“It’s true: life can get weirder.”

This is the diary of Courtney Von Dragen (V.D.) Smith, a high-school senior who gets dumped by her boyfriend Dave when he goes off to college (only 30 minutes away). She’s so angry at him that she decides not to go out with anyone, ever again. She sticks to this anti-guy plan about as well as she sticks to a vegan diet. It’s a bit of a challenge to ignore all guys, just like it’s impossible to ignore all ice cream flavors. Especially when there's this guy named Grant who keeps showing up wherever Courtney goes – and is actually nice. And cute. And not named Dave.

On top of that, her little brother might be dating her best friend, she’s on student council with a sleazy guy, her mother is running a one-woman campaign against the phone company, and her stepsister is about to give birth. To say nothing of her grandparents’ sudden passion for each other. And the fact her dog Oscar keeps running away.

"Home, home on the Front Range...
Where the deer and the antelope play
Where seldom is heard
An encouraging word
From any of my friends or ex-boyfriends or prospective boyfriends
Or even siblings
And the skies are cloudy all day"

The Inside Scoop:
(not an ice-cream thing)

I went to the buffalo overlook that Courtney always visits when she’s sad--it’s in Genesee, Colorado, just off I-70. When I got there, there were no buffalo in sight. Absolutely none. The place was full of elk.

Oops.

Also, while writing Truth or Dairy, my car got major hail damage while parked on the street in Denver. I stood in my office and watched the hail come down, pelting the trees, and I was laughing about how big the hail was, like “golfballs”, they always say. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized my car hood and roof had about 100 dents. So…ha ha. Very funny.

“It is in Courtney’s flaws that her voice rings true.”
—Publishers Weekly

“A blend of good-natured despair, self-improvement pledges, mild cattiness, and ultracontemporary details. Irresistibly realistic.”
—Booklist

“Courtney is an extremely entertaining character.”
—VOYA

“My favorite part was when Tom spilled the Viagra.”
—Marcy, a reader, 14

Check Out the Sequel!
Courtney goes to college.

“Isn't there more to life?
Like...a life?”

It's out of print but still available

This is the sequel to Truth or Dairy. Courtney V.D. Smith goes to a small college in a small town in Wisconsin. It’s culture shock at first, and she hates being away from home. She and her roommate have nothing in common, and she hates her job working at Bagle Finagle (except for the great co-workers). She helps start a protest against the college, because its initials, CFC, stand for a harmful chemical. In the process she makes a lot of new friends, including a possible boyfriend to replace the one who’s still in Colorado.

“At the meeting, R.A. Krystyne actually said that ‘Alone’ is just ‘Baloney’ without the B and Y! Baloney metaphors. For people in college. Meat metaphors. It’s like…way to make us vegetarians feel welcome. Couldn’t she come up with something else? Like: alone is just…soybean. Without the s,y,b, and with an l, and if you rearrange all the letters? Sure, it’s a lot harder. Like everything is if you decide not to eat meat.”