Title: What Every Girl (Except Me) Knows
Author: Nora Raleigh Baskin
Summary: 12-year-old Gabby Weiss is just like any other middle school girl beginning to grow up. Gabby doesn't want to do that growing up without a mother, and she thinks that her father's girlfriend Cleo would make the perfect mother. Cleo thinks so too.
But then, one day, Cleo and her father break up. Gabby feels terribly alone, and feels as though Cleo, her once soon-to-be-stepmother has abandoned her. In her desperate search for a mother, Gabby goes about uncovering the mystery surrounding her real mother's death that is rarely talked about.
Comments: This book was okay. It was certainly a teen/tween book and probably most enjoyable and appropriate for a range between 10-13 years old.
Gabby is a good main character, but I didn't find her to be overly different or exciting. Her story was sad, and she was going through a lot of changes, and I would've liked her to just be a bit more vibrant.
The mystery around her mother's death was interesting, but could be tragic or sad for young, less mature readers.
Overall, the book was, in my opinion, no where near as enjoyable as Ms. Baskin's Ruby on the Outside. However, for fans of that book, this book is similar in a very small sense, so I think that it is still worth reading. I definitely like Ms. Baskin's writing skills, but this book just doesn't have as much appeal as some of her other works.
Rating: 4 stars
