I will be forever annoyed that there are no commas in that title.

I’ve told this story for many more years than I lived it, but it only recently became clear to me that the radical part of the tale is not that I stopped dieting; it’s that I stopped trying to fix myself.

You may have heard of Women Food and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything by Geneen Roth. It’s been on the non-fiction bestsellers’ list since its first week, and it was featured in O Magazine (how I first heard about it) and on a little something called The Oprah Winfrey Show.

The title alone had me interested in the book, and before I read one O-endorsed word, I knew I was going to read the book.

It’s funny because when I started the book, I was a detached observer thinking the book didn’t apply to me.  I kept feeling that way until I got to the end of the prologue and one line jumped out at me. In that one line, the book became personal.

When Roth was on Oprah (and, yes, I watched both of the episodes before reading the book), Oprah said that you could substitute “food” with “sex” or “drugs” or with anything else women may have an unbalanced relationship. After reading the book, I’m inclined to agree. The main thrust of the book is getting women to consider why they crave or reject food when it comes to dealing with emotion. Why is it so much easier to over- or undereat instead of allowing ourselves to feel?

When a diabetic tells me that she can’t eat what she wants because what she wants will kill her (and therefore she feels deprived), my response is that what will kill her is wanting another life than the one she has, another condition than the one that is hers…It’s not her eating that is killing her, it’s her refusal to accept the situation.

I think Roth is definitely onto something in terms of examining relationships with food. She advocates mindful eating and intentional eating. Eat when you’re hungry without distractions and make sure you feel your feelings. Easy enough, right?

In some ways, though, I think she oversimplifies. Her notion that you’ll eat what’s right for you if you stop and listen to your body sounds good, but the reality is that sometimes people do need to be re-taught what and how to eat. Not only that, but her book ignores the importance of support in the form of a group or an individual to help women work through the issues/triggers for over/undereating.

Ironically, most of her observations are made based on not only her personal experiences with dieting and weight, but on observations of retreats she runs for a group of women. I mean, I know the focus is on self, but feeling full emotions can be terrifying if there isn’t someone else around to help you as you think about turning to food instead.

Maybe that’s why Mighty O started a companion guide for the members of her community? [Yeah I am kind of an Oprah kind of person. Shocker, right?]

I also got annoyed with the tone at times. It’s very calming spa/yoga voice, which I don’t necessarily have a problem with, but it just got annoying to me in a few places. [It's kind of like when someone starts talking to me like I'm going to flip out. Granted, I may be on the edge, but the calming voice can be its own irritant. Then again, it does give me something else to focus my annoyance/rage on. But I digress.]

I’m glad I read the book. It made me think about my relationship with food–as well as other areas in my life I might use to numb emotion.

Women Unbound: 8/8

See larger image Women Food and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything (Hardcover) By (author) Geneen Roth List Price: $24.00 USD New From: $12.34 In Stock Used from: $12.00 In Stock

Masturbation is a primary form of sexual expression. It’s not just for kids or for those in-between lovers or for old people who end up alone. Masturbation is the ongoing love affair that each of us has with ourselves throughout our lifetime.

I chose to read Sex for One: The Joy of Selfloving by Betty Dodson specifically for the Women Unbound reading challenge. I hadn’t actually heard of the book before, so when I saw that Susan over at Black-Eyed Susan’s said it should be required reading in Women’s Studies classes, I had to check it out. Since, you know, it was certainly never mentioned in any of the Women’s Studies classes I took throughout college or graduate school.

Betty Dodson is a sexologist (her Ph.D. is in sexology). She also has a very current website (Warning: Not Safe for Work) to answer questions about sex, masturbation, and orgasm.

