Getting the Girl: A guide to Private Investigation, surveillance, and Cookery by Susan Juby

Published: October 2008

Publisher: Harper Teen

# Pages:338

Copy provided by: Library

Summary: Goodreads

Meet Sherman Mack. Short. Nerdy. Amateur P.I. and prepared to do anything for Dini Trioli.
Nobody knows who began it or when it became a tradition, but every girl at Harewood Tech fears being D-listed, a ritual that wipes her off the social map forever. When Sherman believes Dini is in danger of being D-listed, he snatches up his surveillance gear and launches a full-scale investigation to uncover who is responsible.
Could it be the captain of the lacrosse team?
The hottest girls in school, the Trophy Wives?
Or maybe their boyfriends?
One thing is for sure: Sherman Mack is on the case. And he's not giving up.
Part comedy, part mystery, and with all of Juby's trademark tongue-in-cheek humor, Getting the Girl takes on one of the cruelest aspects of high school: how easy it is for an entire school to turn on someone, and how hard it can be to be the only one willing to fight back.

This was an interesting book for me to read. I expected humor, and I got it, but at the same time, I wasn't expecting the depth that was in the novel. I haven't read anything by Susan Juby before, so I was quite unprepared for what I got. I was expecting more fluff. A quick harmless read. What I got was, for me, a heart-wrenching look at some of the cruelty and bullying that goes on in high schools.

Sherman is absolutely hilarious as the bumbling detective to be, but the real beauty of his character is his willingness to stand against wrong, no matter the consequences. He really is quite a hero in my opinion. No-one deserves the kind of punishment that is meted out by becoming 'defiled'. There are a couple of little surprises in the book that kept me interested and I loved Sherman and Rick's adventures with cooking class. All in all, I really enjoyed it.

For anyone out there looking for ISU material on bullying, this book gives a whole new perspective. Interesting book Ms. Juby.

BTW, have you entered our Smart Chicks Kick It Aftermath Signed Book bash? Yep, we're giving away signed books. The contest is open to Canadian and American residents and runs until the end of the month. You must be a Google follower to qualify (although extra entries can be earned as well)

The Evil Within by Nancy Holder

Released: June 10th 2010
Publisher: Penguin/Razor Bill
Copy Provided by: Library
# of Pages: 310
Summary: Goodreads

In this sequel to New York Times bestselling author Nancy Holder’s Possessions, Lindsay finds out that she, too, is possessed, and must return to creepy Marlwood Academy in order to rid herself of the spirit. Lindsay’s afraid of what the spirit is telling her to do—kill Mandy! But the secrets of Marlwood go much deeper than Lindsay thought. Sometimes the girls who seem like enemies are actually on your side. And the voices you trust the most—the voices that come from within—are the ones that want you dead.

How many of you out there like ghost stories - seriously creepy, unsettling ghost stories? If you do, this book is the one for you. Marlwood is the school of nightmares. Broken down buildings, tangled woods, black lake, eerie fog, everything in fact that can be found in the best ghost stories. The mean girls in this tale are seriously nasty - full of their own importance and sense of entitlement. Add in some seriously demented and vengeful spirits and you have a recipe for terror. I haven't decided yet which are worse the living girls or the dead ones!

Mandy, chief mean girl, has a brother who was only spoken of in the first book and in this one he is introduced in the flesh, so to speak. If you thought she was bad, wait 'til you meet Miles. He gives me serious shivers. Lindsay has a crush on Troy, who says he's going to break up with Mandy, but never seems to quite get around to it. Is he really as nice as he seems or is there more to him than meets the eye?

Ms. Holder has taken the very relevant themes of bullying and popularity in schools and has given them an amazingly dark and scary twist. What happens when pranks go wrong? People die - only in this story, very few people seem even remotely sorry about it. This is the second in what appears to be a series ( no 3 comes out Spring 2011) and I would recommend reading the first one 'Possessions' before tackling this one - it will just make more sense if you do. You'll love the gothic feel to this very modern ghost story.