Today is the review, and tomorrow I have a special interview with the author, Kristina Springer, on launch day of this fun new MG novel, Cici Reno #MiddleSchoolMatchmaker.

Comment either today or tomorrow and receive an entry (or two) into the giveaway for your own copy of Cici Reno #MiddleSchoolMatchmaker (U.S. and Canadian residents only on this one). I will announce the winner next Monday, April 25th.

So… who is Cici Reno? She’s an almost 13-year-old seventh grader who has it all together. She’s smart, gives great advice to friends, and frequently participates in her mom’s yoga classes. Life couldn’t be better until her best friend, Aggie, returns from summer break. Cici, who looks closer to elementary age, discovers her friend has sprouted into puberty. Yikes.

Nothing she can do about that, but Cici does help a tongue tied Aggie talk to a boy she likes. Cici does the talking with a fake Twitter account and soon realizes she is the one who really likes this boy. Middle school heartbreak at its highest level.

Fast paced, endearing characters, and a compelling theme – one that explores how hitting puberty at different times effects friendships and your rung on the social ladder.

PUBLICATION DATE: April 19, 2016   Page Count: 208

FULL PLOT (From Kristina Springer’s Web Site)

“Take Cici’s advice, Madison. She’s always right.”

When all the kids in school need advice, Cici Reno is the one they trust. She’s cool, she’s funny, AND she’s enlightened (thanks to yoga classes at her mom’s studio). So when her pretty best friend Aggie is too shy to speak to the boy she’s crushing on, Cici goes online and does the talking for her. The only problem is, no matter how hard she tries to quash her feelings, Cici really likes him herself. What’s a girl to do?

FIVE THINGS TO LIKE ABOUT: CiCi Reno: #MiddleSchoolMatchmaker by Kristina Springer

1. Yoga. Each chapter begins with a Tweet from Cici describing a yoga pose and how it helps you. So much fun to read and they’re tied perfectly to the plot.
2. The Twitter conversations Cici has with Aggie’s crush, Drew, paints the perfect picture of how difficult these middle school years can be. Exciting, sad, scary, heartwarming, gut wrenching, butterflies… usually bouncing from one to the next in a span of a few minutes
3. The chapters are short and leave you with a sense of urgency to read more. I zipped through this in a few days and would welcome a sequel.
4. There are no mean sabotaging seventh grade girls looking for their next victim. This is a book about support for each other. Kindness and honesty do occur in middle schools. Yay!
5. Twitter and direct messaging have never been so integrated into a MG plot line. A fun look at how some kids are communicating in our always on world.

FAVORITE LINES: I like myself well enough. But that thing about looks being deceiving is totally true in my case. My outside just hasn’t caught up to my inside yet. On the inside, I’m heading toward high school, and on the outside, I’m just starting fifth grade.

AUTHOR QUOTE: 

…I’m still writing lots of books and loving it. This is seriously the best job ever—from writing the first line to editing the finished book to getting the final cover and seeing each book on the bookshelf in a store. I finally found exactly what I want to do and it’s an awesome, awesome thing.

Kristina’s author website… Twitter… Facebook.

Stop by tomorrow and meet Kristina!

********************************************************************

Make a comment if you have time. I enjoy reading all of them. Just click on the REPLY or Comments word below.

Check the links to other Middle Grade novels over at Shannon Messenger’s Marvelous Middle Grade Monday post.