Confessions of a Blabbermouth by Mike and Louise Carey, ill. Aaron Alexovich

This is the first Minx title I have so unreservedly enjoyed (Good As Lily has suspension of disbelief issues). It's not because Tasha is such a charming character - I don't know that she's always especially likeable, but she's a good character for the purposes of the story. She takes things the wrong way, she's mouthy, she behaves cowardly - but she's also willing to fix things.

Tasha's the Blabbermouth of the title, and her Mum's bringing home a new boyfriend. Of course, Tasha takes an instant dislike, but her feelings towards his teenage daughter are more ambivilant. Chloe has her own newspaper column, which irks blogger Tasha. Chloe goes from being overly defensive about small things to good fun, and saves Tasha quite cleverly when she's about to get stuck for playing on the slot machines. In return, Tasha has her beaten up. This is somewhat more reasonable in context - Tasha's out to save her own back, but she gets Chloe shunned while she's at it.

Tasha really gets riled up with Chloe has a column published that makes fun of bloggers, that being Tasha's great passion. The comics narrative boxes come from her blog, as well as Chloe's column. Tasha has a pretty scandalous blog, being an out there sort of girl. Her 'active boyfriend' for most of the story is Ben, AKA Von Bendrick, Benkenstein, Ben Kenobi... He's cute, too. I don't blame Tasha all the snogging. And he's a good guy, being sweet to Chloe when the rest of the school is snubbing her.

Chloe's behaviour starts to make sense when the girls are dragged together on a family holiday to the Grand Canyon - and Tasha overhears a rather seedy conversation between evil!Jed and his daughter (thank goodness it's not what is first implied). Tasha, determined to get the bottom of things, bugs Chloe's room.

I'm not going to spoil it - it is an unexpected revelation, and there's a quite satisfactory confrontation with Jed. The story isn't too long for its length. We have a wee epilogue at the end - so presumably it's intended as a standalone - but we know by that point that things are going to be okay anyway.

The artwork is quite detailed and somewhat messy, but the character designs are easily distinguished and the layout flows well - so the density doesn't impede your reading. Aaron Alexovich also wrote and drew Kimmie66, which is due out from Minx in November. I'm not excited about it though, because judging from the sample it's overly narrated. But that's probably down to his scripting - his art, in conjunction with the Careys' story, is a good combination.

Of course, I'm curious which elements are Mike's and which are his daughter's - that great mystery of collaborative storytelling. But it's a decent, well-constructed story, and it manages to be quite different from any other girls' YA I've read - comic book or fiction. And I've read a lot of girly YA. Confessions of a Blabbermouth then, is definitely recommended.