Shrimp (Cyd Charisse, #2) by Rachel Cohn

Shrimp (Cyd Charisse, #2) Reviews

• 
  Kasia

  The follow up novel to the fun and spunky "Gingerbread" is even better than expected and it succeeds in drawing the reader deeper into the colorful world of teen Cyd Charisse. I would strongly suggest reading the first book to get the full effect of the depth the author has created, after all knowing where Cyd comes from makes her future even more interesting! Cyd is on the lookout for romance, good food and new friends and finding that perfect cup of coffee someone has her obsessed with...
  
  Growing up is hard to do, sure, but Cyd finds the express route into the readers hearts without loosing her coolness and charm. She's got opinions, is very much in love with Shrimp who's status was ambiguous as of last novel and is trying to make new friends her age and make amends with her parents. Not to mention her biological father Frank back in New York is trying to make for more time for her as she gets older, her half siblings are entering her life and changing her perspective on the plans she has made with Shrimp. Torn between what she all ready has in San Francisco and the new prospects in the culinary fields in New York City, Cyd must make some brave choices that are tough when you're sixteen and feel torn between being a kid and a young adult.
  
  This book was so much fun, I was drawn into it and felt irritated whenever I had to put it down and go do life stuff; like going to work, eating dinner or talking to people...I am all ready holding part three of the series "Cupcake" and can't wait to jump back into the witty, charming, funny and grown up world of Cyd Charisse. I wouldn't say that this is a book for young kids since there is some hardcore romantic stuff going on, few bad words but it's what give his book that real edge, it's not all pink and pretty and fairy tales. Being a teenager is hard but oh so fun to read about!
  
• 
  Kasia

  The follow up novel to the fun and spunky "Gingerbread" is even better than expected and it succeeds in drawing the reader deeper into the colorful world of teen Cyd Charisse. I would strongly suggest reading the first book to get the full effect of the depth the author has created, after all knowing where Cyd comes from makes her future even more interesting! Cyd is on the lookout for romance, good food and new friends and finding that perfect cup of coffee someone has her obsessed with...
  
  Growing up is hard to do, sure, but Cyd finds the express route into the readers hearts without loosing her coolness and charm. She's got opinions, is very much in love with Shrimp who's status was ambiguous as of last novel and is trying to make new friends her age and make amends with her parents. Not to mention her biological father Frank back in New York is trying to make for more time for her as she gets older, her half siblings are entering her life and changing her perspective on the plans she has made with Shrimp. Torn between what she all ready has in San Francisco and the new prospects in the culinary fields in New York City, Cyd must make some brave choices that are tough when you're sixteen and feel torn between being a kid and a young adult.
  
  This book was so much fun, I was drawn into it and felt irritated whenever I had to put it down and go do life stuff; like going to work, eating dinner or talking to people...I am all ready holding part three of the series "Cupcake" and can't wait to jump back into the witty, charming, funny and grown up world of Cyd Charisse. I wouldn't say that this is a book for young kids since there is some hardcore romantic stuff going on, few bad words but it's what give his book that real edge, it's not all pink and pretty and fairy tales. Being a teenager is hard but oh so fun to read about!
• 
  Jamie

  Please be aware that Shrimp is the second book in a series. In order to give even the briefest synopsis, this review does contain spoilers to the first book.
  
  
  Shrimp basically picks up right where Gingerbread left off. Cyd Charisse returns from New York City after getting to know her bio-dad Frank and her half-sibs Danny and lisBETH. Back in San Francisco, Cyd's only goal is to get back with her "one true love" Shrimp. And to avoid her mother's endless stack of college applications. CC (as she is now known) survives her senior year of high school with her two new friends Heather and Autumn at her side. Getting away from problems of his own, half-brother Danny visits CC on the west coast and brings her back to NYC for a long weekend away. During her second visit, CC is torn between her old life in San Francisco and the possibility of a new life in New York. CC realizes that growing up is hard to do, and that she needs to make some tough decisions soon that may or may not include Shrimp.
  
  Well, I did not give Gingerbread a very good review, and I'm afraid this one isn't going to be much better. I do want to stress that I enjoyed the story, characters, and writing. I just can't get into Cyd Charisse. I have trouble reading about main characters I can't relate to, and this was my problem with Gingerbread and Shrimp. I'm moving along and am about half-way through the third and final installment of the series, Cupcake. Why, you ask? I told you, I am no quitter!
  
