Quite possible the best teen book I've ever read. Pure poetry. ( )

I loved Nick & Norah's infinite playlist and read some of David Levithan's book, which I also liked, so I wanted to read something by Rachel Cohn.

The book disappointed me.

The characters are boring (the protagonist included), the story lacks suspense and is pretty obvious from the beginning. If it wasn't that short, I wouldn't have finished it at all. Won't read the sequels for sure.

The protagonist, a childish, friendless and troubled teenager, that doesn't get along with her mother and talks to her doll. Her thoughts revolve around boys and sex, which I find annoying for a 15 year old.

I didn't like the writing either, which lacked the sort of musical power that Nick & Norah's infinite playlist had.
( )

Cyd Charisse is a 16-year-old rebellious, eccentric, rich girl with raging hormones. Her mother and step-father don't know what to do with her. When she pushes the envelope too far with her boyfriend, they end up sending her from home (San Francisco) to spend a few weeks with her biological father, whom she has never really known, in New York City, where she also has a half brother and half sister who didn't even know she existed.
Cyd is a sympathetic and likable character, in spite of herself, and as the book progresses, she slowly becomes more likable, as she learns a few lessons in life, and helps a few other people learn their badly needed lessons as well. ( )

Spoilers, don't read this. The main character, Cyd Charisse, is an asshole. She treats her family like crap. Cyd used to date a rich guy, but he was a worse asshole than she was, and it didn't work out. She dates Shrimp, a weird surfer dude, but she has a crush on his older brother. She gets a job, but ruins it because she's too busy whining and lusting over her boyfriend. Her mom sends her to meet her biological father, a typical workaholic New Yorker. Oh, and she's the product of an affair (I think?) so he's kind of embarrassed of her and sort of leaves her at home to her own stupidity, and she gets in tons of trouble. It has a happy ending. It was a really good book when I first read it, about ten years ago (yikes), but I tried reading it again last year and it wasn't as good. I think it's because it captures the annoying "teenage rebel" phase so well that once you're older, it's kind of like... jeez dude, just give your mom a hug and stop being a douche. ( )

If Cyd Charisse were to live on a commune in say, Tahiti, it would include her surfer boyfriend Shrimp; her best friend Sugar Pie, and of course her rag doll Gingerbread. They would all drink coffee and eat gingerbread cake and ride dolphins on the ocean. But Cyd Charisse doesn’t live on a commune. She lives in San Francisco with her parents Sid and Nancy and goes to an “alternative arts school” which is really just a dumping ground for rich kids who aren’t total misfits. Life with Sid and Nancy is no bed of roses, but at least Shrimp, Sugar Pie and Gingerbread keep her sane. But when Cyd Charisse’s parents ground her for spending the night with Shrimp and then Shrimp himself dumps her, she more than ready to leave them all behind and escape to New York City for the summer to meet her real dad and her half-brother and sister. Cyd Charisse’s visit to New York doesn’t turn out at all to be the summer she expected...but maybe it was just the one she needed.