I think the book is very important. Dodson completely demystifies masturbation and celebrates it as a way to build self-esteem, encourage body knowledge, and improve partner sex. She is pro-masturbation as a way to combat sexual repression, especially for women. What power women would have if they understood their own genitals and their own orgasms. How great for our teenage girls and young women to know they can have sexual release without the fear of pregnancy or STDs–that they are their own greatest lovers. That it’s okay to please themselves sexually and that it’s not just about the boys and their pleasure. (Think about girls who feel pressured to perform oral sex on boys while getting nothing in return–except damaged reputations.)

If girls and women know their own bodies and know how to please themselves, then they are empowered.

That doesn’t mean Dodson ignores men in her book because she doesn’t. Masturbation without shame is just as important for men as women in the battle against repression.

Dodson does all of this while also offering this book up as a memoir of sorts. It operates as a chronicle of her journey to being more sex positive and pro-masturbation. From her childhood to her first awesome lover to the opening up of her relationship with her mother to her development of her art to her bodysex groups, she details how all of these things came about and their impact on her thinking about gender, sex, and sexuality. And masturbation plays a part in all of these events.

While the book does contain erotic art and detailed descriptions, I didn’t find it to be pornographic at all. The point is to educate, not titillate. And I walked away from the book feeling way more knowledgeable than before.

I wish I would’ve read this book sooner.

Thanks to Susan for suggesting it as a must-read for the Women Unbound Challenge. I would encourage others to read it as well.

Women Unbound: 7/8

See larger image Sex for One: The Joy of Selfloving (Paperback) By (author) Betty Dodson List Price: $14.00 USD New From: $7.97 In Stock Used from: $1.55 In Stock Release date March 12, 1996.

“No, Meg. Don’t hope it was a dream. I don’t understand it any more than you do, but one thing I’ve learned is that you don’t have to understand things for them to be.”

I never read A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle while growing up. I wasn’t big into fantasy so it completely slipped by me. I don’t think I ever properly heard of until I was an adult.

My point is that I am kind of sad I didn’t read it as a child because I kind of love it a lot. A LOT.

The basic story is that Meg, her brother Charles Wallace, and a classmate named Calvin go on a search through time and space to bring Meg and Charles Wallace’s missing father home.

But it is so much more than that. So much more.

It’s hard to talk about what happens in the book because I don’t want to give anything away for anyone who hasn’t read it yet. Plus, I think it can be read in several different and unique ways depending on individual experience, so I’ll just say I loved the focus on strengths and faults of the characters, the use of mystical/alien beings, the way the story seems to be resolved when it isn’t yet the real resolution is heartbreaking and positively optimistic all at once. And that love conquers all, the end.

I was surprised by how overtly Christian the book is, especially because it still manages to be such an effective allegory.

I also love that the book is pro-individuality, Christian positive, and anti-censorship all at once. It manages to be realistic fiction, science fiction, fantasy, dystopic fiction. L’Engle just does so much and does it all so well. It’s kind of amazing.

This, THIS is the kind of book that makes me want to be a writer.

Two things I didn’t like:  I hate that the one brother’s name is Dennys, which is another spelling of Dennis, because I kept pronouncing it Denny’s in my head. Also, the main baddie is named IT (it), but because it’s 2010, I kept reading it as I.T. as in IT support.

But, really, those are nothing in the grand scheme of things.  Awesome book.  Absolutely awesome.

YA Reading Challenge: 22/75

See larger image A Wrinkle in Time (Paperback) By (author) Madeleine L'Engle List Price: $6.99 USD New From: $3.43 In Stock Used from: $1.34 In Stock Release date May 1, 2007.

Mama took the lead and went on about how I’m first in charm school and how “she’ll be the wickedest witch wherever the four winds blow.” Doesn’t Mama know it’s bad luck to brag?

Oh, and what bad luck it is. Diary of a Fairy Godmother by Esmé Raji Codell is about Hunky Dory, a witch who is studying wickedness but ends up wanting to go the other way and become a dreaded F. G. Fairy godmother, that is.

What I Liked

- The book is very clever. The idea of being a wicked witch as a family career path that is desired is great. The use of familiar fairytales to explore the other sides of the story–that of the bad guys–is well-handled.