  
  Read more reviews like this one at
  http://bookmarkedreviews.blogspot.com
• 
  Sara

  I picked this book up because I thought it was a more feminine book. Reading about women issues can open up many doors to make text to self connections. After finishing this book, I realized it was a sequel to Gingerbread. This book was not as good as I expected to be when I first picked it up. The protagonist, Cyd Charisse, comes back from NYC after meeting her biological father. In this book, she goes on a journey where she tries to get her boyfriend, Shrimp, back, whom she broke up with before she went NYC. Even though the protagonist is similar to me in terms of age, I couldn't make many connections than I hoped I could have made. I heard that the first book, Gingerbread, is better than this one, so I'm planning to give that one a try, especially to see what really happened.
• 
  Sam

  The book was really funny and realistic. I can see some of that happening in real life. I love Danny hes my favorite character! In this book you see different sides of the characters compared to the sides of the characters you saw in the first book. They all grew up in a way which made the book more possible, because we are all growing up everyday we dont always stay the same. I really liked this book it was so funny, realistic, and I enjoyed reading it!
• 
  Mattie dawn

  this book was fine, but too much drama. The first one was a lot better
• 
  Kathryn Dunn

  so cute nice continuation of gingerbread, CC is not the greatest character ever imagined in the history of novels, but a sweet goth punk princess. :)
• 
  Ringo The Cat

  There are only a few books a year that leave such an impression that you want to read as much as you can by that particular author: John Green, Barry Lyga, A.S. King… Last year, the cat was completely enchanted by the Cohn/Levithan collaboration Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares. The result was first checking out what David Levithan was capable of all on his own… The result: Boy Meets Boy, the perfect antidote to doom, gloom and vampire books. Rachel Cohn’s solo-efforts were a little harder to come by for the cat, though, as both Gingerbread and Shrimp were no longer available, except as discarded library books (like, for real???) for the incredible price of 0.01£ each + shipping charges (again, for real??).
  
  In Gingerbread Cyd Charisse gets kicked out of a fancy New England boarding school after a couple of indiscretions with a certain boy, which also, but not exclusively involved drugs, and returns to San Francisco, where she’s better known as the Little Hellion, a true attestation of her rebellious spirit. In San Francisco, she continues her wild adventures, involving coffee and a boy called Shrimp who she is convinced is her True Love. Cyd’s mother clearly cannot handle Cyd and after she’s been up to one too many tricks she has to spend the summer with her biological father Frank, who she’s seen only once in her life, when she was five, and whose only claim to fame was that he gave her a rag doll – Gingerbread – which Cyd still carries around everywhere, and that he helped her deal with a certain Problem she had. Enter a summer in New York City. In Shrimp, Cyd is back in San Francisco after having spent that summer in New York with her bio-dad and her brother Danny and his boyfriend Aaron. Set on rekindling the romance with her True Love Shrimp, Cyd also has to make decisions about her future: college or no college, Shrimp or no Shrimp.
  
  The question whether Cohn’s books are worth the £0.02 is indisputable (I mean, seriously?). In the Cohn/Levithan collaborations it was never a question as to whose writing the cat preferred, because both authors wrote so convincingly and in character, that it was hard to pick a favorite. But after reading solo work by both authors it’s not difficult to see that Levithan is where the heart lies and Cohn is where the edge is: Cyd Charisse is nothing if not an individualist, tense to the max, outspoken in her opinions, and pushes boundaries like no other. Definitely a character that you can’t like all of the time, lots of angst going on there, almost all of the time!
  
  The beauty of the Cohn/Levithan collaboration, though, is that they make each other better in what they are already good at. This is especially true for Rachel Cohn. Cyd Charisse is the definition of edge. But the edge in Cohn’s writing is definitely toned down by Levithan’s heart. Luckily Cohn doesn’t lose the edge, of course, but it’s quite understandable that for some the Cyd Charisse series might come over as too harsh, too gratuitous, too much like your typical teen rebel story with a character you will love to hate. However, the typical teenage antics that Cyd is up to, are just that: typical teenage antics, hiding away a lot of anger and especially fears and insecurities (there’s a lot of stuff that is unresolved, especially concerning her ‘Problem’ with the boy of the boarding school).
  
