Title: Girl Defective
Author: Simmone Howell
Published: March, 2013 by Pan Macmillan
Thanks: Pan Macmillan, AU
Pages: 294
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

We, the Martin family, were like inverse superheroes, marked by our defects. Dad was addicted to beer and bootlegs. Gully had “social difficulties” that manifested in his wearing a pig snout mask 24-7. I was surface clean but underneath a weird hormonal stew was simmering…

It’s summer in St Kilda. Fifteen-year-old Sky is looking forward to great records and nefarious activities with Nancy, her older, wilder friend. Her brother – Super Agent Gully – is on a mission to unmask the degenerate who bricked the shop window. Bill the Patriarch seems content to drink while the shop slides into bankruptcy. A poster of a mysterious girl and her connection to Luke, the tragi-hot new employee sends Sky on an exploration into the dark heart of the suburb. Love is strange. Family Rules. In between there are teenage messes, rock star spawn, violent fangirls, creepy old guys and accidents waiting to happen. If the world truly is going to hell in a hand-basket then at least the soundtrack is kicking. Sky Martin is Girl Defective: funny, real and dark at the edges.

Final Thoughts:
I was hoping to like this one. The premise sounded fun, but I didn’t expect to love it. But love it, I did. Girl Defective is very near unputdownable. It was struggle come bed time when ‘just one more chapter’ turned into five. Filled with such engrossing, realistic and distinct characters, I felt like I’d picked up a John Green novel. Steeped deeply in family issues, the main character, Sky, holds herself out as the only semi-sane one amongst them. Very easy to connect with, her own angst seems to play second fiddle as she navigates the craziness that keeps gravitating around her.