The Blonde of the Joke (ARC)

The Blonde of the Joke by Bennett Madison
(out on September 2nd.)
I give it 5 out of 5 stars =)

Valentina has had friends throughout the years. But they all just seem to fade out and then she's left by herself again. She spends her time at the mall hoping that one day something there will change her life. And what do you know it actually happens. While she's browsing the racks at the Wet Seal Francie Knight taps on her shoulder. Francie is a very provocative girl in Val's class who has been seen around campus wearing the "whore's rain coat". Apparently Francie is a major shoplifter and soon Val is too. All the girls ever do is hang out at the mall shoplifting basically whatever they can get their hands on in search of the "Holy Grail". The one most amazing thing that they have ever seen in their life.

When Val isn't with Francie she's worrying about her older brother Jesse who is mysteriously dying. Val has never really understood why he is but apparently he is and it's going to happen someday soon. She's also starting to mess around a bit (behind Francie's back) with the very attractive boy that met her and Francie at the mall one day.

Francie also deals with her own problems involving her basically psychotic mother who randomly disappears and when Francie finds her she'll end up staying with her grandmother for a week or so when her mom checks herself in to the hospital.

Soon Val gets a little tired of Francie's ways and decides she needs to do something. But how drastic will that something be?

Alright so that wasn't my best summary but this one of those books that's kind of hard to summarize. But I definitely loved this book. It was great. Francie's character was so out there and soon Val's character was too. The whole part about Val's brother dying and everything was a little weird but I'm sure it will make sense to other people. I loved the ending of this book too. It wasn't too abrupt and it was just a nice ending. All in all a pretty great book. I definitely want to read something else by Bennett now. =)