  Gingerbread was Cohn’s debut novel. There are a few issues, of course, but Cohn’s witty brilliance definitely shines through, and with Cyd Charisse she’s created a character that you will love to hate at first, appreciate and understand later (Shrimp is definitely more fleshed out than Gingerbread), and maybe even love by the end of the trilogy (don’t know, still need to read Cupcake). Still prefer the collaborations with David Levithan, though…
  
  
  http://ringothecat.wordpress.com/
• 
  AquaMoon

  2022
  Although CC has done a little growing up, mainly thanks to finally ditching the fantasy she carried about her formerly-mythical New York Family (who were nothing like she previously imagined) and life experience... Although she's making a couple same-age friends who are girls and, most importantly, NOT the "benefits" variety... Although she's on (somewhat) better terms with her mother and her family in general... While all that is great for character development, she has still yet to ditch that loser she thinks she's in forever love with.
  
  *Begin Rant*
  So yeah... I still cannot stand Shrimp (IF that's his real name). He's just too damn squirrely, and I hate how manipulative he is toward CC, running hot and cold, making her think she's got a chance and then "oop! just kidding. psych!". In many ways, he's worse than her druggie, almost-baby-daddy Ex. Or, at least, on the same level of loser-y. He has seemingly no redeeming qualities whatsoever, and those qualities that are mentioned are purely of the physical variety (surfer boi bod and all that). In this book, he and CC have broken up and CC spends the majority of her waking life mooning about and dreaming of how to get back together with him...even though he seems far less interested in perusing things with her. Seriously?!? CC could SO do better!! Hey, I get it... This book is geared toward teens and a teenage love interest character is very different than a love interest in a book aimed at an older demographic. Perhaps the character would be appealing if I was, say, 13. Or maybe not. No...still not. He certainly does add a dramatic element, though. And drama is what keeps stories moving.
  *End Rant*
  
  I did enjoy CC's journey, though. The one apart from the whole Shrimp obsession.
  
  Gotta say, I loved Ashley and her Franken-Barbie Makeover Project. Actually, I've been trying for ages to recall where that particular plot element came from. Mystery solved. Finally!
  
  Also, I want a cinnamon brown sugar pop tart. The ONLY ones worth eating (this I agree with wholeheartedly). I can attest that these pair very well with coffee.
  
  
  
  2010:
  In this sequel to Gingerbread, Cyd Charisse and love-of-her-life Shrimp have decided to take a break so Shrimp can travel halfway around the world to surf. Meanwhile, Cyd is torn: Between her New York family and her San Fransisco family, between who she is and who her parents expect her to be, between wanting Shrimp back and being angry with him. Quite possibly even better than the first book in the series!
• 
  Jennifer

  ***WARNING...This may contain spoilers because it is part of a series (and it is kind of hard to discuss this book without referring to the previous novels in the series)***
  
  Cyd Charisse is back in San Francisco for her senior year. This time around she is totally looking forward to her partial attendance of school (Sid-Dad hooked her up with a work experience program) and she's also looking forward to getting back together with Shrimp (her true love).
  
  Things aren't all that simple for CC because she is a teenager. Her little sister tries to doll nap Gingerbread, Sid-Dad learns about the abortion and is totally disappointed, Mom wants Cyd to go to college, and then...her favorite half-brother breaks up with his "true love."
  
  Does true love really exist??? And is Shrimp Cyd's true love???
  
  When I first started this book, I really wanted to know how Cyd Charisse's life would continue. And Shrimp was an awesome follow up to Gingerbread. I really liked how Cyd and Nancy came to a better understanding in their relationship. It wasn't perfect, but no mother/daughter relationship is. Also, this time around it was about Cyd and finding friends and not just boyfriends. She gets to learn that there are other relationships to life besides the physical type.
  
  Again, Cohn deals with teenager topics that aren't usually in the books they read. Topics include lust, sex, oral sex, and the aftermath of abortion. The main character, Cyd Charisse is not your everyday girl in young adult fiction, but one that is unforgettable in her own ways. This is a great read to those who want to know what happens after Gingerbread and I can't wait to read the third and last book of the series.
• 
  Liza Wiemer

