Busted

by Gina Ciocca

Overview

Catching cheaters and liars is a lucrative hobby—until you fall for one of the suspects. Perfect for fans of Veronica Mars, this new novel from the author of Last Year's Mistake will steal your heart!

Marisa never planned to be a snoop for hire. It wasn't like she wanted to catch her best friend's boyfriend making out with another girl. But as her reputation for sniffing out cheaters spreads all over school, Marisa finds herself the reluctant queen of busting two-timing boys.

And her next case? It's for ex-frenemy Kendall. She's convinced her boyfriend, TJ, has feelings for someone else and persuades Marissa to start spying on him. But the more Marisa gets to know sincere and artistic TJ, the more she starts to fall for him. Worse yet, the feelings seem to be mutual. Marisa knows she needs to give up her investigation—and the spoken-for guy who may just be the love of her life. Then she uncovers new secrets about Kendall and TJ, secrets that take "cheater" to a whole new level…

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781492654292
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	01/02/2018
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 7.70(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Gina Ciocca graduated from the University of Connecticut with a degree in English, but in her mind, she never left high school. She relocated from Connecticut to Georgia, where she lives with her husband and son. When she's not reading or writing, you can find her taking long walks around the lake in her neighborhood. Gina can also be found online at writersblog-gina.blogspot.com, on Instagram as gmciocca, and Twitter as gmc511.

Editorial Reviews

"BUSTED is...for all of those people who crave scheming and tangled webs of lies and secrets that are slowly unraveled throughout the story....tantalizing..." — Teen Reads

"Charming, funny, smart, mysterious, and romantic, this sophomore novel is the perfect fun read for when you’re holed up in the snow with a mug of hot cocoa." — Barnes & Noble Teen Blog

"The characters are realistic and well developed…A satisfying story that explores how actions in life and relationships impact others." — School Library Journal

"Readers will find themselves intertwined in a tale of mystery, deception, and romance like no other." — School Library Connection

"This funny, fast-paced, debut novel shines. Marisa is a sensitive, hormonal teenager surrounded by supportive friends and family as she finds her personal focus. Dialogue is realistic, and the convoluted plot with mystery components keeps a reader’s interest." — VOYA Magazine

From the Publisher

11/01/2017
Gr 9 Up—Marisa doesn't intend on making a career out of spying, but when she catches her best friend Charlie's boyfriend making out with another girl, she develops a reputation for sniffing out cheaters. Her next case is ex-frenemy Kendall who has recently moved back to town. As she gets to know Kendall's boyfriend TJ, Marisa starts to fall for him and the feelings appear to be mutual. A parallel cheating story line evolves as Charlie is accused of stealing test answers from a teacher's laptop at her private school and Marisa, her brother Nick, TJ, and Charlie work together to try to figure out who really stole the answers. The characters are realistic and well developed. Challenges of socioeconomic status are highlighted through Marisa attending a public school even though her test scores would enable her to attend the prestigious honors program at the private school. Mature language and references to cheating make this title more suitable for older readers. VERDICT A satisfying story that explores how actions in life and relationships impact others. A good choice for large YA collections.—Sarah Polace, Cuyahoga Public Library System, OH

School Library Journal

2017-09-26
First, Marisa Palmera spots her best friend's boyfriend making out with another girl. Then her old frenemy, white girl Kendall, comes back into her life and enlists Marisa to spy on her boyfriend, white guy TJ, whom Kendall suspects is two-timing her. For the sake of the job, white Marisa befriends TJ; he's definitely hiding something, but it might not be what Kendall and Marisa think. As Marisa and TJ's friendship grows, she finds herself falling for him, landing in the throes of a moral crisis. In a misguided act of gratitude, Kendall sets up a website called Busted ("Don't hate the player…bust his ass!") to advertise Marisa's "services" for a fee, and before long, Marisa is the go-to gal for exposing high school infidelities (the "clients" all appear to be white, heterosexual teenage girls). A subplot in which Marisa's best friend, white girl Charlie, is wrongly accused of stealing test answers adds another element of mystery that might be connected to TJ's shady activity. Marisa's biting first-person narration is enhanced by hilarious, sarcastic volleying back and forth with her brother, Nick. Throughout, girls, including Marisa, employ such insults as "tramp," "bimbo," and "drama queen" to put down and devalue other girls. The demeaning language goes both ways: "slut" and "bitch" are equally applied to boys.Good for a few chuckles. (Fiction. 13-18)

Kirkus Reviews