Boy Proof

I kind of wish this hadn't ended with a boy happening. But other than that, as someone who's been in a lot of geek subcultures, not everyone in there is a diamond in the rough. It's kind of nice to see that.

Victoria Jurgen is an honor student, a budding photographer with a heck of an eye, a social misfit, a movie geek (there's a correlation of the two), who's nicknamed herself after a SciFi movie character. All this makes her (a goal for her, a criticism for her mother) “boy proof.”

She has no real friends at school–only rivals, acquaintances, and those that she ignores. Until a transfer student rattles her cage, awakening ideas, feelings, and goals she's not ready for.

Victoria is what Bella Swan could've become if she were a bit geekier, and didn't fall in with the supernatural set. Speaking of ol' Bella, early on in Boy Proof, there's a scene involving a transfer student, the only empty seat in class, and the newcomer's odor that is very reminiscent of a scene from Twilight. IMNSHO, Castellucci pulls if off better than Meyer did.

There's nothing ground-breaking here plot-wise, but Victoria's character and voice are so strong, you don't care. This book is about watching her change and grow. Could the book have been more than that? Sure. Did it need to be? Nope. I wish I could remember what blogpost/tweet/whatever it was that tipped me off to this book, but whatever it was, I'm glad I read it.

Boy Proof is a deceptive little novel. Despite the chick-lit sounding name and the premise of a geek girl who doesn't get close to anyone it ends up a sweet little coming of age story about a girl figuring out who she is and why she is in this world. My only problem with the story was that we never got the root of WHY Egg is so very, very angry at the world. Egg is just lucky that the people around her didn't give up on her, because when she finally tries to change-that is when the book got really, really great. I couldn't help blushing over my own crush on a certain character from the world's best SciFi TV show that also deals with the end of an Earth-like planet. And it reminded me why I never read interviews with actors I love-because they could be dicks and it ruins everything. Also, I loved the nod to Doctor Who and other geeky fun icons.

This is for our geeky girls and guys who want a modern realistic fiction book about teens who are serious fans. I just wish it had a better title because I think the book would find itself in the right hands. Even just “Egg” would have been better.

I found Cecil Castellucci through the Plain Jane series (of which I am hoping there are many, many more). A new author to love (and not read interviews about).