I had the pleasure of listening to Jody Gehrman talk about how to write a scene at the 2009 Redwood Writer's Conference this year. I picked up her young adult novel, Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty, but not quick enough to get her to sign it!

For those fans of Gingerbread, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and Stealing Heaven, this one will be sure to please. Geena, aka Skater Girl, hopes her best friend, Amber aka Blowjob Beezie, and her cousin, Hero, aka Virgin, will get along once they meet. But Amber and Hero hiss like territorial cats in an alley fight once they step inside Triple Shot Betty, the closet-sized drive-through coffee shop where they will all work during the summer.

Geena's attempts to get the two girls to become friends becomes entangled in a web of scheming, lies, and boy antics that escalate at Hero's 16th Birthday party.

Will the three girls ever become friends? You'll have to read the novel to find out. ( )

First off, I say this: the only reason I read this book was because I liked Jody Gehrman and this was the only other book that my library had by her.

Plot: 4/5
The blurb makes the plot of this book sound silly and childish. And for the first half of the book, the plot is somewhat silly and childish. But then we really get into it, and it begins resembling something like Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian.

Characters: 4/5
Geena: was fairly likable. Her voice was real, and her experiences (which formed a certain dislike for the male species) made sense.
Amber: Man, Amber. I really liked her. ANd the stuff we learned about her at the end... made me like her more.
Hero: Okay, I was thinking Hiro Nakamura every time I read her name.
PJ: was really cool!
Ben: Oh, I can't say anything about without fangirl squeeing.
John: Can't say anything about him if I don't want to spoil you.
Claudio: Honestly, I don't really give two shits about him one way or the other.

Romance: 4/5
OMG, the romance was so CUUUTE!

12/15
Overall: an amazingly cute and funny book that had me laughing out loud ALL AFTERNOON. ( )

This was a fun and fast read. The story centered around Hero, Geena, and Amber. Geena is determined to have a great summer with her cousin Hero and her best friend Amber. Too bad Amber and Geena can't stand each other. The summer was filled with pots, evil guys, and romance. There could have been more to wow me but otherwise I took this for what it was. - a fun summer read with a slice of revenge. ( )

As a YA book I was abundantly aware that the characters would be somewhat two-dimensional as they were more like archetypes than actual characters, especially as the story is adapted from Much Ado About Nothing and so I was willing to accept lapses in the writing in order to read the book. Overall, the book is well written though the main characters are somewhat shallow, although I have yet to determine if this was intentional of the author, and the read itself was easy. The protagonist Geena's two best friends have never met, but imagining a perfect summer Geena has arranged for the three of them to work at Triple Shot Betty's for the summer. However, fireworks arise upon meeting and Geena's dream summer is almost certainly ruined. With constant fighting amongst Amber and Hero and a sprinkling of romantic intrigue the two come together only to unite Geena romantically with her antagonist. As I said I wasn't expecting round characters, but found the characters more flat than I imagined despite the author's prowess in plot development.

What is great about this book is that it feels like one of the series we knew as a pre-teen like Sweet Valley High so it is familiar and comforting and likely to appeal to the YA demographic and doesn't rely too heavily on it's Much Ado About Nothing foundation. While there are references in the form of character names, quotations, and vague plot symmetry there isn't a dependence on Shakespeare's classic that might make the work feel stilted. ( )

I have yet to find a cozy, coffee book that measures up to my expectations. This was an okay read, but I'm not hugely impressed.

I have to give this book credit where it's due: although this is categorized as a young adult novel, it doesn't fulfill the cliche of turning every little event into a life-or-death matter. Some mundane things happened and were treated mundanely, and some kind of crazy, gut-wrenching things happened and were in turn addressed as such. That being said, the end was a little cliche. I can deal with a happily-ever-after ending (if I must), but it was all a little too cleanly wrapped up, and in kind of an unbelievable way.

I can't say I'll pick the sequel up. ( )