- I loved the use of the textbook within the text, Be the One with the Wand. I especially loved the little life lessons it provides. Great info for any kid reading it. One of my favorites is “The first step to accomplishing amazing things is setting unrealistic goals.”

- The book is so female positive and independence positive. The focus is on the girls making life work for them and finding what they’re passionate about. They’re encouraged to be themselves, even if they go the absolute wrong way (like being a fairy godmother), but even then, there’s pride amongst the group that Hunky has the guts to do what she wants.

- Her Auntie is great. I don’t want to ruin the story, but…yeah. Great character.

- I like the way the romantic interest is handled.

What I Didn’t Like

- The book lacks some internal consistency. The rules of the world need more clarification. Otherwise, the book comes off as too clever for its own good. For example, rudeness and evilness are prized and despised at the same time.

- Nothing really happens. By which I mean, stuff happens, but it’s all mostly tell with no show so the story and characters feel flat.

- I would have liked to see the characters and their relationships (especially the ones Hunky has with her mother and Rumpelstiltskin) developed further.

In conclusion: Very cute and clever premise with an unfortunately flat execution. It’s just okay when it could have been great.

The fact is, I had no love from my mother or my father from the beginning, from birth. But I survived. To tell the truth, I haven’t received a real love almost ever in my life, believe it or not. People look at me now and think what a hot life I must’ve lived–ha! I never found a real, lasting love. But I have survived.

I, Tina: My Life Story is definitely a survival story. It details Tina Turner‘s life story in her own words (with some narrative help from Kurt Loder. Yes, that Kurt Loder), focusing on her youth in Tennessee, her rise to fame as part of Ike Turner’s revue, their terribly abusive marriage, her fall from fame, and then her career as a solo artist, which culminated in her being the oldest female artist to have a #1 hit.

The style of the book is certainly different. Unlike most memoirs, Tina’s is written in the third person with first person sections in Tina’s voice or her colleagues’ voices. And (surprise!) even Ike’s voice. So even though it’s definitely her story, it’s not exactly a memoir/autobiography the way I’ve experienced either before. The approach makes for interesting–and fuller–reading.

Before I move onto the content of the book, let me just say up front that it’s impossible for me to think about Tina Turner’s autobiography separately from the movie What’s Love Got to Do with It?. In college, my friends and I watched it practically every weekend, so much so that we knew the words to the movie and songs by heart. It had a profound effect on how I read the book and also how I’ll watch the movie in the future. So much left out! Some stuff that’s really, really important even.  So my review of the book will be tempered by the knowledge I have of the movie, focusing on what’s different.

Mainly, all I can say about the differences is that her life in the movie was bad, but her life in reality was much, much, MUCH worse.  It was basically terror-filled hell.

Here’s what I learned:

- Tina’s mother didn’t take her sister and leave Tina behind. Both she and her sister were left in the care of relatives until they each decided to join their mom in St. Louis at different times in their lives. (Tina, in fact, had several siblings, but she and Alline were closest in age.)

- Ike was not Tina’s first and only romantic relationship. She had a high school sweetheart, Harry Taylor, that she L O V E D and lost her virginity to.

- Tina was involved with someone else in the band (Raymond Wilson) before she and Ike ever got involved. In fact, Tina got pregnant by Raymond and they had a son.

- Ike and Tina were more like brother and sister when they started performing together. The first time she slept with him was more out of obligation than anything. (Ike initiated it, and she went along to get along. Definitely a sign of what was to come.) Both of them described the experience as weird/icky.

- Before they got involved he paid her for singing with the band, but after they got a record deal, he told her that he would pay her rent and keep the money for himself. They were romantically involved by this point and she was pregnant by him.

- Ike beat Tina before they ever got married. The first time he beat her was with a shoe stretcher in his office when she told him she wanted to go back to just being friends but would continue to work with him. She was pregnant by him at the time (he was still married, btw). He also made her have sex with him immediately after.

