Reviewed by Jaglvr for TeensReadToo.com
Maya Naravadee is just doing time. She goes to school, does her homework, tutors, and then spends her evenings working in her parents' Thai restaurant. It's not much of a life. She doesn't get out much and usually only sees her friends at school. She is graduating soon, and she has the GPA to get her into Stanford. It's her light at the end of the tunnel for getting away from Michigan. But everything changes for Maya the day the tutoring office assigns her to Camden King.
Camden is a lazy rich kid. Maya and her friends have never been privy to the hip circle of friends around Camden. So when Maya is assigned to Camden, she does all she can to get out of the arrangement. Being the only available Algebra II tutor available, Maya gives in. From the first session, Maya knows it's not going to work out. Camden spends the session texting various people and then cuts out on her. The next session goes just as poorly. Camden "kidnaps" her and takes her to his house and hot tub. Camden offers her money to do his homework for him. Frustrated, Maya severs all tutoring responsibilities for Camden.
On a weekend Maya's parents have left the restaurant in her hands, a Health Inspector shows up and fines the restaurant $10,000. Maya's parents can't afford to pay the tuition for Stanford, let alone the fine. She is determined to not have her parents find out about the fine. She has six weeks to make the money and pay the fine. So Maya finds herself crawling back to Camden, offering to do his homework for him after all.
The offer starts to snowball, and a business arrangement is quickly formed. Maya soon finds herself with more than just Camden's assignments. Functioning on little to no sleep, Maya expands the business with the help of some of her tutoring friends. All seems to be going well and she may just have the money in time to pay off the fine, when the unexpected happens. She is blackmailed.
Maya has to figure out something before her parents find out, she is expelled, and her hopes of attending Stanford are dashed to bits. She can't tell her friends the whole truth, afraid she'd lose them. And her parents would never understand. Maya only has Camden to help her resolve the problem. But what is Camden to her? She doesn't know if he's just using her, if he's a friend, a boyfriend, or what?
SHE'S SO MONEY is a great debut novel by Ms. Cheva. From the first page, I was pulled into Maya's life. I wanted her to be able to get out and experience life more than her reserved parents would allow her. This is an excellent "what if" story. If Maya had only cleaned the restaurant the night the two rude customers had been there, none of this would have happened. Then, she never would have had a reason to contact Camden again. When all is said and done, Maya has to give up things she hadn't planned to, but just maybe she's better for it in the end.
Maya Naravadee is just doing time. She goes to school, does her homework, tutors, and then spends her evenings working in her parents' Thai restaurant. It's not much of a life. She doesn't get out much and usually only sees her friends at school. She is graduating soon, and she has the GPA to get her into Stanford. It's her light at the end of the tunnel for getting away from Michigan. But everything changes for Maya the day the tutoring office assigns her to Camden King.
Camden is a lazy rich kid. Maya and her friends have never been privy to the hip circle of friends around Camden. So when Maya is assigned to Camden, she does all she can to get out of the arrangement. Being the only available Algebra II tutor available, Maya gives in. From the first session, Maya knows it's not going to work out. Camden spends the session texting various people and then cuts out on her. The next session goes just as poorly. Camden "kidnaps" her and takes her to his house and hot tub. Camden offers her money to do his homework for him. Frustrated, Maya severs all tutoring responsibilities for Camden.
On a weekend Maya's parents have left the restaurant in her hands, a Health Inspector shows up and fines the restaurant $10,000. Maya's parents can't afford to pay the tuition for Stanford, let alone the fine. She is determined to not have her parents find out about the fine. She has six weeks to make the money and pay the fine. So Maya finds herself crawling back to Camden, offering to do his homework for him after all.
The offer starts to snowball, and a business arrangement is quickly formed. Maya soon finds herself with more than just Camden's assignments. Functioning on little to no sleep, Maya expands the business with the help of some of her tutoring friends. All seems to be going well and she may just have the money in time to pay off the fine, when the unexpected happens. She is blackmailed.
Maya has to figure out something before her parents find out, she is expelled, and her hopes of attending Stanford are dashed to bits. She can't tell her friends the whole truth, afraid she'd lose them. And her parents would never understand. Maya only has Camden to help her resolve the problem. But what is Camden to her? She doesn't know if he's just using her, if he's a friend, a boyfriend, or what?
SHE'S SO MONEY is a great debut novel by Ms. Cheva. From the first page, I was pulled into Maya's life. I wanted her to be able to get out and experience life more than her reserved parents would allow her. This is an excellent "what if" story. If Maya had only cleaned the restaurant the night the two rude customers had been there, none of this would have happened. Then, she never would have had a reason to contact Camden again. When all is said and done, Maya has to give up things she hadn't planned to, but just maybe she's better for it in the end.
