Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #351447 in Books
• Published on: 2005-03-01
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .98" h x 6.08" w x 8.84" l, .81 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

From Amazon.com
After a summer in New York to get to know her bio-dad and her Other Family, the oddly named Cyd Charisse of Gingerbread has returned to senior year in San Francisco, given her eponymous rag doll to her little sister, and rolled up her sleeves to pursue her short but gorgeous surfer ex-boyfriend Shrimp in the firm belief that their relationship can be returned from "just friends" to its former status of "true love." A spoiled suburban princess with pretensions of Goth, CC has up to this year been so tediously self-involved that she has not even been willing to commit to having girl friends. But now she has Asian semi-lesbian punk Helen and Shrimp's folly Autumn. Despite their good advice, and that of her gay half-brother Danny, her wise elderly friend Sugar Pie, her shallow but glamorous mother Nancy and her nice stepfather Sid-dad, Fernando the chauffeur, and even his godson, the boy CC calls Alexei the Horrible, CC stubbornly continues to believe that her fate lies with Shrimp. This slim plot, loaded with pop culture, current teen speak, fashionable food, and much switching of sexual gender preferences, is punctuated with spats and making-up between the various characters, assisted by uncharacteristically tactful and sensible intervention by CC. In the end the author pulls a switch with a wedding (but whose?) and a tearful redefinition of true love that leaves room for a sequel.

Rachel Cohn's thoroughly unlikable Cyd Charisse is evocative of Louise Rennison's Georgia Nicholson of Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging, but without the redeeming wit, and the San Francisco setting recalls the passion for L.A. of Francesca Lia Block's Weetzie Bat, but without the mythic sweetness. However, fans of chick lit will embrace this super-trendy book with open arms. (Ages 12 up) --Patty Campbell

From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up - Cyd Charisse's coveted doll, whom readers met in Gingerbread (S & S, 2002), has taken up residence on her second-grade sister's bed. Cyd has just returned from New York City, where she met her bio-dad. She is suffering from a major case of Shrimp longing even though she and her surfer boyfriend had broken up, and she's determined to test the waters again with her "one true love." As soon as she can find him, that is. He is expected back soon from traveling in Papua New Guinea with his parents. Meanwhile, CC is trying to keep the peace at home with her mother, who wants her to fill out college applications. Alexei the Horrible, godson of her parents' chauffeur, shows up and some (predictable) sparks fly between him and Cyd. Shrimp does make a few rare appearances (with parents!), when he's not surfing or painting, but tries to stay "just friends" with Cyd even though the "We're Officially Back On" kiss is just so close in coming. Cohn's humor is right on. If teens laugh out loud at Louise Rennison's books, they will surely be turned on by this one, though it will help to have read Gingerbread first. The joy of the book can be found in the familiar characters and meeting new ones, and this title leaves open the possibility for a third installment. - Kelly Czarnecki, Bloomington Public Library, IL
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From AudioFile
Cyd Charisse (named after the dancer) is a unique young woman of opposites: tough on the outside, mush in the middle; supremely confident but only with the help of her doll; and clear on what she wants but only after much deliberation. Unfortunately, Carine Montbertrand's deep, older voice does not sound like a teen's. In this sequel to GINGERBREAD, the plucky heroine faces the many challenges of her senior year as she searches for independence while wanting to hold on to friends, family, and Shrimp, her ex-boyfriend, who may not need her as much as she needs him. Vocal tone aside, Montbertrand successfully conveys the contradictory emotions of a young woman looking for love without losing herself. M.M.O. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine