150. Getting the Girl

First of all can you believe this is my 150th book I've read this year? Yikes! I can hardly believe it myself.

Getting the Girl: A Guide to Private Investigation, Surveillance, and Cookery by Susan Juby


Pages: 339
Finished: Sept. 4, 2008
First Published: Sept. 19, 2008 (CAN), Sept. 30, 2008 (US)
Genre: YA, realistic fiction
Rating: 4/5

Reason for Reading: Received a review copy from Harper Collins Canada. Qualifies for the Canadian Challenge.

This book came as an extra. I had requested two YA books and they were packaged together with this one as a boxed set of ARCs. I was not too thrilled with the looks of this and wasn't sure if I would read it. I have no interest in modern teen high school life. It doesn't apply to me and never will. But I decided I would give it a try since it looked like a quick read.

First sentence:

I was sitting on the old blue bleachers with Dini.

Comments: Fourteen year old Sherman lives with his mum, who happens to be a burlesque dancer and was very young when she had him. Entering his first year of grade nine at the local high school, he, along with the rest of his old class mates, are worried about the horrendous act of "Defiling" which has gone on at the school for years. Many think it is just a rumour until they see their first defiling themselves. A picture of a girl appears on bathroom mirrors all over the school, with a letter "D" on it, then tales of the girl's s*xploits, STD's and general skankiness are spread through the school within minutes. The girl is then both shunned and bullied forever and they often leave the school emotional messes.

Sherman, your regular red-blooded Canadian teenager, decides to investigate to find the Defiler before the girl he likes becomes defiled herself, plus he finds himself getting into closer and closer contact with the 'hot' girls during his quest.

I was really surprised with the detective aspect of the book. It was what I mainly found myself interested in and it was quite funny. In fact the book had several laugh out loud moments. I really enjoyed Sherman's voice; he was a real kid dealing with puberty, hormones and friendship. The book had a very fast pace, the chapters were short so it was always easy to keep telling myself just one more chapter. The book is well written and I'm sure the intended audience will love it.

Personally, I would have loved it; if not for the fairly frequent vulgar language and the very frequent s*xual talk and innuendo between 14 year olds.