I adored this book. Adored it.

The children's librarian at my library has been recommending this for months, and it finally floated to the top of my to-read pile.

Bindy Mackenzie, the narrator, is a teenage genius with a decided lack of skill in social interaction. She constantly types on her laptop: transcripts of conversations of the people around her, philosophical musings, and a general record of what's going on in her life. She sends a lot of memos. She has personalized stationery, and for a small fee, she'd be happy to design some for you. Bindy watches people but is often puzzled or frustrated by their actions. Bindy judges and holds grudges. Bindy wishes for friends. She is in turn obnoxious, hilarious, shocking, infuriating and lovable. As a reader, I just wanted everything to turn out OK for her.

The format of this book took some getting used to—it's Bindy's transcripts, philosophical musings and memos for a large chunk of the book, until later she is on the receiving end of the memos. It feels disjointed at first, but as I continued reading, the story pieced itself together into both a compelling mystery and a touching, often laugh-out-loud funny story of friendship and growing up.

Highly recommended. I know it's listed as the 3rd in a series, but it worked fine as a stand-alone novel. I will definitely be picking up the others. ( )

The story of the life and murder of Bindy MacKenzie is told in a series of reports to school officials, journal entries, and emails and memos to her parents, teachers, friends and enemies alike all written by…Bindy MacKenzie. Bindy is a driven, straight-A student who begins to slide academically as her 11th year at Ashbury High, an Australian private school, progresses. She feels tired and sick most of the time, begins falling behind in her classes, fails a test and is stuck in a new class called Friendship and Development (FAD), which she hates and where she can't help herself but try to help her teacher and classmates. Of course she does not make friends in FAD because of her know-it-all attitude and her willingness to share what she thinks of her classmates. On top of all that she has this maddening habit of typing up transcripts of what is going on around her. No wonder someone is trying to murder her (and the answer will lie in her notes). This wild ride of a book is quirky, funny, touching, and heartwarming. ( )

Original Australian title: The betrayal of Bindy MacKenzie ( )

Pacing was a bit meh here, took a while to get going and then the ending shot past super quickly. Would have liked to see Bindy making friends and becoming a better person spread out over more time. Having said that, once we got into the end game I was hooked and couldn't put it down.

A solid 3 stars. ( )

I really adore this book. Bindy is a great character, she starts off pretty unlikable and yet you feel sympathy for her, especially as the book goes on and she starts to learn and grow. It also has a fun supporting cast. And it's hilarious, and emotional in all the right places. I've read this book multiple times, and I still have a hard time putting it down. I would recommend it to anyone wanting a fun, clever YA read. ( )