  Cyd Charisse's complicated life continues in book two, with a focus on Shrimp and the mixed-up feelings CC has for him. He is her soulmate? Her one and only, or just her first true love? There's more confusion with the relationships CC has with her half-siblings and parents. I'm really glad I read this novel and will most definitely pick up the last one in the series, but I must say that this novel left me feeling really churned up. Seriously, these are really messed-up people. Mistakes are repeated, love battered, opportunities thrown away. It's painful. Life is like that. It just seems like a lot is dumped on these poor souls and the only thing that they don't have to really worry about it money. (But even CC's biological father is dumped by the advertising firm he help build for 30 some-odd years! I'm guessing he got a decent settlement.) Hey, we all know that money is nice, but it doesn't make you immune to life's messes and it truly seems like CC's family has a ton to deal with - many they have brought on themselves, but some just can't be helped. I guess that's why this novel left me feeling churned up inside. :-|
  Don't shy away from reading this series. Getting churned up can be a good thing.
• 
  Alissa

  I never read Gingerbread, even though it’s the first in the series/trilogy. I started with Shrimp. And I have to say, I wasn’t lost one bit. Cohn makes it so you don’t feel as though you’re missing out on anything important and MUST start with Gingerbread, and that’s a plus for me.
  
  As far as characters go, Cyd is very likeable. I love her voice: it’s relatable, edgy, spunky. And Shrimp – he’s adorable. At first the two of them seem shallow and underdeveloped, but then their personalities expand and go deeper, and it’s wonderful. Cohn is able to make their relationship unlike other YA romances. Instead of their relationship being rushed and awkward, Cyd and Shrimp take time to move along, and it’s more believable that way. It’s also sweeter.
  
  The writing itself is engaging. Cyd’s voice isn’t quite one-of-a-kind, but it’s different enough that it’s entertaining. The writing isn’t so much about the descriptions as it is the story. As Cyd and Shrimp go back and forth, you won’t want their story to end.
  
  (
  www.thegrammariansreviews.blogspot.com)
• 
  Miss Bookiverse

  Auch das zweite Buch um Cyd Charisse und ihre Familie und Freunde hat mir sehr gefallen. Es hatte Herz, Charme und Witz. Ich mag es, dass Cyd nicht als perfekte junge Dame dargestellt wird, sondern oft auch als naiver Teenager. Sie ist nicht blöd, aber sie verfällt auch schnell dem Gefühl der großen Liebe (oder großen Ungerechtigkeit), das man je älter man wird gern mal belächelt. Im Endeffekt holt sie ihre Cleverness aber auch immer wieder ein und sie erkennt, was die wirklich richtigen Entscheidungen für ihr eigenes Leben sind.
  
  Für den letzten Band
  Cupcake wünsche ich mir ein bisschen weniger Shrimp und vielleicht mal einen neuen ernsthaften Herzkandidaten. Shrimp hat in diesem Buch zwar bewiesen wie ernst es ihm mit Cyd ist, aber er hat sich auch ein paar dämliche Fehltritte geleistet, die zeigen wie unreif er ist.
• 
  J.Elle

  This book was a sequel of sorts to "Gingerbread" which I actually have an amusing story about. I worked at a library for years and was familiar with alot of the books here. We had a teenager come in one day wearing black and white striped tights just like the girl on the cover of "Gingerbread". I immediately ran and found the book and pressed it into the girl's hands to borrow. I didn't see her again, but I like to think she loved the book and related to it specifically. Perhaps I changed her life. I'll never know. I do know that this book "Shrimp" did not change my life. It was at times confusing and I felt overall the the situations were too advanced for the character's ages in the book. Call me old-fashioned or perhaps I was simply very sheltered, but that is my opinion. I won't be reading anything else that continues this story.
• 
  eRin

  Cyd Charisse, or CC as she now wants to be called, is back from her summer with bio-dad in New York and ready to get it on again with Shrimp. The only problem is she can't find him. Off visiting his parents in some country, Shrimp is MIA so CC does the unthinkable: become friends with girls. Gasp. Starting senior year isn't all that thrilling to CC except that it's the last year of torture (finally!). But the real problem she's facing is how to maintain the truce with Nancy and how to get back with her one true love, Shrimp.
  
  The follow-up to Gingerbread is just as delightful as the original. CC is funny and bright; witty and full of angst. She grows up a lot in this novel and it's nice to see the slow change in what is quickly becoming one of my fave literary characters. I'm stoked to find out that there's a third in the series, Cupcake.
• 
  Jaemi

  After her summer in NYC, Cyd Charisse has a slightly different outlook on life arriving back in California. Happy to have her freedom, she’s lookingg forward to the year, which she plans to make the year of Shrimp.
  
