Justine Larbalestier’s new book is totally doos. (That last word there, it’s not a typo. It’s a Justine-ism that means brilliant, awesome, and incredibly cool.)
The set-up: How to Ditch Your Fairy takes place in a world where … you know … people have fairies. And it’s a pretty regular thing. Our heroine, Charlotte Steele (better known as Charlie), was born with a parking fairy, which seems pretty benign. Like, I would totally want a parking fairy, because I live in Brooklyn — in an area that is not as accessible by public transit as I’d like it to be — and I have to move my car every morning for alternate side of the street parking. Not only is it a pain in the arse, it’s also gotten me a ton of parking tickets.
But see, Charlie hates her fairy, mostly because people are incessantly asking her to go places with them in their cars. And sometimes they don’t even really ask. They demand.
Enter Fiorenze, a classmate who is stuck with a fairy that makes all boys her age fall madly in love with her. You can imagine this would rock for about ten seconds before it drove you crazy, right? I mean, yeah, it would be great if every cool guy I met was into me, but … no, it wouldn’t actually be great. It would suck.
Both Fio and Charlie are getting into loads of trouble at school, all because of their fairies. So of course they both go looking for ways to rid themselves of these pesky parasitic creatures. (I don’t know. Are fairies parasites?)
All in all, Justine’s latest is wonderfully enjoyable, hilarious, frustrating, well-written, and just … worth every penny. Because, see, I bought it. Yes, I bought it for full price, dammit, and I’m glad I did. Otherwise I’d never have gotten the chance to read something so unstoppably fun. And I only dropped it in the bathtub once, so it’s not completely ruined, either. Just a tiny bit waterlogged.
A few things I thought of as I was reading: 1. Justine gives Libba Bray full credit for the title. 2. There is actually a character in the book with the last name Bray! 3. I want a fairy. 4. In the glossary Justine writes about a story fairy, who turns all your experiences into excellent stories. But, she says, the hard part is writing the stories, not getting the ideas. 5. This means I must have a writing fairy, and pronto. Anybody got one they’d be willing to swap for my afternoon nap fairy? If so, just drop me a line, yeah?
This book is in my TBR pile!! I can’t wait to get to it, and I saw it in my bookstore the other day. It looks great in hardcover! Glad you loved it- I’m so excited to read it!
I’ve heard a lot about this book, and this just makes me want to read it more.
Wow, this is great – every day this week i’ve heard of a book that sounds totally awesome and then turns out be even awesomer than i’d thought! Go authors!!!