Author: Cindy C. Bennett
Publisher: Cedar Fort
Expected Publish Date: December 2011
ISBN13: 9781453663318
FTC FYI: I got my copy from NetGalley
Reviewed by Mindy
“”Think I could turn that boy bad?”
My two best friends–my only two friends, really–Ella and Beth follow my gaze and laugh. We’re sitting on the outskirts of the cafeteria, outcasts physcially and socially. We’re proud of this. We strive for this.
“Trevor Hoffman?” Beth scoffs. “No way, Jen.”
“I bet I can,” I say, chewing a painted black nail as I gaze at my intended target.
“No way,” they both agree.
I look at Trevor Hoffman and my grin widens. He is such a nerdy, goody two-shoes. Kinda cute actually, but with his shirt always buttoned to the top, a straight-A student who all of the teachers adore. He’s the junior class something or other, not the president but one of the other officers. He’s a little different than the other geeks in that he’s sort of . . . cool geek, I guess. No glasses, asthmatic wheezing, or too-short pants for him. But he’s firmly entrenched with the geek squad, a nerd to the core himself.
“I bet I could,” I say shrugging. “Might be fun.”” (page 1)
Jen takes on the challenge of turning Trevor bad, if she is successful, Ella and Beth will pay for her lip to be pierced. Currently Jen is in a foster home that doesn’t allow piercings. She’s not worried because she expects to be gone from there soon. The girls go to the school stomp that night and Jen immediately finds Trevor and asks him to dance. In his geeky ways, he thanks her for the dance and she turns away. Dork.
At school, Jen continues to flirt, always watching and smiling at him. After a couple weeks of this, Jen asks Trevor to a party. He has plans already, but asks Jen if she wants to come over and watch movies with him and some friends. She agrees. After, they continue doing things together. Trevor takes her with him to the senior center where he volunteers, their families meet up at the bowling alley, and even go camping together.
Jen is a great character. She’s very snarky and snide at times, but after hanging out with Trevor a lot, they start to like each other and she start to slowly change. I enjoyed the way the author showed their growing relationship, and the subtle changes that Jen takes in her appearance and attitude towards her foster family soften her up. Jen had a rough start in life, and needs to come to terms with scary things. My favorite was Trevor, he may have been a geek in her eyes, but I thought he was just a great kid. I thought the book was well written and I really felt sorry for what awful stuff Jen had to endure growing up. I loved the many science fiction references. Lots of my favs were mentioned: Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, X Files…
4 out of 5 stars. Cindy Bennett wrote Heart on a Chain that was released last year. Read more about the author here. Friend her on Facebook, and Like Geek Girl’s Facebook page. Follow on Twitter.
Thanks to Cedar Fort for allowing me to part of this Blog Tour.