Fancy White Trash by Marjetta Geerling

From the Publisher

Finding love is simple with the One True Love Plan.

"If only life were as easy as your sisters." Abby's heard that one before. And it's true —Shelby and Kait aren't exactly prim and proper. Abby is determined not to follow in their footsteps, so she has created the One True Love Plan. The most important part of the plan is Rule #1: Find Someone New. This means finding a guy who hasn't already dated Shelby or Kait. But when Abby starts falling for the possible father of Kait's baby, she has to figure out if some rules are meant to be broken.

This debut novel, a modern comedy of errors, is as lighthearted and irreverant as its title.

Publishers Weekly

When a family fight breaks out in the front yard, Abby Savage is next door with a friend who can't avert his gaze. "He has that look in his eyes that explains exactly why Jerry Springer has been on the air for so long," Abby says, with a wry detachment that characterizes her determination to break the Savage family pattern. Her mother is pregnant, (probably) by Steve the Guitar Player, who has also dated Abby's sisters, one of whom is also pregnant, also possibly by Steve. Abby's refuge is best friend and neighbor Cody, a gay teen in denial. She is trying mightily to not fall in love with Jackson, Cody's older brother, the other possible father of her sister's baby. A big soap opera fan, Abby views her life comically through a lens that includes amnesia, babies switched at birth and True Love. The humor bubbles consistently; note that the unsavory adults, underage drinking and harassment of gays (Cody is pelted with "butt plugs" at the homecoming dance) push this first novel to an older readership. Ages 12-up. (May)

VOYA

Abby Savage is determined to be different from her mother and sisters. The Savage women are beautiful but notorious for being trashy. Her mother married a much younger man who also dated both of Abby's sisters and is probably the father of one sister's baby. Now Abby's mother is pregnant with his child as well. In order to guarantee herself a different life, Abby develops rules for finding the perfect boyfriend based on her observations and the soap operas she adores. Among them are "Find Someone New," because she will not date anyone who has dated her sisters, and "Get Out of Town," because soap characters are happiest the years they do not appear on the show. Unfortunately Abby cannot dictate her love, and she finds herself falling for her neighbor Jackson-who happens to be the other possible father of her sister's baby. The Savage family is amusing, but their actions can sometimes border on the ridiculous. Luckily first-time novelist Geerling tempers the comedy with Abby's best friend, Cody. Cody is Abby's confidante and the person who knows her best. She supports him as he finds the strength to admit that he is gay. Their relationship gives the novel its depth. Some of the jokes and story lines run a little long. More careful editing would have resulted in a better book. Overall, though, it is an enjoyable weekend read that teen chick-lit fans will devour. Reviewer: Stephanie Petruso

KLIATT

Abby's life resembles a soap opera in more ways than she'd like. Her parents are divorced, and her mom has married a much younger "guitar player" and is pregnant again. Her 21-year-old sister is a divorced and distracted mother living at home, while her other sister is a senior who claims to be pregnant by her stepfather. Abby's dad is undergoing his third divorce and to top it all off, her best friend Colby is teased viciously at school since everyone thinks he's gay but he won't admit it. Dealing with this chaos, Abby is herself nursing a broken heart. Luckily, she has learned key rules from the soaps that will help her escape this tragically dramatic lifestyle. Most of the rules involve avoiding Jackson, who was her boyfriend until she found out he could possibly be the father of her sister's baby. Abby copes with it all, drawing on Colby's help as they make their way through the school year. Colby does come out and Jackson returns to town as a supposedly reformed guy pursuing her once again. An honest view of a broken family, as Abby learns that understanding and love are possible even in her "trashy" life. Reviewer: Aimee Cole

School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up

Fifteen-year-old Abby Savage has always thought of herself as the "normal" one in a household that more closely resembles a soap-opera cast than a real family. It's the summer before sophomore year, and, with her best friend Cody's help, Abby is determined to follow her One True Love Plan (formulated to avoid the mistakes of her sisters Shelby and Kait). Then Mom announces that she is pregnant by her new husband, Steve, a younger man who also happens to be the father of Kait's unborn child. Things become even more complicated when Cody's older brother, Jackson, returns home. Last spring, Abby thought she was falling in love with him, but she now distances herself because she's obsessed by the possibility that he could be the father of Kait's child (Kait dated Jackson before Steve). This somewhat farcical account of the Savage women is told in a witty, toned-down Meg Cabot style. The novel moves breathlessly from one family drama to the next-often in front of the neighbors-and touches on some heavy topics along the way, most notably Cody's attempt to come out of the closet. While there's no fairy-tale ending, the story's central romantic conflict is tied up a bit too tidily. Still, the likable main character and fast-paced storytelling will appeal to fans of Aimee Friedman's The Year My Sister Got Lucky (Scholastic, 2008) and Meg Cabot's Pants on Fire (HarperCollins, 2007).-Amy S. Pattee, Simmons College, Boston

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