Joint Review: It's All Your Fault by Paul Rudnick

Author: Paul Rudnick
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Date of publication: January 2016

My name is Caitlin and up until forty-eight hours ago I had never:
Tasted alcohol, kissed a boy, sang in public at the top of my lungs, kidnapped anyone or—WHAT? STOLEN A CONVERTIBLE?  Now I’m in jail and I have no idea what I’m going to tell:

The police, my parents, the mayor, all of those camera crews and everyone on Twitter. I have just noticed that:  My nose is pierced and I have—WAIT? IS THAT A TATTOO? I blame one person for this entire insane weekend:  My famous cousin. Who is also my former best friend.  Who I have HATED for the past four years. Who I miss like crazy. NO I DON’T!!!!  IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT, HELLER HARRIGAN!!!!

I wasn't really sure what I was going to get with this book, but I knew I needed a break from all the serious stuff I had been reading.  I figured this would be cutesy little comedy.  It ended up being hilarious.  Caitlin is as straight arrow as you can possibly get and she gets put in charge of her wildly out of control mega superstar cousin Heller Harrigan.  Every thing is going ok until Heller has to meet a Make a Wish kid and she has some crazy plans of her own.  I found myself cracking up with this book.  However, I wouldn't recommend it for the younger readers, it had quite a bit of language in it.

Autumn told me how much she liked this book and how funny it was, so I gave it a try.  I'll admit, it was funny in parts.  But for me, it was all a bit over the top.  Yes, I know it was a parody, but I found I could only take so much.  It was funny that it was so obviously making fun of Hannah Montana, Twilight, and homeschooling.  But, again I found I could only take so much.  I do think that this might work as a parody movie if done correctly.  Christopher Guest are you listening?  I would definitely keep this to the older YA crowd.