7 Kinds of Ordinary Catastrophes

Title:
7 Kinds of Ordinary Catastophes

Author:
Amber Kizer

Genre:
Realistic Fiction

Summary: (Goodreads)
Okay, so here's the deal: there are books about volcanoes erupting and meteorites hitting Earth and plane crashes where the survivors have to eat people—those are extraordinary crises.

That's not what this book is about. I'm more the ordinary catastrophe type. This second semester of my sophomore year, there are basically 7 KINDS OF ORDINARY CATASTROPHES: high school, boys, heartbreak, family, job, friends, and the future.
Well, I guess everyone's life is full of ordinary catastrophes. These are mine. Hi, I'm Gert Garibaldi. Welcome to my crazy life.

About the Author: (Goodreads)
Amber Kizer is not one of those authors who wrote complete books at the age of three and always knew she wanted to be a writer. When she faced a rare chronic pain disorder her freshman year of college, she knew she was going to have to learn to live outside the box. After one writing workshop, she fell in love with telling stores and she’s still going strong. Her characters tend to be opinionated, outspoken, and stubborn—she has no idea where that comes from.

A food lover, she plans trips around menus, wishes cookbooks were scratch and sniff, and loves to make complicated recipes—especially desserts. When she’s not reading from a huge stack, she’s coaxing rose bushes to bloom, watching delightful teen angst on television, or quilting with more joy than skill. She takes her tea black, her custard frozen, and her men witty. She lives in the Seattle area with a menagerie of animals that seems ever changing.
An avid learner, she focused on the writing craft and her unpublished works won awards from PNWA, San Diego RWA, and the Saskatchewan Romance Writers. Her first young adult series sold at auction to Delacorte Press with ONE BUTT CHEEK AT A TIME premiering, in hardcover October 9, 2007. The paperback will be released December 9, 2008
The star of Amber’s series Gert Garibaldi has been called “honest, brash, and outspoken” and her books take on traditionally taboo subjects.
The second in the series FROM BUTT TO BOOTY will be out December 9, 2008. Amber currently has three other books under discussion and looks forward to seeing them on bookshelves in the coming years.
Comfortable in the classroom, with kids or adults, she regularly teaches workshops to all levels of writers. Find her on the web at www.AmberKizer.com or www.OneButtCheek.com, watch a movie-style book preview at www.YouTube.com or listen to an audio excerpt at http://www.booktalkradio.com/.

I'd Recommend To....
High School

My Thoughts:
Gertrude Garibaldi is a sophomore in High School with friends, a boyfriend, a brother, and a family. Everything seems completely fine. But things start to take a turn for the worst when her boyfriend, Stephen, dumps her for her arch enemy, Jenny. Her best friends, Clarice, Maggie, and Adam, have guy troubles of thier own that she tries to help with. Oh, and even when she was going out with Stephen she has a major crush on Lucas. She trys out for soccer to impress him, and because after she backtalks her teacher, she has to. She ends up making Varsity, though the loose almost every game.
After the season is over, her dad makes her get a job. She gets one at a donut shop, thinking it will be fun, but ends up getting sick of it and eventually fired. And if that's not bad enough, her dad experienced a heart attack and had to immediately go through 4-part cardiac surgery bypass on him and they're all suffering through that.
He gets better over time and Mike, her brother, and Heather plan to get married. Heather helps Gert to get a new job at a doctor's office, and she even gets accepted into a Exchange Student program where she gets to visit other countries - and they're willing to give her scholarships for it! Things definately seem to be improving. Oh, did I mention she gets an A on the term paper that its impossible to get an A on? Yeah. She's good, even in a crisis.
This was a book I had recieved quite a while ago to read and review on here, but I got it in EBook format before I had a Kindle, so I just now got to read it. Sorry about the delay!!
Its definately relatable. Maybe not at the parts about her dad, but for the most part, most teenagers can relate to it, which I think makes it easier to understand. It talks a lot about some inappropriate things, so I wouldn't recommend a kid or immature person reading it.

My Rating:
4.2/5