Review: The Good Girl’s Guide to Getting Kidnapped by Yxta Maya Murray
The Good Girl’s Guide to Getting Kidnapped
Author: Yxta Maya Murray
Publisher: Razorbill (Penguin USA)
This book was provided by the publisher for review.
Publish Date: January 7, 2010
Princess P is the fast bad girl Michelle Pena used to be: the dirty-dancing, foul-mouthed, gang-princess daughter of Reina, Queen of the 99′s, one of the most formidable gangs in California. Princess P was once set to inherit supremacy over her own gang, the Snakes. With Silver, the love of her life and partner in crime, she was unstoppable – until Reina got thrown in jail, her brother Samson got carted off to juvie, and everything in her old world went extinct.Now Michelle’s turned her life around with a devoted foster-pop, a prestigious scholarship on the horizon, and a new best friend. Kiki knows nothing about Michell’s gang-princess past. But what Michelle doesn’t know is that the Snakes are back, and they’ll do anything for the blood money Samson still has. Anything, including holding his beloved sister for ransom. When Silver brutally kidnaps Michelle and Kiki, Michelle has to put to use everything her mama taught her about being Princess P.
Michelle has one shot at freedom. One more chance to be herself. But will she survive long enough to discover who she really is?
I was not sure what to think of this book after the first few chapters. I have only read a few other books related to actual gang life (A Piece of Cake by Cupcake Brown), so some of the lingo and speech patterns were hard for me to grasp.
I stuck with it, however, because I don’t like to give up at the beginning of a book… and I’m very very glad I did. I was sucked into the story after a few more chapters – it is PACKED with action and feeling – the language (once I got used to it) pulled me in to Michelle’s life and made me feel like I was actually listening to her talk. I even took this book to the gym with me to read while I was exercising (on a stationary bike, not running around the track or anything) because I didn’t want to stop reading it.
The ending left me partially satisfied, and I’m hoping the author is planning a sequel, even though I couldn’t find news of one with a quick search of the Internet. I recommend you give this book a try even if the book summary doesn’t seem to fit with you – you may be very surprised (and it would get you out of your book comfort zone a little).
Book Cover: 8/10
Book Title: 10/10
Plot: 9/10
Characters: 9/10
Ending: 8/10
Overall: 9/10
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