Trouble Makes A Comeback By Stephanie Tromly

I received this galley in consideration for an honest review.

Trouble Makes A Comeback By Stephanie TromlyTrouble Makes A Comeback by Stephanie Tromly
Series: Trouble #2
Published by Penguin on November 22, 2016
Genres: Young Adult
Goodreads
four-stars

Achieving high school “normal” wasn’t as hard as Zoe Webster expected, but she’s beginning to think Hollywood oversold how much fun it all is. Isn’t dating a jock supposed to be one long Instagram dream? Shouldn’t she enjoy gossiping 24/7 with her two BFFs? And isn’t this, the last year before the finish line that is Princeton, meant to be one of her best? If “normal” is the high school goal, why can’t Zoe get Philip Digby—decidedly abnormal, completely chaotic, possibly unbalanced, undoubtedly rude, and somehow…entirely magnetic—out of her mind?

However normal Zoe’s life finally is, it’s about to get blown up (metaphorically. This time. She hopes, anyway.) when Digby shows up on her doorstep. Again. Needing her help to find his kidnapped sister. Still. Full of over-the-top schemes and ready to send Zoe’s life into a higher gear. Again.

It’s time for Zoe Webster to choose between staying in the normal lane, or taking a major detour with Digby (and finally figuring out what that stolen kiss actually meant to him).

Guess which she chooses?

Trouble is a Friend of Mine was one of my favorite books last year and I was so happy when I saw Stephani Tromy signing ARCs of book two at the Texas Library Association convention.  In Trouble Makes  A Comeback, we get to know Zoe a few months after Digby got on the bus to look for more answers and solve the mystery of his sister’s disappearance.  Zoe has carved out a nice little high school niche for herself with a football player boyfriend and a social circle that provides everything a high school girl could want.  It’s really the perfect scenario for Digby to return and totally mess everything up for Zoe.  The mystery surrounding Digby’s sister has not gone away and while they are trying to follow some new leads, another problem arises involving steroids and the wonderful insanity goes from there. So, now the football team is involved and it sounds crazy when I describe it, but it worked really well.  The dialogue really makes this story.  Everyone is so, so funny.  The story kept a good pace and never slowed down in part because of the banter. I was worried that it would have lost some of its luster after the first book, but that wasn’t the case at all.

As in book one, there is a darkness to Digby that lurks beneath the surface of his everything is a joke facade.  Understanding this is critical to appreciating him as a character because it’s his determination  that drives this story.  He jokes about everything and is the king of the flippant remark, but underneath that is an intensely vulnerable person who has had a pretty tragic life, all in all.  As a contrast, Zoe’s struggles are more obvious.  Her father is a huge tool and her mom, while stable, obviously has issues of her own.  Her mom’s boyfriend, Cooper, is one of my favorite characters in Trouble Makes a Comeback.  He is a cop and an avid vegan and hilariously plays the straight man to many of Digby’s quips, but he is also one of the few adults who really seems to care about Digby. There are some questions answered, in the end, but there is still a lot more that we don’t know.  I really enjoyed Trouble Makes a Comeback.  The magic that made book one so funny was recaptured and that makes me very excited for book three.

four-stars

About Stephanie Tromly

Stephanie Tromly was born in Manila, grew up in Hong Kong, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, and worked as a screenwriter in Los Angeles. She is the author of Trouble Is a Friend of Mine and lives in Winnipeg with her husband and son.

Kate

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