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renatasnacks 's review for:

Scarlett Undercover by Jennifer Latham
4.0

I've heard this compared to Veronica Mars, and I think that's a valid comparison to make (for adult readers, since most teens now don't know VM), and something I'm into. I don't generally like mysteries very much as a genre, but I love the character of Veronica, and I love the character of Scarlett. I definitely love that we have a Sudanese Muslim heroine who's not whitewashed on the cover!

I think a lot of teens who like mysteries will be into this, and maybe also fans of [b:The Amulet of Samarkand|478600|The Amulet of Samarkand (Bartimaeus Trilogy, #1)|Jonathan Stroud|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1275207089s/478600.jpg|1121748], since this draws from some of the same mythical background.

The book revolves around an investigation of a teen suicide, and also there's a part where a dog gets hurt (spoiler: the dog does not die), but it's not especially graphic.

Nitpick: I thought it was a little weird and grating that they italicized every non-English word in here? I know that can be part of in house style, but if she's constantly calling her parents Abbi and Ummi, like on every page, does it really need to be italicized? I vote no.