Book Inspection: Cindy Ella by Robin Palmer (and contest!)

Plot Sketch: Cindy Ella Gold is the daughter of an ACLU attorney, and a loving mother who thought that it would be just adorable to name her Cindy Ella after Cinderella. Dad decided when baby girl was born, he'd go corporate and now works for a major movie studio. After Cindy's mom dies, her dad found a “suitable” second wife in Clarissa. Clarissa has come a long way from the trailer park in the South and is now a verified L.A. household engineer. She brings her twin daughters, Britney and Ashley (nod to the nineties pop queens) to the family. Fortunately for Cindy, neither her stepsisters or her stepmother are actually evil to her, they're just spoiled little rich girls and Cindy is a down-to-earth Jewish girl with a Jew-fro. (her words, not mine) Cindy writes a letter to the editor of the paper about how horrible prom has become with all of the anxiety and prejudice it causes and how it should be a rite of passage. The whole school loathes her for it. Poor Cindy has a crush on Adam Silver and he's the most popular guy in school, but then there's Noah, the hot SAT tutor, and don't forget the online relationship with BklynBoy. Oh, to choose. Find out more when you read it!

Verdict: I Heart It. I'll be honest. At first, I was kind of like, “meh.” And then I kept reading and it got really good really fast. I love that Cindy talks in B._._ terms. Before blank blank. She answers questions with several answers in an a), b), and c) format, including the acutal letters. She calls her stepsisters the Clones instead of the Twins. The only part that seriously bummed me out was when she called on her “Vintage Vanguard Vixens” playlist which included Liz Phair, Sarah MacLachlan, and Alanis Morissette; I'm just not ready to have them be vintage yet. It's a giggle-worthy story that will make you feel young again (except that Vintage part).

The Gauntlet:

At what location does most of the story take place?
Los Angeles, CA, USA

What is the main character's name?
Cindy Ella Gold

Does I Heart Monster like the main character?
Yes. She's down-to-earth and fun and smart.

How long did it take I Heart Monster to finish the book?
one night.

Did I Heart Monster get stuck at any points in the book? If so, why?
I got stuck at the very beginning because I was confused about the prologue and Chapter 1. Realize that the prologue happens after the first chapter which is kind of different.

Is this a good read for Monster?
Nope. Girly girly girly.

What, if anything, would I Heart Monster change to make the book more interesting?
The prologue. I'd ditch it.

What was I Heart Monster's favorite line?
Oh there were SO many to choose from. I'm going to have to share a few:
“I was just waiting for the day when the news had a story about a yogi going postal in McDonald's.”

“I couldn't believe she had just broken commandment number 11: Thou shalt not embarrass best friend in front of hot guy even if she's technically in love with someone else.”

“For my first fifteen and a half years on the planet, my experience with guys had been so minimal that I would have probably been considered borderline retarded by most magazine quizzes.”

How many chapters were in the book?
14

Does the author have a website?
Affirmative: http://www.robinpalmeronline.com/

Stats:

Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Puffin
Publish Date: February 7, 2008
Language: English
ISBN-10: 014240392X

Acquire It:

Paperback
*I found it at Walmart in their YA section for less than $7, but it is eligible for Amazon's 4-3 program.

Notes:

• Another one of Palmer's novels, Geek Charming is set at Castle Heights High, but with different main characters. The main characters in Geek Charming are mentioned in Cindy Ella.
  
• Check out Robin's blog.
  

Contest: *CONTEST NOW CLOSED!*

I'm giving away my copy of Cindy Ella. Cindy wears all kinds of fun t-shirts in this book with slogans like: Celebrity in My Own Mind; Nascar Widow; Come To The Darkside, We have Cookies. For two entries into the contest to win my copy of Cindy Ella, leave your favorite t-shirt slogan in a comment. If you don't have one, check out The Story Siren's post yesterday about some fun t-shirts she saw at Threadless for inspiration.

Extra entries:

+1 For Tweeting This contest (retweets count!) Let me know you tweeted it in comments with your twitter username.

+2 For New Followers/Subscribers (tell me!)

+3 For Existing Followers/Subscribers (tell me!)

+3 For posting this on your blog - sidebar or it's own post. (leave link please)

Please combine all entries into the smallest number of comments you can. If I can't find a way to contact you, another winner will be drawn.

This contest is open worldwide. Entries accepted until 11:59PM, Arizona time, on May 15th, 2009.