I had a lot of fun reading “Trouble is a Friend of Mine.” Trouble is a guy named Philip Digby who suddenly forces his way into Zoe Webster’s life. Zoe has recently moved from New York City to a small town in upstate New York with her mother after her parents divorce.
Zoe has problems making friends and is doing everything she can to get herself transferred into a private school (with her well-to-do father footing the bill and pushing for the transfer.) Only problem is, that will mean moving in with her father and step-mother and leaving her mom behind.
Philip Digby is a student at her public high school and is Trouble with a capital T. From the first time she meets him when he comes ringing her doorbell, he is at the center of all sorts of craziness. He is both convincing and charismatic and Zoe falls right in with his plans – even though she keeps trying to convince herself that the next time, she won’t.
Digby (who calls Zoe Princeton as that is the college she aspires to go to) has a plan but apparently isn’t willing to share the whole of it with anyone. At the heart of all of his whacky behavior is the break up of his family after his little sister was stolen from their house nine years before. His family fell apart and even he came under suspicion for a short time though he was only seven years old at the time.
Zoe is a soft touch and once she knows his history, she becomes a willing friend and accomplice on his adventures, along with his long time friend, Henry, who Zoe finds very attractive.
Along the way, we get to meet all of the usual high school clique suspects. From the young nerd (Felix) to the captain of the cheerleaders (Sloane) and all sorts of others in between. The story is a fun mix of zany characters and snappy dialog along with a good plot and storyline.
The book ends a little open-ended, which for me is a good thing as I would like to visit with Zoe, Digby, Henry, Felix, and even Sloane again in the future. The book is certainly aimed at young teenagers but I enjoyed it as an adult, too.
I received a complimentary copy of this book via the publisher.
