This Book is Not Good For You starts out with our main protagonist, Cass, and the revelation that her mother is not her actually Mom, and that she was left on the doorstep of her step-grandfathers' antique shop. Adopted, if you will. That leads us to all sort of trouble, since it was the reason her mother ( or is she her mother? Quite confusing, really ) took a cooking class with Cass to help them bond better. They come across Senor Hugo, a man known for his amazing cooking skills, even though he is blind. When Cass mentions the Tuning Fork ( an item that becomes quite important ) Hugo asks them to come to his fancy restaurant, which is completely dark so your senses sharpen, as he says.

Long story short, Cass's mother is kidnapped, and Cass wants to save her. Much simpler.

This book is all about chocolate. And since I am a huge chocolate lover, I enjoyed this novel, and trust me, it is better to read it while eating chocolate yourself. The copy I read has a few chocolate stains to prove it. The Appendix was a nice touch on all things chocolate, so I saved a few recipes from there for future reference.

The plot of the novel itself was cool. How the author worked with it was also very nice, and it was definitely an interesting read. Our new character, Simone, was a very charming lass. I would love to see more of her in future books, somehow. Although I have a gut feeling this is the only time we are going to see her.

The only part of the novel that slightly peeved me was Cass. Her whole personality is just, somehow, not the same. And that change is not a great one. I cannot even back myself up here, it is just her overall attitude, and the feeling that tells me, if I met such a girl somewhere on the street I probably would not start a conversation with her. Maybe I am being unfair. Perhaps I am.

I always thought of Pseudonymous Bosch as not just an author, but also a character and part of the story. I feel that his character also grew, and he matured with Cass, Max-Ernest, and Yo-Yoji, if that is even possible. I actually like him better now.

rating: ★★★★☆

The author tells us that the novel holds an enormous secret which he cannot keep, and thus is writing about it. The names of our protagonists, Cass and Max-Ernest, are not their real names but aliases so the readers cannot figure out their true identities. Yet the author still manages to describe them so they seem real, without giving away their appearances.

The plot itself was fairly exciting and at least seemed to be well thought out. The concept of synesthesia is very fascinating and something I cannot remember being explored in any other book I read. Here it is taken to the extremes, making it revolve around important plot points instead of being a book about a kid overcoming it.

The footnotes were either informative, entertaining, or a mixture of both. Even if they did not pertain to the whole story and went off topic.

rating: ★★★★★