Cathy's Book: If Found Call (650) 266-8233 by Sean Stewart and Jordan Weisman

Overall Rating: 2 out of 10

I did not enjoy reading this book. It was confusing, unrealistic, and altogether boring. The book is in a format of the journal of Cathy, a failing highschool student and aspiring artist. Cathy's boyfriend, Victor, breaks up with her, and with the help of her best friend, Emma, she is determined to find out why. Little did she know, she would be plunged into a world of immortal ancestors, crime, and a fight to survive. Cathy also deals with a rocky relationship with her mom, fights with Emma, flunking school, and the death of her dad. And then there comes the twist that Emma's life is turned upside down when her father's job falls through. Furthermore, the characters are not fully developed. For example, Cathy's friend Emma is supposed to be an excellent student with the goal of having thirty million dollars by age thirty, and I understood that. Then, at the very end of the book, Emma is not only revealed to be British, but a bad cook too, and very worried about finances. Not only do readers not know the characters, but the things they do are hardly realistic. Cathy skips school every day - it is rare for her to attend. And she also breaks into a number of places with no problem at all. In addition, readers are under the impression that she is Asian, because of her drawings and references. But later in the book, she says she is white. The only good aspects of this novel are Cathy's humor, the doodles and comments in her journal, and the little flap on the inside cover containing documents, pictures and letters. Otherwise, the story was poorly constructed, the characters were under developed and the reader is thoroughly confused the whole entire time. For example, there are two IM conversations going on at once: one between Victor and Cathy, and one between Emma and Cathy. It is very hard to follow. Also, information regarding the mystery of Victor is very intricate and detailed. All in all, I do not reccomend this story. But, people who enjoy The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare, or The Uglies series by Scott Westerfield may like Cathy's Book.
Other books in the series: Cathy's Key, Cathy's Ring