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Overview
Eddy knows how to play the game of love.
He has all the tricks down cold, and his favorite girls are the ones with cherry lipstick and long legs in fishnets. They know he doesn’t make any promises.
But as graduation looms, the game begins to shift for Eddy. He never expected unattainable and perfect Lucinda Dulko to walk into his life. For the first time ever, Eddy’s not in control. To be with Lucinda, he has to play on her terms.
But what happens to a player when the rules suddenly change? Will Eddy find a way to win it all? Or will he get played?
Synopsis
Eddy knows how to play the game of love.
He has all the tricks down cold, and his favorite girls are the ones with cherry lipstick and long legs in fishnets. They know he doesn’t make any promises.
But as graduation looms, the game begins to shift for Eddy. He never expected unattainable and perfect Lucinda Dulko to walk into his life. For the first time ever, Eddy’s not in control. To be with Lucinda, he has to play on her terms.
But what happens to a player when the rules suddenly change? Will Eddy find a way to win it all? Or will he get played?
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
“Guy lit with a brain and a heart, this has plenty to offer both romantics and cynics about love, film, and transformation.”
Editorials
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"Guy lit with a brain and a heart, this has plenty to offer both romantics and cynics about love, film, and transformation."The Bulletin for the Center for Children's Books
“Guy lit with a brain and a heart, this has plenty to offer both romantics and cynics about love, film, and transformation.”Children's Literature -
The author captures the male perspective well in her writing, seeming to become the main character, Eddy. This story shows love and heartbreak from the perspective of someone who initially thinks he knows how to play the game but ultimately realizes he really is not in control. Eddy's unusual, dysfunctional family contributes greatly to the story, as does his assortment of friends. Eddy has had a lifelong interest in movies, and his latest project, "Riot Grrl 16," is entered in an MTV competition so he is under quite a bit of stress. His movie team rises to the occasion some of the time—that is, when the leading lady is not having a psychotic breakdown or the parakeet Tippi Hedren is not making birdbrain remarks that further confuse the situation. Toss in Eddy's attraction to a beautiful girl named Lucinda who beats him in all competitions and refuses to accept Eddy's rules, and the plot thickens. The story moves at a fast pace with dialogue that is realistically teen. Despite her occasional meltdowns, Gina the leading lady carries Eddy through the tough spots. Teens will relate well to the range of emotions captured in this novel by an author who really knows teens. This book follows Ruby's highly-acclaimed Good Girls, also an honest view of teen life. Reviewer: Annie Laura SmithKLIATT -
Ruby indicates that this book is a response to a girl's request for a plot "about a player who gets his heart crushed/smashed/totally annihilated." Ruby fills the bill, but by the time it's over, Eddy is more sympathetic than perhaps that angry girl wanted. Eddy is handsome, smart, and hooks up with girls, thinking they understand the rules: no strings. He is always shocked by the girls' annoyance after casual liaisons. In truth, Eddy has no one to teach him good manners. He lives, often alone, in a big house; his mother has run off to pursue an acting career as a medical examiner on a crime show in Miami, Florida. He does have a much-loved half-brother, son of a stepfather his mother has since divorced, and a parrot named Tippi Hedren. He is about to graduate but has no plans for college because he considers himself a film auteur and he is sure that winning a YouTube contest will gain him national exposure on MTV. He is consumed by cameras, editing, movies, and his current project, Riot Grrl 16. To get what he wants, he's willing to take advantage of his friends and acquaintances. Imagine his surprise, then, to find himself captivated by Lucinda Dulko, a girl unlike him in every way. Ultimately he achieves nothing at all. And, it turns out, Lucinda is using him as a pleasant diversion while she waits to start her real life. A good coming-of-age story where boy meets reality and discovers he may have to rethink the rest of the story. Reviewer: Myrna MarlerSchool Library Journal
Gr 9 Up
Set in Ruby's Good Girls (HarperTempest, 2006) universe, this is the story of 18-year-old filmmaker Edward "Eddy" Rochester (named for Orson Welles's version, not Brontë's original), who was raised on cinema by his struggling actress mother. Now she's left the family for a bit part on a formulaic Miami crime show. At the close of senior year, Eddy is not thinking college. His main concerns are making movies (getting MTV to produce Riot Grrl 16 that he and his friends shot) and making moves on girls (lately, the fierce, athletic, unattainable Lucinda Dulko). Normally accustomed to getting girls without getting caught up, he's enthralled. Eventually insecurities and differing game plans for their futures find Eddy in a new role-dumpee. This wrinkle, combined with his AWOL mother and threatened career goals, means an impromptu road trip (important but somewhat tacked on) and serious self-evaluation. Eddy is enjoyable in that charming, self-obsessed, heartbreaker way, and he's flawed and vulnerable enough to be real. While readers will root for Riot Grrl 16 's success, what will grab them is the focus on Eddy's relationships-with Lucinda, his mom, his friends (serious Joe, horn-dog video-clerk Rory, faux-punk and bluntly honest Gina), and his family of abandoned men. The best moments involve uncensored Gina or heartbreaking Meatball, Eddy's half brother, who spouts morbid factoids and "dies" various deaths waiting for Eddy to revive him. Pop culture (film related), innuendos, sexual situations (not graphic), and snappy dialogue are all a part of this relationship-centered read.-Danielle Serra, Cliffside Park Public Library, NJ