Full Review and giveaway on GingerReadLets get some of the nitty-gritty out of the way...Camie has been homeschooled, along with her sister, by her mother her entire life. Her mom is now battling breast cancer so they have moved back to So-Cal to be near family, while Camie (16) and Jillian (12) will now be entering that place called Hell. Otherwise known as public school.Not two minutes into her first day of high school Camie is rescued from becoming fodder for the social Elite by Tristan, who simultaneously nearly kills her by giving her cardiac arrest. Okay, not really...but he does bare a striking resemblance to Taylor Kitsch and he did just touch her. Just her arm, to keep her from falling on her face mind you...but those are just semantics. She's an instant smitten kitten and proceeds to think of him as the following: My Tristan, my soul mate, my future husband, my favorite womanizer and the like. Cute, huh?I guess I should elaborate on that last one though, the womanizer one. Camie quickly comes to learn that Tristan is, to put it mildly and bluntly, known to be quite the man whore.However, when one of his life long best friends (Kate) picks up on some strangeness wafting from Tristan that floats directly to Cameron, they hatch a plan for Camie to hook the biggest catch in school.Now, normally this kind of plot would drive me up the wall. I remember all too well how games are played in high school and they usually annoy the crap out of me. This is different though. There is no vindication here it's just some plain old observant girl who really wants one of her oldest and dearest friends to grow up a little, settle down a lot and be more happy/ less moody. Kate thinks Camie is the one to do it and Camie, as infatuated and struck as she is by him thinks she's up for the challenge. Even knowing she is more than clueless and may end up heart broken. The chance at love is worth the risk though.What made Shark Bait such a fun read is how incredibly smart and funny this group of kids are. Camie is completely endearing with her sense of humor, intellect and complete naivete. She's a fairly grounded girl even if she does let her imagination wander where Tristan is concerned. Seriously, when she programs him into her phone she nicknames him this: Thumper. You, know because I'm twitter-pated like in Bambi. Yeah, I know. Not the best I could come up with but I think it's cute.Tristan is an enigma of sorts to start out but once you get to know who he really is you can't not love the guy. The relationship that builds between these two is adorable, heart warming and also extremely volatile. Tristan has a short fuse, large ego and a disconcerting amount of experience. Paired with Camie's lack of certain social life skills, the two of them together are like a sleeping volcano, ready to blow at any second.The side characters are all equally loveable. I'd say character development is probably Cooksey's strong point. Even the characters you dislike are interesting to say the least. Jillian is beyond bad ass though. She is way at the top of my favorite characters. Picture this: Malibu Barbie looks, Mensa Member brains, cat like reflexes all packaged in a evil, darkly goth attitude and wardrobe. I want to adopt her.The writing is fun loving, super witty and full of 80's references and Buffy The Vampire one liners, which are two of my favorite things. Most important moments in the book give way to some song that plays in Camie's head and I loved seeing all those pop up.Truly, Shark Bait is great, fun read that will elicit tons of giggles and heart tugging. Go read it, you won't be sorry!"I mean when it comes right down to it, he and I speak the same language...we just have different accents."