- Ike was involved with several of the women in Tina’s life. He would pick Ikettes based on who he wanted to sleep with. Once the women became involved with him, he would beat them as well.

- It was nearly impossible for almost anybody–male or female–to get away from Ike. He would threaten people and hunt them down if they tried to leave. He also carried a pistol at all times and had a reputation for pistol-whipping people. It was easier for him to control women, though, so most of the people who worked for him were women, including one of his ex-wives.

- He lost several band members because of his treatment of Tina.

- It took Tina a long, long time to fall out of love with Ike.

- After the drug use started, she says he became even more erratic and unstable, and the constant fear was even more constant. Where he used to do a slow burn and she could have days between beatings, she started to endure several a day.

- Tina’s closest friends were the other women in the group, most of whom were sleeping with Ike. How messed up is that?  Because her whole life was being on tour (Ike had them performing every night, basically), they were the only women she knew, and, because they were involved with Ike, they understood her situation very well.

- He stalked her terribly after she left him.

- Here is the one thing I am absolutely APPALLED that they left out of the movie, and that I think should have been addressed.  When Tina left Ike, she had to start over from scratch. That much is clear. What the movie doesn’t tell us is that Tina was responsible for paying back all of the no-show fees to the venues and promoters because she was the talent listed on the bill and who everybody was coming to see.  And she owed over $200,000 dollars.  So when she was doing the disco/cabaret performances, it wasn’t just to rebuild her image or jump start her career.  It was because she owed so much money, and she had to pay it all.  ALL OF IT.  Ike was not liable; she was.

- It took her over five years to re-establish herself as a viable artist. And she didn’t write “What’s Love Got to Do With It?”; someone else did.  But it was written FOR her to sing by someone not even aware of her situation.  And she was totally against it!  But they convinced her to sing it, and history was made.  So basically Tina Turner + “What’s Love Got to Do with It?” = MFEO.

Tina’s tale is a survivor’s tale. She talks about her transition from taking care of everyone else to realizing she needed to take care of herself.

The most surprising thing about the book is the humor. I’ve had the experience before of listening to women speak of their pasts, horrible though they may be, and laughing about it. My grandmother is a woman who does it. Tina is, too. She never makes light of her situation, but she’s able to see the ridiculous moments and find the hope there. Even when she talks about being depressed, she’s able to focus on the things, small though they might have been, that kept her going.

Though the book is hard to read at times, it’s a very satisfying read. I’m glad I read it.

Women Unbound: 6/8; POC Challenge: 16/15

See larger image I, Tina: My Life Story (icon!t) (Paperback) By (author) Tina Turner, Kurt Loder List Price: $13.99 USD New From: $4.32 In Stock Used from: $3.82 In Stock Release date June 22, 2010.

Do not be the slowest zebra.

I was looking through my friend’s comic collection, and she showed me Storm by Eric Jerome Dickey. Eric Jerome Dickey! I used to love his books. (Did you know they are considered erotica?  It makes total sense now that I think about it.) My friends and I read his first five novels way back when I was in my early 20s, so I also have fond bonding memories of his books.

So, yes, Eric Jerome Dickey wrote a graphic novel about Storm from the X-Men, appropriately titled Storm.  It tells of her romance with Black Panther, before they are married.

What I Liked

- I loved the artwork.  Really sharp and crisp, great use of color, very expressive.  (The artwork is by David Yardin and Lan Medina.)

- Because the book is about Storm growing up in Africa (I forgot to write the country down in my notes, but I am pretty sure she is in Egypt), it operates as a pre-origin origin story.  What I mean is that it’s not about how she came to join X-Men or how she goes from Ororo to Storm. It’s about what it meant for her to be a young girl (she’s twelve when the story starts) living on the streets who can sometimes make freaky things happen with the weather. I think that’s great because you don’t really need to know anything about the character to get into the story.

