Tanisha Carlson is a typical 14 year old girl.  Well really not so typical as she is in Honors classes in middle school and is a good athelete.  Tanisha lives with her mother and three brothers in a suburb of Chicago but not in one of the fancier parts of town.  She is very much aware of her position in life and is constantly trying to make herself seem to have more than she actually does. 
Tanisha seems to have a good relationship with her brothers (as much as a teenage girl can have with brothers) as there seem to be an us against them mentality fo the children against the mom.  Tanisha even goes as far as calling her mother by her first name behind her back. 
Tanisha has a secret at the beginning of the book that she doesn't want her friends to find out about.  This situation is later resolved in the book and her friends don't find out. 
Her mother also is hiding a secret that she doesn't want anyone especially Tanisha to find out about but seems to come to a good conclusion later in the story. 
Tanisha and her friends are constantly worried about what others are thinking of them,  what the boys are thinking of them, how their clothes makes them look. 
While I read this it made me remember those days in middle shcool and high school when I thought I would die because I didn't have the right clothes or I wasn't wearing the right makeup or that I wasn't popluar enough.  I thought that the author captures  the whole teenage angst thing very well. 
I read this book with the intention of handing it over to my 14 year old daughter to read .  There is some mild language and some mild sexual innuendo so I will discuss that with her before I let her read it but I am sure that she will enjoy it.  Tanisha does tell quite a few white lies and I will discuss that with my daughter as well.           

Reviewed on 03/25/2010 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Mindy Detweiler

Overview

Tanisha is a 14-year-old going through all the typical 14-year-old stuff. Interested in boys, trying to figure out where she fits in the popularity game, and a fairly responsible kid with a few brothers. She's also got a few extra challenges; a recent divorce between her parents, significant mom problems, and a childhood secret. This book chronicles her journey through middle school and all the relationships involved.

Author

Author JC Conrad-Ellis is a mom with a degree in political science and a Masters in Industrial Relations. She's stepped down a few rungs in the corporate ladder to have more time with her kids, and this book is written as a story her daughters could one day enjoy.

My Review

This book kept my attention throughout. I enjoyed getting to know Tanisha and her friends, and the suspense factor was just right.

One interesting aspect was Tanisha's propensity for white lies. It does make her a "real" character - you can see the motivation behind the lies and that she's a good kid underneath - and I'm hoping the future books go into this aspect a little more.

The dialogue portions of this book were written well. The parts written in the third person jumped around between characters' perspectives; it felt a little awkward occasionally - as if the narrative was intended mainly to rush the storyline along.

I don't know if this is considered a spoiler, but since it was my only significant complaint about the book, I'll include it anyway. Right towards the end, I was getting a little nervous because too many ends still needed to be tied to complete the story. And sure enough, the book ends with the words: "To Be Continued..."

Now, I like a series book that is good enough that you want to read the next book, but still can stand alone. This one would have made me want to read the next book, but it doesn't stand alone. (In fact, I understand that the original project was too long, so it was split up into a series of books.) So I will be getting the next book!

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book and would be happy to recommend it to a teen female reader.

Reviewed on 09/30/2009 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Jane Maritz