Cursed!

While scrolling through Netgalley, this book's bright cover with a girl with Merida hair instantly grabbed my attention. Then after reading the description of the little girl who dreams of being a screenwriter and is often caught up in fantasy, I was transported back to my days as a young girl with the very same dream, and I just had to know more. I soon found myself on an adventure with 2 girls named Ginny and Carrie. Both are very unique girls with issues fitting in amongst their peers and in need of companionship. Especially since each of them have dealt with the loss of a loved one recently. When it seems that neither one has anyone else to turn to, they turn to each other for friendship and answers. One girl feels like nobody around her cares about her anymore and the other believe that a long-standing family curse is to blame for the lack of loved ones in her life. Will an old woman and a diary help them find the answers they're so desperately seeking? You know they will.

A BIG Thank You to NetGalley and JKS Communications for providing me an advanced electronic copy of “Cursed! My Devastatingly Brilliant Campaign to Save the Chigg” by Idabel Allen.

To be honest, I initially picked this up because I liked the cover of the quirky red headed girl. If I like the cover, I usually dive right into it and start reading, rather than reading the plot. Having said that I really didn’t expect this book to be very good based on its name. The title sounded long and silly I had no idea what a “Chigg” was. Let me tell you, once I started reading it, I just LOVED it and couldn’t put it down! I finished the entire book in one sitting and wished it had continued.

This book has just about everything in it to make a book a complete entertainer. The plot, the characters and the dialogues are so zany and over the top for the most part. Such characters include a zombie obsessed girl, Western villain, voodoo woman, and a girl thinking she is cursed. The plot involves a woman drowning her baby, friends entering a deserted farmhouse to rid a curse and school revenges. One would think that none of these components would have anything in common to make a good middle grade story. Yet somehow the author blends all these elements perfectly into the main story and makes its work beautifully!

The main highlight of the book is the main character Ginny (aka Lady Godzilla). The way Idabel Allen (the author) has written her is just wonderful. Each dialogue and characteristic of this obnoxious yet funny girl brings even an otherwise dull scene to life. There are moments where Ginny would be arguing or frustrated, but the remarks she delivers would be hilarious. The somewhat strange supporting characters like Mr. Lan, Starla and yes, even the Chigger are all just as entertaining. The book also blends its tone and setting well during certain parts of the story. For example, the way the author writes the scenes with Ginny are mostly light hearted. However, you can easily see the serious tone the book morphs into when we start reading Della’s diary entries. I thoroughly enjoyed Idabel’s writing style and would love to read some of her other novels.
Below are some highlights that made me laugh out loud!

I said, “You totally saved my life”. “It was nothing,” she mumbled with a shake of her downcast face, and added, “I gotta go.” Then she turned to leave, just like that. Didn’t even offer to take me home and nurse my foot. Now how rude is that?

“So what? What’s she gonna do? Gum me to death? She only had about four teeth in case you hadn’t noticed. She’s old and decrepit.”

And when I saw her crying I was pretty certain, well, almost certain, that she was upset. So I did what I always do when cheering someone up. I produced a grade-A, Lady Godzilla, fire-breathing, hair-singeing, from-the-gut, belch of endless proportions.

Honestly, this book was an unexpected surprise that I really didn’t think I would enjoy so much. Any book that can make me laugh out loud in itself deserves a five star rating. I highly recommend this book and give it 5/5 stars.