Recommended for all collections serving teens.-Francisca Goldsmith, Lib. VERDICT This engaging novel will hook readers immediately. Here, Aideen's lesbian identity is not a plot point, but a detail that gives her authenticity. Populated with believable high school friends and very few adults, Aideen and most other characters are white, and Kavi is Indian. The story unfolds effortlessly, detailing both suspenseful and hilarious moments, as does real life.

She develops unexpected feelings for one of her clients and makes a new friend in Kavi, who is chatty and humorous but also has his own problems as, Aideen discovers, everyone does. When Aideen makes a snap decision to help the principal's overachieving, overscheduled, and generally disliked daughter, she begins doing secret favors for classmates in return for them owing her their help. Gr 8 Up-In this witty and engaging novel, Irish author Smyth creates a flawed teen girl, Aideen, who makes a credible journey from self-protectively tough to ready and willing to face her main problem: her single mother's neglectful alcoholism. Aideen’s first-person narration is often hilarious, tart, and sarcastic often heart-tuggingly poignant (especially when she’s trying to suss out if her single-parent mam is drinking again or when finally allowing herself to realize what a false friend Holly is) always completely authentic and compulsively readable. Meanwhile, Aideen’s heretofore sole friend, Holly, manipulative and vindictive, decides to run against Meabh in the school election-forcing Aideen to make some hard choices.

As Aideen’s services become more and more sought after, escapades ensue, and her life gets very entangled- but, also, her social orbit begins to expand as “clients” turn into a network of friends, and she and Meabh start to fall for each other. The pushing-down-the-stairs scheme actually works, but it’s witnessed by odd- duck but super-sweet classmate Kavi, who then begins bringing Aideen “clients” so she can solve their problems, too. But when Aideen comes across the overwhelmed Meabh having a meltdown, they hatch an outlandish scheme to get Meabh out of some of her many scheduled activities: Aideen will push Meabh down some stairs, injuring Meabh’s ankle she will thus be excused from yoga, team sports, gym class, etc., while still being able to practice cello, do homework, and, most important, run for student council president. Bossy know-it-all perfectionist Meabh and underachieving social outcast Aideen are enemies at their Irish high school (think Derry Girls, but co-ed and with more than one wee lesbian).

Ciara smyth not my problem