12/16/2013
Gia may be a smart, pretty, and hardworking 17-year-old, but she’s also the daughter of the “capo di tutti capi,” the boss of bosses. The rumors that her father will have teachers “whacked” if she doesn’t do well aren’t true, but she is driven to her Manhattan private school by an armed bodyguard. Blumenthal (The Lifeguard) tells a good story—there’s Gia’s friendship with rich but lonely Clive, her uphill fight for the school presidency, her instant chemistry with the cop she calls “Officer Hottie,” and her father’s declining fortunes—but the book suffers from a kind of moral blindness. Readers will root for Gia to live her own life, loathe the snobs who look down on her, and feel bad when Gia’s family loses everything, but there’s still the never-specified human cost of what her father does. There are consequences to his actions, yes, but the novel wants readers to both sympathize with Gia and be impressed by her lifestyle in a way that requires some selective vision. Ages 13–up. Agent: Abigail Samoun, Red Fox Literary. (Mar.)
06/01/2014
Gr 8 Up—Seventeen-year-old Gia, the daughter of New York City's most notorious Mafia boss, leads a privileged life, but what she wants most is to have a normal existence in which her family is safe. When she and her best friend are pulled over for underage drinking and driving, Gia is immediately attracted to the arresting police officer—despite his lack of interest. Not one to be denied, Gia does everything in her power to wear down his resistance, all the while running for school president, posing for Vogue, and surviving mob hits. In the end, she gets what she wants but at a price. Told from the first-person point of view, Blumenthal's novel gives the audience insight into Gia, and while it believably captures the unfiltered, frenetic thoughts going on in many teens' minds, the stream-of-consciousness approach has its limitations; not only does the style disrupt the flow of the narrative, making it choppy and uneven, but it diminishes Gia's character, too. Run-on sentences, lack of punctuation, acronyms, and random capitalization reveal Gia's shallowness and immaturity. She's annoyed that her classmates judge her by her family, yet she easily dismisses them as being spoiled and stuck-up. The secondary characters, especially Officer Cross, are underdeveloped and forgettable with the exception of Gia's friend Clive, who's deserving of his own story. Promising idea, underwhelming result.—Audrey Sumser, Cuyahoga County Public Library, Mayfield, OH
2014-01-22
Enjoyable, straightforward high school drama despite the Mafia princess framework. Gia wants to be a normal middle-class 17-year-old girl, with normal high school drama and normal friends and normal relationship woes. But her father is the capo di tutti capi, "the Boss of all Bosses." So she's driven to her extremely ritzy private school every day by Frankie with the Glock, and when she's pulled over for speeding by the most gorgeous cop ever, her dad's million-dollar lawyer bails her out. Still, for the most part, she manages "normal": She works hard to get straight A's, resents her parent-mandated after-school job and runs for student-council president. Sure, Gia's family drama involves cops coming after her dad, but everything's going to be fine, right? When everything isn't fine, Gia will still survive, as she has fantastic friends who will always be there for her. An unsettling, discordant romance with a police officer—where the age and power differential are never addressed—only weakens Gia's otherwise strong characterization and development. Despite all the wealth, Vogue photo shoots and designer clothing, mostly a down-to-earth slice of life; more Kody Keplinger than Gossip Girl. (Fiction. 13-16)
"Filled with detailed descriptions of decadent Italian meals, gorgeous clothes, heart-stopping violence, and sweet yet lusty love and desire, Mafia Girl will find a wide variety of readers, some intrigued with the Mob, others seeking a love story."—Booklist
"Mostly a down-to-earth slice of life."—Kirkus Reviews
"Gia's rough language and devil-may-care attitude hide a surprisingly naive young woman verging on adulthood...Mafia Girl epitomizes the exhortation "Don't judge a book by its cover" and may well entice older, reluctant readers."—VOYA
"The twinkling backdrop of Manhattan and the budding romance between two opposites will make YA fans adore this novel. The characters are well thought out, adding to the allure of Blumenthal's uncommon storyline."—RT Book Reviews
"Blumenthal tells a good story—there's Gia's friendship with rich but lonely Clive, her uphill fight for the school presidency, her instant chemistry with the cop she calls "Officer Hottie,"and her father's declining fortunes."—Publishers Weekly
