She's So Money by Cherry Cheva

Published: February 1st 2008 by HarperTeen
304 pages
ISBN: 0061288551

ISBN13: 9780061288555

Question: What do you get when you take . . .

1 overachieving girl + 1 insanely cute guy + 1 massive fine + 1 scheme involving a little dishonesty and a whole lot of cash?

I've always been the good girl—working seriously long hours at my family's restaurant and getting straight As. And Camden King was always just that hot, popular guy I'd pass in the halls, whose ego was probably much bigger than his brain. I didn't think there would ever be a reason for us to actually, like, interact.

Then again, I never thought I'd mess up so badly that my family might lose our entire restaurant if I didn't come up with a ton of money, and fast. So that's where Camden comes in—he and his evil/genius plan to do kids' homework for cash.

I know cheating's wrong, but it's better than being dead, right? Which is what I'd be if my parents knew about what happened. I never expected things to spin so far out of control. Or that I'd be such a sucker for Camden's lopsided grin. Or that falling apart could be the best thing that ever happened to me.

Answer: The time of my life.

Review:

Elaborate schemes are necessary when you're left alone for the weekend with your younger brother, with the family restaurant to look after; to be fined because of the Health Department the very next day. Being a straight-A student has its advantages at a time like this. For example. taking in the deal that Weston High's own man-whore offered for doing his homework for a 100 dollars a pop. In order to pay the ten grand in the time limit given, Maya demands for more "clients" no matter how wrong she thinks it is. Getting sucked deeper into that black hole and dragging some friends along the way, Maya's paranoia only seems to grow. Flirting with the bad boy seemed inevitable at the point of expanding the business, since they were both the masterminds of the whole operation. One little detail she paid no mind to was the clingy love song-writing geek that was getting tired of being turned down oh-so-subtly. He decided it was time to get even and unconsciously add on to Maya's worry of her huge homework-cheating system being discovered. He opted out for five grand by the same time the Health Department's check would be due. In the end there was no need to worry, for after feeling betrayed, used, lonely, and defeated, Maya's own conscious sought out the obvious solution that has been pestering her since the "cheating ring" ever began.

Cherry Cheva made She's So Money so comprehensibly laugh-out-loud worthy, that you will be guffawing and crying at the same time. Whoever said that a light, fun novel can't pull at your heart strings every once in a while? She's So Money is an unregrettable novel with run-on sentences that will no doubt have you going back to see if you read something correctly. Maya is such a relatable protanganist that I wonder if I will be as paranoid going into the last years of high school. Recommended to all young adult readers that can tell that this predictable plot is going to finish with a very unpredictable ending.

Grade: B+

LiLi