Ditched: A Love Story, by Robin Mellom copyright 2012
Reading a book written by someone I know is such a thrill.
I was fortunate to live in an area of California overflowing with talented writers. I read the first chapter of Jay Asher's haunting novel 13 Reasons Why in manuscript form at a critique group meeting. I met Thalia Chaltas as we carpooled to the national SCBWI convention, and read her novel, Because I am Furniture in manuscript form. I had the good fortune to know what the Disco Mermaids look like without all of the glitter and glamor. They're really lovely, good people.
So it was Very, Very Exciting to get my pre-ordered copy of Ditched: A Love Story by Robin Mellom in the mail. I read it nearly in one sitting, but real life intervened and I had to put it down for a week.
I just finished it, and it's great fun. Laugh-out-loud funny and cringe-worthy at the same time.
Justina is not one of the popular people. Her philanthropist mother insists that all of her clothes must come from a thrift store or consignment shop. Her best friend Hailey is fierce and completely at ease in all situations. But Justina's biggest problem is that her best guy friend, Ian, has asked her to the prom . . . and she wants to be more than friends.
Now, this may not sound like a big problem, but what happens over the course of one prom night is an epic series of mishaps, mistakes, and misunderstandings that result in some tragic, comic, painful, and stain-filled episodes told in a series of flashbacks as Justina recounts her night of horror -- to the kind cashier at the 7-Eleven she walked to after waking up in a ditch. Ouch.
With vivid, larger-than-life characters, unexpected twists, and a three-legged chihuahua named Chomper, Ditched: A Love Story is the epitome of Robin herself -- witty, sensitive, romantic, loyal, and so very funny.
Robin has a middle grade novel due out this summer, and I hope it's some incarnation of what she was writing years ago when I heard it in critique group because it was wickedly funny.
Congrats, Robin! Go read this, especially you John Hughes fans.
Image copied from Robin's website.
I was fortunate to live in an area of California overflowing with talented writers. I read the first chapter of Jay Asher's haunting novel 13 Reasons Why in manuscript form at a critique group meeting. I met Thalia Chaltas as we carpooled to the national SCBWI convention, and read her novel, Because I am Furniture in manuscript form. I had the good fortune to know what the Disco Mermaids look like without all of the glitter and glamor. They're really lovely, good people.
So it was Very, Very Exciting to get my pre-ordered copy of Ditched: A Love Story by Robin Mellom in the mail. I read it nearly in one sitting, but real life intervened and I had to put it down for a week.
I just finished it, and it's great fun. Laugh-out-loud funny and cringe-worthy at the same time.
Justina is not one of the popular people. Her philanthropist mother insists that all of her clothes must come from a thrift store or consignment shop. Her best friend Hailey is fierce and completely at ease in all situations. But Justina's biggest problem is that her best guy friend, Ian, has asked her to the prom . . . and she wants to be more than friends.
Now, this may not sound like a big problem, but what happens over the course of one prom night is an epic series of mishaps, mistakes, and misunderstandings that result in some tragic, comic, painful, and stain-filled episodes told in a series of flashbacks as Justina recounts her night of horror -- to the kind cashier at the 7-Eleven she walked to after waking up in a ditch. Ouch.
With vivid, larger-than-life characters, unexpected twists, and a three-legged chihuahua named Chomper, Ditched: A Love Story is the epitome of Robin herself -- witty, sensitive, romantic, loyal, and so very funny.
Robin has a middle grade novel due out this summer, and I hope it's some incarnation of what she was writing years ago when I heard it in critique group because it was wickedly funny.
Congrats, Robin! Go read this, especially you John Hughes fans.
Image copied from Robin's website.
Posted by Keri Collins at 1/21/2012 4:00 PM 
Categories: books for grown-ups, young adult novel, books for teens
Categories: books for grown-ups, young adult novel, books for teens
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