  Much to her dismay, Shrimp is MIA, and rumors abound about his whereabouts and whether he’ll be back or not. After running into his brother’s girlfriend, Cyd finds out that he will indeed be back, but with a slight change: his parents.
  
  As it turns out, that will be only the first of many surprises, and it won’t be the year Cyd, now CC, expected. The uneasy peace with Nancy, the making of actual girl friends, who turn out to be not so bad, the roller coaster of CC and Shrimp. But through it all, CC learns a lot–about herself, people in general, and life.
• 
  Marilyn

  What can I say - I tried to like this book. The writing is well-done, most of the characters were interesting, GREAT setting (San Francisco), it just didn't work for me. Maybe because I really didn't care about the main character and her "one true love". I found them both to be navel gazers to such a degree that they were no longer believable. Maybe it would've been better if I'd read the first two books in the series, Gingerbread and Cupcake. I don't know, but I can tell you right now, I have too many other books I want to read before I'll read those two. Some language, rather a lot of talk of sex, and some drug use.
• 
  Kiera

  I really loved this series of books. Cyd Charisse is a lovable and relateable character which is what really made me stay with the series. She is a character that goes through all the trials and tribulations of being a teenager. Misunderstood, feeling like she doesn't belong anywhere not even with her own family and falling in love for the first time. Granted CC is quite the wild child, but it was as if I, the reader, reformed with her throughout the series. I think Shrimp and Cupcake are definitely the strongest books of the series for sure. I feel for Cyd Charisse and feel as if I have become friends with her after reading. Rachel Cohn did an excellent job.
• 
  Penny

  I want to say I really liked this book, but compared to "Gingerbread" it was just okay. I re-read "Gingerbread" to prep for this sequel only to be surprised that Cohn takes you through all the important events of the previous book much in the beginning. I still adore the main character, Cyd Charisse, now referred to as CC, and really liked the introduction of some new characters like the Wonderwoman drawing, punk asian Helen, but the storyline in this one wasn't as special. The next book in the series is "Cupcake" and I knew that a head of time so the way it ends was already spoiled for me (it's easy to put two and two together for this one).
• 
  Jennifer

  3 1/2 stars. This is the second book in the trilogy about CeeCee. It picks up where the first book left off after she returns to San Francisco to live with her mother, stepfather, and younger half siblings. She resumes her relationship with her artist/surfer boyfriend, Shrimp, and she makes some girl friends for the first time. We get the sense that CeeCee is ready to grow up and become the person we, the readers, know she can be.
  
  I enjoyed this book very much and again have to acknowledge the author’s skill in developing her characters.
  
• 
  Nguyet

  I swear, this is the best book ever! Well, besides the Vampire Academy series :) I read this book non-stop for two days :D I still kept reading when my mom calls me in for lunch/dinner. I only do this with really great books, like this. I don't like drama, but I love reading books about them, because the way the author wrote it caught me attention. I was a bit sad coming to the end of this book because our school doesn't have the follow up book for this series :/ Overall, it was a great book and I think girls would like to read this more the guys :)
• 
  Taylor Sanchez

  This book was very good. CC wanted her "true love" to come back. She grew up over the summer very fast, when she went to her bio-dad's house in New York. There she meet her step-brother Danny who became her best friend. She was planning on what to do with her life after high school. CC ended up getting Shrimp back, but soon realized in order to go on her in life that she has to leave him.
• 
  Kat Drennan-Scace

  Really liked this continuation of the Cyd/Shrimp relationship. Cyd's forced to make some tough decisions but she finds some good friends along the way which I liked. It was a quick read but the narrative voice really comes through, making it memorable. Definitely recommend, but only if you read Gingerbread first!
• 
  Hannah

  Cyd Charrise is everyone's dream best friend. A story that tracks her life, I felt as if I watched her mature from Gingerbread to Shrimp to the final book: Cupcake.
  I learned from my friend CC and I know what I want to do with my future. CC is vibrant as well as Rachel Cohan's well written trilogy!
  I love you! Ditto.
• 
  dearlittledeer

  Finally read this on my Kindle after NEVER being able to find a real copy that matches my Gingerbread and Cupcake covers. It was cool to read more about CC and get to know Shrimp a little better. He's definitely hot (um, sort of reminds me of my boyfriend, actually), but not the "perfect boy," which I guess is a good thing. I'm looking forward to Cupcake.