Picture drawn by Maggie Stiefvater, 2009. Header made by S.F. Robertson, 2010.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Ditched by Robin Mellom

Ditched by Robin Mellom
"High school senior Justina Griffith was never the girl who dreamed of going to prom. Designer dresses and strappy heels? Not her thing. So she never expected her best friend, Ian Clark, to ask her.

Ian, who always passed her the baseball bat, handle first.

Ian, who knew exactly when she needed red licorice.

Ian, who promised her the most amazing night at prom.

And then ditched her.

Now, as the sun rises over her small town, and with only the help of some opinionated ladies at the 7-Eleven, Justina must piece together -- stain by stain on her thrift-store dress -- exactly how she ended up dateless. A three-legged Chihuahua was involved. Along with a demolition derby-ready Cadillac. And there was that incident at the tattoo parlor. Plus the flying leap from Brian Sontag's moving car...

But to get the whole story, Justina will have to face the boy who ditched her. And discover if losing out at prom can ultimately lead to true love."- summary from Amazon

Oh my goodness, this is a funny book! It was a great break from a lot of books I've been reading lately. I loved the back-and-forth of the novel, reading Gilda and Donna's reactions as Justina recalls her prom night. There's also a really cute thing in the book where there's a picture of the dress and an arrow pointing to a particular stain or bruise right before the chapter that brings about the next part of the story (I hope that made sense).

The summary should already clue you in, but this is a crazy adventure that propels the reader through the story. Justina's voice is perfect and she is a flawed character but as she retells the story to other people, she grows and reconsiders how she went about handling everything. There isn't just the present day and the day before though; Justina recounts a lot of memories that help flesh out all the characters we meet.

Ian and Justina make such great friends and it was so cute to see them together. I also particularly enjoyed the Mikes and their dates- they were very funny but also very helpful and sincere when Justina needed help.

Overall, a hilarious, fabulous debut and I'm really eager to read more from Mellom!

FTC: Received e-galley from Netgalley. Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.

3 comments:

  1. I really liked this book too and I loved how the story was told, though I admit I almost DNFed it right at the beginning because the start was a bit rocky

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  2. I saw this one at Barnes and Noble and wasn't sure about it, but your review may have changed my mind...great review!

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  3. So glad to hear that you liked the book. I just requested it from the library and I hope I get it in my hands VERY soon. :) For some reason, I absolutely love this cover too. haha

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