A Little Friendly Advice by Siobhan Vivian

A Little Friendly Advice by Siobhan Vivian
scheduled for publication March 2008 by PUSH

Ruby's turning sixteen . . . but the day doesn't turn out to be as sweet as it's supposed to be. Her long lost father shows up, and Ruby doesn't want to have anything to do with him. Instead, she wants to hang out with her friends - loyal Beth, dangerous Katherine, and gossipy Maria. They have plenty of advice for her - about boys, about her dad, about how she should look and what she should be feeling. But really, Ruby doesn't know what to think or feel. Especially when a new boy comes into the picture . . . and Ruby discovers some of her friends aren't as truthful as they say. (blurb from Amazon)

That summary doesn't do much to describe how really good this book is. The characters are much deeper than one word can express; they're all well-developed and realistic and seem just like the friends you grew up with (or wish you did). Ruby's struggle to deal with her father's sudden reappearance is compelling and the "new boy" she meets is so much more than that. Charlie is a creative guy, the kind of good-looking-but-not-in-a-yearbook-way, talented fella that every Angela Chase-identifying gal hopes to meet. The protagonist, Ruby, is true to herself in the way that really good characters are. She makes crappy choices sometimes, and not everything wraps up neatly for her. She's also creative (though she probably wouldn't describe herself that way) and imaginative and fallible and she rings completely true.

I was also geeked to see that teen lit rock stars Cecil Castellucci and Maureen Johnson both blurbed the book. Great minds think alike, right?

Siobhan Vivian seems like such a cool person, not only because she created this great book, but she's also creative in other ways! She created these so-cute and so-slick buttons, just like the buttons Charlie makes in the book. I so want these! I actually have a mini-button maker that I haven't used in ages, so maybe I'll make some of my own.

This book is so, so awesome. A Little Friendly Advice will be out in March 2008, so keep your eyes peeled!

Also noted:
Modern Day Ramblings
My Nose in a Book

full disclosure: received this ARC from the author