Getting the Girl by Susan Juby

Sunglasses. Check.
Binoculars. Check.
Notepad. Check.
Mom's pink bike. Check. Check?

Meet Sherman Mack. Short. Nerdy. Amateur P.I. and prepared to do
anything for Dini Trioli.

Nobody knows who began it or when it became a tradition, but every girl
at Harewood Tech fears being D-listed, a ritual that wipes her off the social
map forever. When Sherman believes Dini is in danger of being D-listed, he
snatches up his surveillance gear and launches a full-scale investigation to
uncover who is responsible.

Could it be the captain of the lacrosse team?

The hottest girls in school, the Trophy Wives?

Or maybe their boyfriends?

One thing is for sure: Sherman Mack is on the case. And he's not giving
up.

Part comedy, part mystery, and with all of Juby's trademark
tongue-in-cheek humor, Getting the Girl takes on one of the cruelest aspects of
high school: how easy it is for an entire school to turn on someone, and how
hard it can be to be the only one willing to fight back.

I am actually surprised that I liked this book. When I read the description, I wasn't sure if it was my thing. It came with Jolted, though, so I thought I would give it a try! It was actually a pretty funny book, but at the same time very serious. It got me thinking about high school and how tough being in high school could be. At my school there was this hallway and everyone called it Jock Hall because it ran along the gym. Anyway, all the 'popular' people used to stand along this hallway and stare, or other days, they would call remarks or do other things that could be intimidating to others. Anyway, this lead to a lot of problems. I know that some of my friends wouldn't even walk down that hallway, they would find alternate routes. It is sort of related to the fact that I wasn't too keen on being intimidated, so I didn't really care all that much... They stopped bothering me; my friends were so embarassed they didn't walk down that hallway. This is the worst-case high school story that was running around in my head while I read this book.

In this book, girls were singled out and they were defiled. This meant that they were essentially invisible passed the first day. That first day, though, they would be bullied and ridiculed. A few of those scenes were shown in the book and it was very depressing what these girls had to go through. It is a very eye-opening book about just what it is like to be a teenager! In such turbulant times, it is a fitting subject, really. Susan Juby covers it with wit and humour, but she also shows the dark side of bullying and intimitation. It was a pretty good read.

It was an ARC of the book, and there was a funny typo that I hope they noticed before it went to printing! Sherman was a likeable character and it was nice to see him stand up for these defiled girls. Although, the path there was rather interesting, to say the least! He doesn't see the borders of the school quite like it was 'supposed' to and finds himself friends with lots of different crowds. Maybe if a few more teens read it they will find the power to stand up for themselves like Sherman did for the girls at his school. It's worth a try, anyway.

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Thanks Harper Collins!