About the Book
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Author:
- Bennett Madison
BFF Charm: Yay!
Talky Talk: Cosmo Short Story With a Smartypants Twist
Bonus Factors: Nancy Drew, Coffee
Relationship Status: Sidekick
The Deal:
Lulu Dark is a normal snarky teenage girl, most emphatically NOT a girl detective — she’s no Nancy Drew, no Veronica Mars (although I can see her being friends with Veronica) — until her tacky knockoff purse gets stolen. The purse alone is worth pursuing, as its one-of-a-kind ugliness makes it her favorite accessory, but it also contains the phone number of super hot Alfy Romero, lead singer of The Many Handsomes. As Lulu and her bffs Daisy and Charlie dig deeper, things take a turn for the sinister. A classmate goes missing, then a girl with a tattoo like the missing girl’s turns up dead, not to mention Lulu’s being stalked by the mysterious skank she calls “Sally Hansen”, and suddenly Lulu’s in it from her pink cowboy boots to the top of her head.
BFF Charm: Yay!
I’d give lulu my bff charm in a heartbeat, and not just to keep from getting on her bad side. She’s hilarious and fun and smart and while she can be the queen of the killer cut-down, she totally has her friends’ backs. She knows you not only don’t need ten sparkling blue tube tops, you don’t even need one, and she’d never ever put a dead fish in your backpack (but she might put one in your enemy’s). Charlie and Daisy are awesome, too — Charlie’s sweet and trusting and the most adorable kind of rich dilettante (generous, unassuming, rich), while Daisy’s airheadedness is a great counterpoint to her brown belt in karate.
Swoonworthy Scale: 6
The romantic setup between Lulu and Charlie is pretty obvious to everyone except Lulu, who is first too busy continuing her feud with Rachel Buttersworth-Taylor and later figuring out who stole her purse and the ensuing curiouser and curiouser mysteries. All I’ll say is without even one kiss, Madison manages to make a night in a dumpster swoonworthy.
Talky Talk: Cosmo Short Story With a Smartypants Twist
Madison writes with a deliciously catty air — Lulu breezes around shooting daggers at her mortal enemy Rachel and turns her wickedly sharp (and snarky) powers of observation on the trampy Sally Hansen — PLUS he also knows how to use a colon correctly. Even this description of a jungle gym is funny enough to make me glad I wasn’t reading the book on public transportation:
It had been built back in the fifties, when kids were expected to do crazy stuff and no one worried about safety concerns, so the thing was metal and complicated and treacherous. Nowadays, if you tried to build something like that, you’d have some group of Concerned Mothers Against Fun on your back in a second, petitioning city hall to ban playgrounds altogether for the safety of dim toddlers.
Bonus Factors: Nancy Drew
Nancy Drew’s not exactly admired here (in fact, I think Lulu refers to her and other amateur girl detectives as having “no personality, no social lives outside of their obviously gay boyfriends, and absolutely no sense of style.” Take that, Ned Nickerson!). Luckily Lulu DOES have a personality and definitely her own sense of style. And she makes a pretty good amateur detective, and gives her friends plenty of opportunities to fire off zinging one-liners about mysteries in the old clock.
Bonus Factor: Coffee
Since Lulu’s just in high school, most of her hanging out is done at an all-ages club called Big Blonde or at Little Edie’s, the cafe where Daisy waitresses (and if cafes could wear pantyhose as a turban, Little Edie’s would). Rather than swilling gallons of cosmos, Lulu and Co. drink so much coffee even I had a buzz. And I love coffee (esp. with Bailey’s).
Casting Call:
You guys, this was REALLY HARD. I kept wanting to cast Cordelia Chase as Lulu for her snarking abilities and no-nonsense approach to people who get in her way, but Lulu’s actually, you know, NICE to her friends, so that’s out. And all the rich boy characters end up being jerks, which Charlie definitely is NOT. So I went with gorgeous with a charming accent for Charlie:
Ethan Peck as Charlie
And, at a total loss, the Dushku as Lulu. She’s not perfect — a little too rough around the edges, and def. too old now (although she’s only 6 mos. older than I am, so she’s not, like OLD old) — but she’ll have to do. I’m def. open to suggestions, though!
Eliza Duskhu as Lulu
Relationship Status: Sidekick
As in, I’ll be your sidekick Lulu! I don’t know karate, but I’ll gladly carry your spatula. I’ve tagged this post “sassy best friend” even though Lulu doesn’t have a sassy best friend because I want HER to be MY sassy best friend. In fact, I’m about to go out and get the second Lulu book so I can laugh at her jokes and admire her attitude and secretly wish I could be her when I grow up.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received neither money nor cocktails for writing this review (dammit!). Lulu Dark Can See Through Walls is available now.