- There’s quite a bit about loyalty and family in here that’s handled in an interesting way. Family means different things, and measures of loyalty are not always what you expect.  I really enjoyed seeing that explored.

- T’Challa (Black Panther) and Ororo are fully drawn characters, and though the book explores their epic (and pretty instantaneous) love, a lot of the conflict comes from Ororo’s relationship with her adoptive street family.

- You really get a sense of the inherent badassery that is to come from Storm.

What I Didn’t Like

- Okay, my biggest issue with the book is with the sex. I have nothing against sex in novels, and it’s handled really tastefully in terms of the art (i.e., it isn’t graphically depicted or anything). My real problem with it is that Ororo is twelve, but she is drawn like a woman.

I found an interview with EJD, and this is how he describes Ororo:

I know that she’s a very beautiful woman as an adult, but I wanted the 13-year-old whose body is going through changes and does not think she’s attractive; who hasn’t come into her beauty yet; where every other girl for some reason looks better to her,” he said. “I think Ororo is 5’11” so, make her too tall for her age, make her lanky; make her… not quite comfortable with her own body yet.

Which works!  And there is a lot of emphasis in the book about the changes her body is going through, how she has just started her cycle, etc. And she is drawn as he describes throughout.

(Also, he says in the interview thirteen, but she is twelve in the book.)

Except when it’s time for the sexing. Then, her body is very mature, and she looks older.  And I get it.  I do.  It is kind of weird to think about a twelve-year-old with a twevle-year-old’s body having sex.  BUT THAT IS THE STORY.  I would have preferred that there was some continuity there because, hey, that is the story you are telling! Do not make her look sixteen or seventeen (or even older it can be argued) when she is twelve because, oh, it is time for sex now and we can’t have the lanky teenager doing that.

And, yes, I know there are very developed teenaged girls out there.  I worked at a middle school and several of the girls had more voluptuous and mature bodies than me. And some of them were even having sex.  BUT THEY LOOKED TWELVE/THIRTEEN.

Which leads to another dislike.

- Time.  I have no idea when this story happens and how that affects the age Ororo decides to have sex. There are other pregnant girls in the story, and Ororo seems to know that it’s because they went off with boys, but I don’t know if this is just accepted because it’s a culture thing (meaning the street culture she lives in) or if it’s because of the timing of the story.  Again, I have known pregnant teens (one of my classmates was pregnant in eighth grade and one of my middle school students was pregnant as well), but both of those cases were abnormal, and so it’s something I would like a little context for within the story.

The sex stuff isn’t my only time complaint.  I would also like to know because I needed to be grounded in the story.  Is the technology in the story very now or is it advanced for its time, etc.? At times the story seemed very now, and other times it felt like it was set in the past.

In conclusion: Sex blunder aside, I really enjoyed the story and, again, loved the artwork.

POC Reading Challenge:  15/15

See larger image Astonishing X-Men: Storm (Paperback) By (author) Eric Jerome Dickey List Price: $14.99 USD New From: $7.14 In Stock Used from: $7.49 In Stock

When you can fly, there’s no burden you can’t bear.  When you can fly, gravity can’t touch you.  When you can fly…you can do anything.

I love the cartoon Static Shock, and so I was hoping against hope that my library either had Static in stock or had it available via ILL. Sadly, it did not.  But!  Icon: A Hero’s Welcome was available, and since I love Dwayne McDuffie (creator of Static Shock, one of the writers/producers of Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, and now a writer for Ben 10) (also, and not to put too fine a point on it, he started his own comic book company because he wanted to be able to write the stories he wanted to tell), I figured reading Icon was practically the same as reading Static.

The basic premise of I:AHW is “What if Superman was black?” Augustus Freeman IV crash lands on earth during slavery, imitates the looks of the person who finds him (a slave woman), and then lives a really long time.  He decides to become a superhero after a teenage girl, Rocket, tells him how helpful it would be for other African-Americans to know they have a hero of their own.

