On the precipice of her sixteenth birthday, the last thing lone wolf Cat Crawford wants is an extravagant gala thrown by her bubbly stepmother and well-meaning father. So even though Cat knows the family’s trip to Florence, Italy, is a peace offering, she embraces the magical city and all it offers. But when her curiosity leads her to an unusual gypsy tent, she exits . . . right into Renaissance Firenze.

Thrust into the sixteenth century armed with only a backpack full of contraband future items, Cat joins up with her ancestors, the sweet Alessandra and protective Cipriano, and soon falls for the gorgeous aspiring artist Lorenzo. But when the much-older Niccolo starts sniffing around, Cat realizes that an unwanted birthday party is nothing compared to an unwanted suitor full of creeptastic amore. Can she find her way back to modern times before her Italian adventure turns into an Italian forever? (Cover and synopsis from Goodreads.)

A Light, Fun Read…

I met Rachel Harris at the 2012 Austin Teen Book Festival, and I had been following her on Twitter before that, and then I saw her again at YABFest in 2013, and I finally bought a copy of My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century there. But for some reason I didn’t read it until this year.  But I’m so glad I finally got to it, because it was exactly the fun read I was needing!

I was laughing out loud right from the fourth sentence in My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century, and I continued laughing out loud throughout a lot of the book.  I love Cat’s humor, and Rachel’s writing.  And I loved the plot of the book, with Cat going back in time to Renaissance Florence!  Rome is my favorite city in the world, but I’ve also been to Florence and loved it, too.  So it was awesome to be able to picture the city in my mind while reading this book.

The only complaints I have about the book were minor:  I could see some of the twists coming, and I felt like Cat should have seen some of the things coming as well.  But I enjoyed most of the book, and loved the ending, and I’m definitely going to have to read the sequels!


Great Quotes…


I wrote down quite a few quotes that I loved while reading My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century, but here are just a few of my favorites: