About the Author

Idabel Allen serves up the best in new home cooked Southern Literature in the tradition of Eudora Welty, Charles Portis, William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor. First and foremost a storyteller, Idabel's books are all grounded in the same character-driven reality that holds the reader's attention long after the story is finished. Idabel brings over fifteen years of experience as a professional writer and editor to the literary table. She attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop Fiction program and is the author of Headshots, Cursed! My Devastatingly Brilliant Campaign to Save The Chigg and Rooted. Idabel's books are available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and independent bookstores across this fine land.

Reviews

5 stars. Made me feel like a kid again.While scrolling through Netgalley, this book's bright cover with a girl with Merida hair instantly grabbed my attention. Then after reading the description of the little girl who dreams of being a screenwriter and is often caught up in fantasy, I was transported back to my days as a young girl with the very same dream, and I just had to know more. I soon found myself on an adventure with 2 girls named Ginny and Carrie. Both are very unique girls with issues fitting in amongst their peers and in need of companionship. Especially since each of them have dealt with the loss of a loved one recently. When it seems that neither one has anyone else to turn to, they turn to each other for friendship and answers. One girl feels like nobody around her cares about her anymore and the other believes that a long-standing family curse is to blame for the lack of loved ones in her life. Will an old woman and a diary help them find the answers they're so desperately seeking? You know they will. Ashli - Goodreads 5 stars: Cursed! ReviewTo be honest, I initially picked this up because I liked the cover of the quirky red headed girl. If I like the cover, I usually dive right into it and start reading, rather than reading the plot. Having said that I really didn't expect this book to be very good based on its name. The title sounded long and silly I had no idea what a "Chigg" was. Let me tell you, once I started reading it, I just LOVED it and couldn't put it down! I finished the entire book in one sitting and wished it had continued.

This book has just about everything in it to make a book a complete entertainer. The plot, the characters and the dialogues are so zany and over the top for the most part. Such characters include a zombie obsessed girl, Western villain, voodoo woman, and a girl thinking she is cursed. The plot involves a woman drowning her baby, friends entering a deserted farmhouse to rid a curse and school revenges. One would think that none of these components would have anything in common to make a good middle grade story. Yet somehow the author blends all these elements perfectly into the main story and makes its work beautifully! - Rajiv - Goodreads4 Stars: This is a fantastic feel good story. About the wonderful power of friendship. It is such a lovely adventure story. That I throughly enjoyed. Karen W. - Goodreads