Mates, Dates, and Sleepover Secrets (School & Library Binding)

TJ isn't having a very good year - her best friend Hannah just moved to South Africa, Wendy is tormenting her AGAIN, and her soccer team lost yet another game. One day Izzie, Lucy, and Nesta decide to befriend her. Not because they want to do 'charity' work, but because they think she's nice and that she deserves to have some best friends. The group gets along very well, swapping stories of pets, crushes, and family members. TJ confides in them that she can't talk to a boy that she likes without going all sweaty and gross, and that she sees herself as "one of the guys" instead of someone dateable.

TJ fits into the group nicely, and she's my favorite character from the series. She's funny, intelligent, and she's determined to reach her goals.

Overall grade - A-

This is the fourth book in this series. This book is a bout a teenage girl named T.J. T.J is a tomboy. She has and older brother named Paul. As she was playing foot ball one day, her brother came to pick her up. He told her on the way home that he was going to be moving to Goa with his girlfriend Saskia. That night they talk about school. She tells him that she is kind of a loner and that there is one group of girls at his school that she thinks are snobs. Especially Nesta Williams. One day after school, her favorite author Sam Dunham, who comes to give a talk about the school newspaper. T.J goes and so does Lucy, Izzie, and Nesta. After the speech, Sam walks up toward her, but he really walks up to Nesta to flirt witth her. Embarressed, T.J hopes that nobody saw, but Lucy Lovering saw and came over to her. She said that Nesta did that all the time, and that she was use to it. They went home together and T.J went over to Lucy's house. Then Nesta and Izzie came over. They all began to become friends when Nesta opens her mouth and says that T.J would look better if she had a makeover. Ashamed, T.J walks out of the house and goes straight home. The next day Nesta says sorry and they decide to spend the night at Nesta's house. That night they get to be really good friends. The next day, T.J tells her new buddies that the guy she likes is in love with Nesta. Then Nesta says that she would never go out with him because her friend liked him. They spend the next month trying to hook the two up. At last he snogs her, but she doesn't like him anymore and figures out that he is simply a jerk. She begins to like Lucy's brother Steve and in the end she becomes his girlfriend.
" How can a new girl fit in?" I can relate to this quote because in the begining of my seventh grade year, I began to hang out with a new group of people and wondered to myself how I could possibly fit in with these people. Like T.J found out, we had a lot more in common than I thought and became real good buddies.
" You could look fabulous if you wanted to." I can relate to this very easily. I have my moments when I open my mouth when I shouldn't. I say mean things sometimes like that that I don't even realize is mean at that moment. Like Nesta at the end of the book, I learned to keep my mouth closed. Occasionally things slip but I have it mostly under control.
I think that other girls should read this. I think that guys would get bored if they read this book. I know many people that have read this series and enjoyed the emotional ups and downs that come along with it. It is almost as though you are a character in the book itself. All the drama and problems that go on in this book, go on in the everyday life of a teenager. It also prepares you if your younger for what your years to come may bring. So go and buy a copy of the Mates, Dates, series now.