DUMPING PRINCES
The Calypso Chronicles #4
Tyne O'Connell
Bloomsbury USA Children's Books
Fiction
ISBN: 9781599901503
256 pages

Calypso Kelly returns for her fourth adventure at the posh St. Augustine's School for girls, where she is still the quirky American import. She is studying hard for the GCSE exams on which college aptitude is based in Britain and is thrilled to be preparing for her first international fencing match in Italy. Her parents are back together, though their constant kissing is pretty gross. And she's dating Prince Freddie, which is pure bliss. What could be better?

Her mom and dad have lunch with the King and Queen. Bob and Sarah continue to French kiss in public frequently, but the meeting doesn't go too badly. Things get worse though when her parents leave and Calypso fakes a cold to avoid going hunting with Freddie and his family. Why didn't anyone tell her that they were only shooting clay pigeons? She is haunted by Freddie's disappointed look all the way back to school.

Luckily Calypso is not rooming with the Honey horror this term, and she and her mates have fun with after-hours parties in their rooms, TXTing and sharing clothes in between classes. Fencing practices have stepped up, but Calypso has always dreamed of playing internationally and is ready for this challenge.

A new twist upsets her when Star and some other girls decide to break off with their boyfriends while so much is going on this semester. Can they really expect Calypso to dump Freddie when he means so much to her? A strange meeting with him during a day off in Windsor leads to a TXT dumping --- by him! Suddenly, the school honor is at stake and all of Calypso's friends, even Honey, help her recover by planning a Counter Dump to humiliate him.

Calypso enjoys the new sisterhood solidarity, but surely the best-laid plans do not include a kiss-athon with handsome Malcolm while Prince Freddie falls off a bridge. Before she can sort out her feelings on either matter, though, Calypso is off to Italy, where the level of fencing ability is very high. When Malcolm and his friends come to film the match, Calypso finds herself drawn to him on a level she never was with Prince Freddie.

Even this short summary shows why The Calypso Chronicles continues to be such a strong series. While boys do occupy Calypso's thoughts quite a bit, she has plenty of character to maintain girlfriends, a passion for fencing and even time to study. While mortified by her parents, she is also worried about their feelings when she is a finalist in a contest with an essay about their previous marital troubles, which is filled with exaggeration. While some girl series only have designer clothes and city settings to keep them going, Calypso's adventures have enough facets to keep readers on both sides of the Atlantic coming back for more.

   --- Reviewed by Amy Alessio

Click here now to buy this book from Amazon.com.

© Copyright 1997-2008, Teenreads.com. All rights reserved.

Back to top.