What I Liked

- Rocket is kind of amazing.  I love that Augustus is inspired by her, I like that she sees so much more for herself and the people she knows, I like that she calls Augustus on his inaccessible man on the hill persona (he’s a lawyer).  She becomes his sidekick not because he takes her in, but because she pushes him to do more.  That’s kind of cool.

- There’s a lot of commentary on race, gender, and class in the book.  Rocket, as an African-American teenage girl, has more possible complications for her life [she gets pregnant] than, say, Dick Grayson.  She is not an orphan but lives in the projects, so sees her relationship with Augustus as a way to access so much more.  And it’s not just his wealth that attracts her, but his access to education.

Race-wise, Rocket and her friends try to rob Augustus because they assume it’s a white person’s house, and they initially mistake him for the butler.  When Icon and Rocket show up to help the police, they try to shoot him.  Because, obviously, he must be a bad guy who is part of the plot against the mayor. Superman never has these problems.

I already mentioned some of the class effects re: Rocket, but there’s another subplot that discusses a community forgotten after a major riot in Dakota.  The book addresses turf wars, helplessness, and politics.

The book also operates as a commentary on what’s missing from the traditional superhero story that focuses on white, male characters.

What I Didn’t Like

- Calling it a dislike is strong, but the artwork is kind of dated.  The colors are very purple and yellow and, you know, 1990s’ Cross Colours.  So it’s fitting for the time, but dated for the now.  I still liked it overall.

In conclusion:  Solid characters, fantastic premise, and a solid story make this a very nice introduction to the Icon brand and Milestone Comics.  I really wish I could get my hands on Static now.  Moreso than before, even.

POC Reading Challenge:  14/15; YA Reading Challenge:  21/75

See larger image Icon: A Hero's Welcome (New Edition) (Paperback) By (author) Dwayne McDuffie List Price: $19.99 USD New From: $9.50 In Stock Used from: $6.07 In Stock Release date October 6, 2009.

The librarian suggested Nappy by Charisse Carney-Nunes after hearing a conversation I was having with another woman in line about finding a natural hairstylist.  Carney-Nunes intends the book to “affirm the beauty and strength of black hair” as per an interview at The Brown Bookshelf.

I mention how she sees the book because I absolutely did not like it, nor did I take get the intended message from the book.  I can see what it’s trying to do–link natural hair with the history of blackness in the U.S., specifically the triumphs of black women.

The problem is that black natural hair is presented as a burden.  It’s painful, it’s a nuisance, it’s a struggle to have.  The repeated line is that God doesn’t give you anything you can’t handle like having nappy hair is some great tragedy that has to be overcome.  It’s equated with the Civil Rights movement, slavery, etc.  Which is fine on paper because, yes, that is the history.

But the little girl that’s getting her hair combed is in pain. There is nothing enjoyable presented about having nappy hair. As a mother of a child whose hair isn’t chemically treated, I would not want her to read the book about how her hair is some great trial to overcome, that it’s SO HARD to wear her hair the way it is.

We enjoy hair time. We watch movies and talk. If I’m hurting her when I do her hair, it’s because I’m doing something wrong–like not moisturizing her hair enough. The only great struggle for me, as a woman who has stopped using chemicals in my hair, is not wanting to do my hair, which was an issue I had when my hair was relaxed.

So this gets a big thumbs down for me.

Although I did like the mini-biographies presented of the women featured in the book.

POC Reading Challenge:  13/15

I guess I might’ve spent my whole life in that villa never learning the truth if not for that darn wall. Deep in my gut, I believed if I could just look over it, just see what was there, my dreams would make sense.  Everything would make sense.

Rapunzel’s Revenge written by Shannon & Dean Hale and illustrated by Nathan Hale (no relation) is a retelling of the Rapunzel story in which Rapunzel saves herself, teams up with a stranger named Jack, and sets out to free her birth mother and fellow countrymen from adoptive mother Gothel.

