The Treasure Map of Boys by E. Lockhart

Slightish spoilers for the other books in the series: The Boyfriend List and the The Boy Book. But you can read my review of The Boyfriend List, which I wrote an insanely long time ago, on June 21, 2008. I'm warning you: that review sucks. That was one of my early reviews. Though it might make you laugh. I know I laughed at it. Be warned: it is very fangirly.

And now, here's what Amazon says the third Ruby Oliver book is about:

Ruby is back at Tate Prep, and it’s her thirty-seventh week in the state of Noboyfriend. Her panic attacks are bad, her love life is even worse, and what’s more:

Noel is writing her notes, Jackson is giving her frogs, Gideon is helping her cook, and Finn is making her brownies. Rumors are flying, and Ruby’s already-sucky reputation is heading downhill.

Not only that, she’s also: running a bake sale, learning the secrets of heavymetal therapy, encountering some seriously smelly feet, defending the rights of pygmy goats, and bodyguarding Noel from unwanted advances.

In this companion novel to The Boyfriend List and The Boy Book, Ruby struggles to secure some sort of mental health, to understand what constitutes a real friendship, and to find true love—if such a thing exists.

Review:

I didn't realize how much I missed Ruby Oliver until I started reading this third book in the series. I haven't read The Boyfriend List or The Boy Book in nearly a year, but as soon as I picked this one up, I was instantly sucked back into Ruby's crazy, "Ag" filled world.

Ruby's strong voice and writing style are once again present in this book. Her footnotes, her notes at the beginning of the chapters, and uncommonly used words are all back and make Roo as entertaining as ever. The best part about Roo in this book is that she finally learns to grow. She still has her panic attacks, and freaks out over boys, but by the end, she really learns some lessons she needed to learn in order to make herself a better person. It got a little preachy when she went over all the things she had learned throughout the book, but it still showed that she is finally growing up.

There was a bunch of little things happening in the book along the way, so there was a lot of build up to the events of the end, which was kind of annoying, but it's worth it. The ending events show Roo's development extremely well, and I was actually proud of Roo for a certain event. But I can't tell you what that is. ;)

Fans of the first two books shouldn't be disappointed in the third installment, because The Treasure Map of Boys is absolutely spankin'.

8.5/10

Links: E. Lockhart's site/blog/twitter

Delacorte/Hardcover/$15.99/Amazon/Barnes and Noble/Borders/IndieBound