deborahmarkus7

I love the Gallagher Girls books. Anyone who thinks it's easy to write in a casual, chatty first-person fashion should try it sometime. And Ally Carter is a master plotter. Think Buffy the Vampire Slayer goes to spy school. (There are numerous references to Buffy in the stories, and Carter makes a few plot nods to the Buffyverse as well. It's fun to watch for them. If you haven't already, go memorize the first several seasons of Buffy, and *then* read the first couple of Gallagher Girls novels. It's okay. I'll wait. Heck, I'll go with you. I've been wanting to see them again, especially the Halloweeen episodes...)

Sorry. I digress.

I'm rereading the GG series in preparation for the latest release, which I have on hold at the library. (Hurry up and READ, people! Not getting any younger over here!) One thing I'm noticing this time around is that there seems to be some kind of requirement in stories about girls and female teens for the main character to suffer repeated humiliations, and Cammie Morgan is being loaded down with more than her share. (Speaking of treating female main characters WAY worse than male ones are ever treated, do you want to hear my patented "Why I Hated 'Wreck-It Ralph' Even Though It's An Awesome Movie" rant? You actually don't. It's loud. And long. And I'm tired. Forget I offered.)

Maybe this is on my mind because every Young Adult and New Adult novel I seem to run into is the story of a young woman who's been through some seriously horrifying damage. Or else she's about to go through some. Or she's about to go through some *more.* But it's okay, because she'll heal and bond and grow at the end! Probably with the help of a hot guy! Who will probably yell at her (and/or worse) at some point, but it's not his fault because he's been hurt, too! And she'll help *him* heal! Which will be part of her healing and growing and learning not to hold a grudge!

Not that the Gallagher Girls books are like this at ALL. Cammie Morgan is strong and smart and resourceful, and gets more so with each novel. I'm just saying, this perceived trend is depressing the bleep out of me. I'm putting in a request for more stories about girls and women who are here to kick some ass and chew some bubblegum, and guess what? They're all out of bubblegum.

So: Go read the GG books. Just not the newest one, because I'm still, like, 5th in line for it. And apparently everyone ahead of me is young enough to need that whole four weeks to finish reading it. *Dang.*