Startled by His Furry Shorts

STARTLED BY HIS FURRY SHORTS by Louise Rennison
Category: Contemporary
Age Recommendation: Grades 9+
Release Date: 5/1/06
Publisher: HarperTempest
Reviewed by: K. Osborn Sullivan
Rating: 5 Stars

Georgia Nicholson is at it again in the newest installment of Louise Rennison's hilarious series about the trials and tribulations
of a lovelorn British high school girl. STARTLED BY HIS FURRY SHORTS does not disappoint readers who have grown
to love the quirky Georgia, her eccentric family, and her Ace Gang of best buddies.

As STARTLED opens, our poor heroine finds herself, "On the rack of romance. And also in the oven of luurve." (That's
'love' for those of you who are new to Georgia-speak.) She is waiting to hear from her Italian Stallion almost-boyfriend, to
whom she had given an ultimatum. He must either be exclusive to her, or they may never share another romantic evening
under the stars together. Needless to say, she's not entirely sure she did the right thing with Masimo. After all, what if he
comes back with the wrong answer?

But while Georgia wants the hunky Italian-American to be faithful to her, she's having a little trouble in that department
herself. She's not completely over her first love, Robbie, who left her to "snog with marsupials" in New Zealand. And her
friend, Dave the Laugh, appears to have a crush on Georgia, but she has no idea how to handle it.

As with the other Georgia Nicholson novels, I found myself laughing out loud as I turned the pages. Everyone in this series is
interesting and well crafted. Sure, Georgia herself is shallow, but she's also funny and (usually) kind and easy to relate to.
There are even some villains (i.e. Wet Lindsay and Astonishingly Dim Monica) who readers can love to hate.

The glossary at the end of the book was helpful as always in deciphering unfamiliar British terms, although it was often
unclear whether these terms were really unique to Britain or if they were just unique to author Louise Rennison's fertile
imagination.

Pick up a copy of STARTLED BY HIS FURRY SHORTS and laugh yourself silly.