Seventeen-year-old Jasmine (Jas to her friends) is tall, flat chested, attracts bizarre happenings, and - much to the distress of her protective, widowed father - has an almost visceral interest in forensics. Her new stepmother, Sherri! (the exclamation mark is mandatory) is only twenty-five, but too fabulous to hate. In fact, that’s her superpower. Jas believes that everyone has a superpower – everyone except her, that is.
Jas is in Las Vegas for the family trip section of her vacation – just her, Sherri!, her dad, her aunt and uncle, and her execrable cousin Alyson – though they must share DNA, Alyson is perfect (“superpower: to turn people into gnats with just a look, or at least make them feel she has”). And, unlike Jas, who’s had to leave her best friends Polly, Roxy and Roxy’s twin Tom at home, Alyson’s brought her Evil Hench Twin Veronique along.
That Jaffe steered so far clear of the wearisome teen-against-her-step-mom was promising from the start, and she avoids predictability throughout. The style is chatty first person, with asides and contemporaneous conversations in the footnotes between Jas, Roxy, Polly, Tom and even Alyson and Veronique. There’s a mystery to be solved, as well as a relationship to kindle, a hunk to unmask as a villain, a crush to quash, and the need for a whole bunch of superpowers. It’s also charming, amusing, likable and engaging. The humour is generally situational and unforced, and the teenage characters are well depicted and believable (if atypical). I’m looking forward to the sequel. - Alex
To read Lynn's review of this book, click here
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