Bad Kitty

The title of Michele Jaffe’s first young adult novel was almost enough to scare me off—and I certainly received several snide comments about reading a book called Bad Kitty.

Fortunately, I did not let the title deter me, and I was able to enjoy a rather delightful young adult novel. The light and humorous tone of the book borrows heavily from the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson (complete with a dictionary at the end). Although not nearly as charming as Georgia, Jasmine Callihan is a smart and charismatic heroine.

And unlike Georgia, Jas solves mysteries. The teenager dreams of being a forensic scientist and finds herself caught in the middle of a murder plot. She is intelligent and funny and surrounds herself with clever friends (who make some rather crude and off-color remarks) and a hot romantic interest.

Mostly, though, I was drawn to Jas because she reminds me of me. Scary, I know. Either it means Jas acts like a 30 year old or I act like a 17 year old. I suspect the latter. Here are a few things we have in common:

• Jas and I both suffer from “British Accent Stupidity Syndrome.”
• We both randomly throw in French words. It is a très enchanting habit.
• We both enjoy using slashes to describe things—for example, my current upsweep hairstyle is trailer/prom.
• We each have fathers who are “thwarters.” Thwarters do their best to change their daughters’ plans: “English majors are a dime a dozen. Why don’t you try law school.”

The book is entirely over the top, and the final scene is almost too unbelievable to stomach. But I couldn’t resist Jasmine Callihan’s charms. Now I have to wait until the fall for the second book in the series. I am très impatient/antsy.