YA contest. 

Cass has never been one of the drama people. She only hung out with them because of her best friend Julia. But Julia died in a car accident, and the drama people are determined to put on the show Julia was working on: Totally Sweet Ninja Death Squad. Cass is working on the set now, but she wasn't on board from the start. First it took a cross-country bike trip with Julia's ashes to figure out what she needed to do.

Loved. This. So much. I loved the story, I loved the characters, I loved the voice it was told in, just loved it. I loved the idea of going on a cross-country bike ride to find yourself, with your dead best friend's ashes because you just can't work on her Totally Sweet Ninja Death Squad musical, which, by the way, is the most awesome title of any musical. Heart.

Lenore: Noogies by Roman Dirge

As a child Lenore was quite adorable. Unfortunately she grew quite ill and died. Fortunately she rose from the dead, but was quite changed by the experience. It seems that whatever crosses her path meets an unfortunate demise - intentional or not.

Noogies is a compilation of the first four issues of this series, which was written seventeen years ago. It starts out as a 'series of short character gag stories' and progressed into a fully developed storyline. (I'm essentially spitting out exactly what I've read in Roman Dirge's introduction)

I have to give warning that this is not for the faint of heart, or at least a heart that doesn't have a bit of a twisted sense of humor. If you're into dead baby jokes you'll find this quite hilarious (and I know of a few people that do so don't scoff). But honestly this is a very funny book, dark twists on nursery rhymes and funny random vignettes. This is pretty awesome.

Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine to spotlight an upcoming release that we're excited about. This week I'm waiting on the graphic novel Heartless by Gail Carriger.

Lady Alexia Maccon, soulless, is at it again, only this time the trouble is not her fault. When a mad ghost threatens the queen, Alexia is on the case, following a trail that leads her deep into her husband's past. Top that off with a sister who has joined the suffragette movement (shocking!), Madame Lefoux's latest mechanical invention, and a plague of zombie porcupines and Alexia barely has time to remember she happens to be eight months pregnant.

Will Alexia manage to determine who is trying to kill Queen Victoria before it is too late? Is it the vampires again or is there a traitor lurking about in wolf's clothing? And what, exactly, has taken up residence in Lord Akeldama's second best closet?

This is the fourth in a series called The Parasol Protectorate. If you haven't read any of the first three, I STRONGLY recommend them. They're amaze-balls. As in laugh out loud hilarious. That and the fact that Carriger seems to have a clever grasp on what's going on in her steampunk universe. Super clever, kinda sexy, and just overall awesome, I'm excited for this next installment.

Heartless comes out June 28!

Spoiled by Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan

Brooke Berlin lives with her famous actor father, Brick, in a fabulous house with every luxury she could ever want.  Except attention.  Brooke wants to be in the spotlight, but her father wants her out of it and is hardly ever at home himself.  Suddenly, out of nowhere, Brooke discovers she has a half sister, Molly, just her age, who is coming to live with her and Brick.  Now Molly is getting all the attention, both from photographers and Brick.  Brooke will stop at nothing until Molly goes back to Indiana where she belongs.

So when I first heard the summary for this book, I wasn't interested at all.  What's that?  Another book about spoiled rich people and their problems?  PASS.  But then I realized it was written by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan, the fabulous bloggers behind Go Fug Yourself which I LOVE and is absolutely HILARIOUS.  I therefore assumed any book they wrote would also be a delightfully funny as their blog.

Escape from "Special" by Miss Lasko-Gross

Melissa is misunderstood from an early age. Full of sturm and drang, she has a hard time in most 'normal' situations. Melissa is special, and labeled as such much to her detriment. It isn't until she learns to push past the psychobabble that she somehow learns to be at ease with herself.

I enjoyed this book, but I'm having a hard time vocalizing why.

This is a semi-autobiographical book, and you can kind of tell. Parts are so awkward, that they must be real. I like the fact that the character of Melissa is not immediately lovable, her strangeness grows on you like a fungus and you can't help root for her in the end. She's weird, too cerebral for her own good, been psychoanalyzed to bits, and has enough angst to fuel an entire state's worth of middle schoolers; yet you want her to find people to connect to, you want her to succeed (whatever that might be), and at least in my case you aren't really sure why you want those things for her.

Awesome characters, the vignettes are well done, my only problem was the illustrations. Not my favorite. It worked for this, but not super pleasant. The sequel is A Mess of Everything.