What I Liked

- Rapunzel is an awesome character.  She’s driven and determined, and she refuses to let her circumstances overwhelm her.

- There’s a lot of humor in the book–from making fun of Rapunzel’s ugly, ugly clothes to the banter between her and Jack.  There are lots of great moments and a couple of laugh out loud funny ones.

- I love that Rapunzel and Jack are more partners than anything.  Sometimes it seems as though he’s her sidekick and sometimes she’s his, but that’s because they both have different strengths and any given situation could favor one or neither.

- There’s some mystery around Jack.  I figured it out right away, but my daughter really enjoyed the twist when it was revealed.

- Mother Gothel’s motivation for locking Rapunzel up really surprised me–in a good way.

- I love the artwork.  Clear and crisp with great facial expressions.  It was as much fun to look at the pictures as read the text–as it should be with a graphic novel.

- Rapunzel uses her hair as a weapon.  I like that instead of it being the tool of her imprisonment, it becomes empowering.

What I Didn’t Like

- I would’ve liked to know just a little more about Gothel besides her being evil.  You know, just a smidge.

In conclusion: The book is a lot of fun and a great read.  It’s also great for the tween set or anybody who really enjoys adventurous stories.  My daughter read it, immediately reread it, and then bought it when she saw it a the book store (I checked it out from the library).  I think she really appreciated that Rapunzel is such a badass female character.

YA Reading Challenge:  17/75

See larger image Rapunzel's Revenge (Paperback) By (author) Shannon Hale, Dean Hale List Price: $15.99 USD New From: $2.87 In Stock Used from: $2.74 In Stock Release date August 5, 2008.

That’s right.  Someone was suffering from Acute Crazy in the room, but it wasn’t me.

In Kitty Kitty by Michele Jaffe (the sequel to Bad Kitty), Jasmine is back.  This time, she’s in Venice, Italy because her father is researching soap (hence the accusation of Acute Crazy), her new friend Arabella involves her in a mystery, and wacky hijinks ensue.

What I Liked

- Honestly, my favorite thing about the book is that everyone is so smart and contributes to the team.  Jasmine is interested in forensic science so she knows how to collect evidence with whatever’s in the room.  Polly is a fashion designing prodigy, and Roxy is a gadget mastermind who can make, well, anything.  Even Jasmine’s Evil Hench cousin Alyson has a stealth specialty that’s revealed in the book.  And then Veronique (Alyson’s friend) and Tom (Roxy’s twin brother) are there for moral support, I guess.  I’m not entirely sure what they do besides being nice and extremely good-looking, respectively.  The point is:  smart people are awesome.

- The book is a lot of fun.  Even when it gets heavy (there’s a murder), there’s a lot of comedy.  It’s like if Psych were about a bunch of teenaged MacGyvers, all with different specialities.

- There’s interesting groundwork laid for the next book, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it plays out.

- The plot just zips along.  I read most of it in one sitting.

- I like that there’s no real malice in the relationship between Alyson and Jasmine.  Even though they clearly annoy each other and tease one another, it’s not really as nasty as it could be.  I believe that Alyson would help Jasmine the way she does and that Jasmine would include Alyson the way she does.  So that’s nice.

What I Didn’t Like

- The footnotes irritate me so much.  I don’t think they really add to the story at all, and I feel like most of what’s in them (random conversations) could just be a part of the text.

- There are points where the humor feels a little forced and like Jaffe is trying too hard.  There’s a running joke about adding “o” to the end of words to make them sound Italian, and aftero le whileo, it just got le lame-o.

In conclusion:  The footnotes are easy enough to ignore if you want to, and the book is breezy and a quick read.  It’s perfect for beach/pool reading or if you just want a light read after, say, reading a bunch of books about World War II.  Also, there are awesome female characters to be found, most of them of color.

YA Reading Challenge:  14/75; POC Reading Challenge:  10/15