Top Ten Clues You’re Clueless by Liz Czukas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Oh my word, I loved this book. *squeal*
Summary:
Top Five Things That Are Ruining Chloe’s Day
5) Working the 6:30 a.m. shift at GoodFoods Market
4) Crashing a cart into a customer’s car right in front of her snarky coworker Sammi
3) Trying to rock the “drowned rat” look after being caught in a snowstorm
2) Making zero progress with her crush, Tyson (see #3)
1) Being accused—along with her fellow teenage employees— of stealing upwards of $10,000
Chloe would rather be anywhere than locked in work jail (aka the break room) with five of her coworkers . . . even if one of them is Tyson. But if they can band together to clear their names, what looks like a total disaster might just make Chloe’s list of Top Ten Best Moments.
Top Ten Clues is original and fresh and funny. The events of the novel take place over the course of a day (Christmas Eve!) in a grocery store. How’s that for an interesting setting? And it was believable, too. I’ve never worked in a grocery store but Chloe’s experience felt real for me – the monotony of bagging groceries and working the cash register, being polite despite the weird customers, etc.
Chloe is totally quirky – but in a completely relatable way. (Her awkward moments = my awkward moments.) Her lists actually made me laugh out loud.
The book is largely about her relationship with her coworkers, and their developing friendship (and maybe something more with one coworker in particular *wink, wink*). After they’re accused of stealing donation money, they’re forced to stay after closing and thus spend a good bit of quality time together.
And so they learn ALL sorts of things about each other. The stereotypes are revoked.
There’s a good bit of diversity in this book, and it actually becomes a topic of conversation for the characters. But it isn’t forced or exaggerated – in other words, there isn’t diversity just for the sake of diversity.
I liked that this book is sort of like a mystery novel – there’s the anticipation of waiting for something to go wrong, and several subtle clues, and then the characters’ attempt to solve the case and clear their names. (Chloe is a fan of mystery novels and identifies with Nancy Drew and Veronica Mars. To which I say, you go girl, because you’d be hard-pressed to find role models less impressive than those two.)
OVERALL – I really, really enjoyed this book. I give this book a free pass to jump to the top of your TBR pile.
If you’ve read this novel, share your thoughts! What was your favorite of Chloe’s lists??