Love Inc by Yvonne Collins and Sandy Rideout

Zahra, Kali, and Syd would never have met if their parents' marriages hadn't fallen apart. But when the three girls collide in group counseling, they discover they have something else in common: they've each been triple-timed by the same nefarious charmer, Eric, aka Rico, aka Rick. Talk about eye-opening therapy.

Cheerful, diplomatic Zahra is devastated. Rico had been her rock and sole confidant. How could she have missed the signs? Folksy, flirtatious Kali feels almost as bad. She and Rick had only been on a few dates, but they'd felt so promising. Hardened vintage-vixen Syd is beyond tears. She and Eric had real history... Or so she'd thought. Now all three girls have one mission: to show that cheater the folly of his ways.

Project Payback is such a success, the girls soon have clients lining up for their consulting services. Is your boyfriend acting shady? Dying to know if your crush is into you? Need match-making expertise? Look no further than Love, Inc.

Your parents have broken up, you’ve started at a new school and you’re being forced into going to therapy. And to top it all off your boyfriend turn out to be a triple timing sneak.

Welcome to Zahra’s world.

I usually avoid anything that even has a whiff of high school chic lit to it as it brings back way to many memories of the Olsen twins and Sweet Valley High *shiver*

But this, I am glad to say was thoroughly enjoyable. I more often than not find teen girl in fiction to be moaning, picky, petulant, ridiculously 2D characters that I want to slap and shake some sense into. Woe strong words there huh.

In Love Inc however each of the main girls are so real and full of life that I did not find it a choir reading their story at all and I could have quite happily read another 400 odd pages filled with them.

They were all a pure joy to read about. Flirty Kali is the kind of girl you would hate if she wasn’t so nice, Syd is just misunderstood and Zahra (our narrator) keeps them all glued together. It was great to see these three girls who under normal circumstances probably wouldn’t be anywhere near each other becoming closer.

And let’s talk about the parents for a second shall we. They are all morons, in the fine tradition of YA novels. They have sent their children to therapy when honest to goodness these are the people that need to have their heads examined - definitely a case of some projection on a psychological level going on there.

A fun read that does deal with the more serious topic of living in a split family. And, through Zahra we also get a story of a young girl trying to live in a multicultural family.

My only complaint is the ending. I like my endings to be a little more concrete and this was just a bit too wishy washy, but hey, maybe that is  sign. Could there be a sequel in the near future?

I’m putting up the drawbridge and filling the moat. This guy isn’t getting near my brain.

I’ve decided that my parents are a bad influence and I don’t need them.

I get away with so much more since taking over my own upbringing. I should have climbed into the driver’s seat a long time ago.