Shrimp starts with Cyd Charisse returning to California after spending the summer in New York City with her biological father and her half siblings. Cyd is starting her senior year at the alternative high school she attends in San Francisco. Upon her return from New York, Cyd, on her seventeenth birthday, gives her coveted doll (Gingerbread) to her second-grade sister.
Cyd's parents want her priority to be good grades in school and filling out college applications. However, Cyd's top priority is getting back together with Shrimp, her surfer boy who broke her heart.
In this novel, Cyd has a new attitude. She is ready for a more adult outlook. While she knows that Shrimp is her destiny, she realizes she cannot obsess about him. She takes her friend Sugar Pie's advice and makes new friends, Helen and Autumn. Cyd realizes that having girlfriends isn't such a bad thing. Cyd also begins to pursue her interest of cooking (her step-dad gives her a work-study job at his restaurant).
Cyd and Shrimp try to stay "just friends," but the "We're Officially Back On" kiss does eventually happen as their lives continue to intertwine. When they do get back together, they take it slow, with no "sexpectations."
Cyd's brother Danny, from New York, temporarily moves to California. This sparks doubt in Cyd if there really is "true love," since Danny broke up with his long-time partner. On a trip back to New York with Danny for Easter, Cyd begins to realize that you can love someone, but not belong together.
As graduation approaches and her relationship with Shrimp intensifies, Cyd must decide if they are destined to move in together after her graduation, or if the future she wants is without Shrimp. Cyd is convinced that whatever happens, "at the end of the road, there will always be a Shrimp."
Rachel Cohn has written another sparkling, fabulous novel that I would recommend to ages 12 and up. The characters in her novels are so real, and I think Ms. Cohn knows how to write about teens.
On her website ( http://www.rachelcohn.com ), Ms. Cohn writes that she will be writing a third (and final) installment in this series, entitled "Cupcake." No release date has been set.
This novel is listed on Amazon.com - "What to Read in 2005 January - May" and Auburn University's website of "What to Read in 2005 - January - May".
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