Chicklish

EXTRACT: Allie Finkle, Best Friends and Drama Queens by Meg Cabot

Presenting an extract from the third book in the Allie Finkle series by Meg Cabot. Called Best Friends and Drama Queens, its UK release is on 6th March 2009. (Read our review of the second Allie Finkle book.)

Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls by Meg Cabot

Best Friends and Drama Queens

reproduced by kind permission of Macmillan

Rule #1
It’s the Thought That Counts
The best part about the holidays is showing all the cool
stuff you got to your friends.
This is a rule.
But when your friends all leave for Winter Vacation
to go visit the beaches in Hawaii or their
grandparents or their mom in Maine or whatever, it’s
really hard to show them that your grandma got your
family the new PlayStation with Dance Party America,
which you have played so many times (by
yourself) that you are already up to level eleven.
It’s especially hard when your parents and your
brothers and your uncle are quite tired of playing
Dance Party America and of hearing about it too.
They wish that your friends would come home from
Winter Vacation to play it with you almost as much
as you do.
I did have one friend who was home from Winter
Vacation: Sophie. But she broke her toe when we
when we were playing Olympic figure skater hardwood
floors in our socks. So she couldn’t do Dance
Party America with me. Plus she was kind of crabby
about her sore toe and not having seen her true love,
Prince Peter, in so long.
So by the time Winter Vacation was over I was so
excited for school to be starting again to see everyone,
such as Erica and Caroline, and also my friend
Rosemary, whose family had gone to Hawaii for the
break, that I could barely fall asleep the night before.
Even Mewsie’s gentle purring on the pillow beside
my head couldn’t make me doze off, and usually that
does the trick. I had called Erica three times before
bed, knowing her plane had gotten in, even though
Erica lives right next door and Mom kept telling me
to leave the Harringtons alone and let them Settle In
From Their Vacation.
But Erica told me she’d seen Caroline at the baggage
carousel at the airport, and that she had some
big news, but that Caroline’s dad had dragged her
away before she could tell Erica what it was.
Big news! What could it be?
I hoped it wasn’t anything bad. What if Caroline
was moving permanently to Maine, where her mom
lived? This would be terrible! Pine Heights Elementary
would be losing its champion speller!
I was really surprised when I woke up on Monday
morning. Surprised that I ever fell asleep at all, I
mean, because I was so excited to get to school and
find out Caroline’s big news.

NEWS: John Green is great

This is not news, because we've always known John Green is great, but still.

Thanks to Fiona Dunbar and Candy Gourlay for alerting me to this fantastic episode of John Green's vlog.

NEWS: More books to look forward to...

Back in December, I made a list of books I was looking forward to in 2009, and so did Hannah. (See my list here, and Hannah's here.)

I keep finding more to add to the list, though, so I might need to make this a regular thing.

I've just discovered that Sophia Acheampong, author of Growing Yams in London (reviewed by us here) has another book out. It's called iPods in Accra and it's listed as being available on 30th April.

(We also interviewed Sophia Acheampong last year.)

Another book I can't wait to read is Liz Rettig's Kelly Ann prequel, My Dating Disasters Diary. It was on my original list, but I've seen the gorgeous cover now! Here are more details about it:
"Kelly Ann is a total tomboy. She loves football and computer games and has no idea why anyone would want to bother with soppy romantic stuff and stupid crushes on boys. Her best mate is Chris, the boy next door, and he's not into that stuff either, is he? Follow Kelly Ann's ventures into the crazy world of love through her stonkingly funny diaries."

And see our reviews of My Now or Never Diary and Jumping To Confusions (which is now available as an eBook), and our interview with Liz Rettig.

There are more books I'm dying to read, of course. I'll be back!

REVIEW: Bedlam by Ally Kennen

Review by Alexandra

Well I have to say the last hundred pages and conclusion of this are completely gripping. That’s not to say the start and middle aren’t compelling either, it’s just the last third really stands out. 

Lexi lives with her dad and, apart from her dodgy taste in boys, thinks she has it ok – that is until she has to go stay with her mum. Lexi’s mum ran out on her and her brother when she was a toddler and they’ve not really gotten on since.  Worse, she can’t stand her mum’s fiancé, Owen, who she’s sure isn’t quite as nice as her mum thinks he is.

A summer job at the local hotel brings Lexi some new friends, but it’s a boy that she meets in the forest one day that changes her life. Looking for her mum’s dog, Tyson (missing thanks to Lexi), Lexi falls through the ground into the cellar of an abandoned building.  Her life at stake, she’s rescued by Kos - who promptly disappears. 

Lexi finds Kos again and a dangerous adventure starts. A tangled web involving the locals in her mum’s village starts to unravel, but it’s when her mum’s away on her hen weekend that things really start to fall apart for Lexi. 

Lexi is a likeable rogue to start with then turns into a whole other character by the end – her change is wonderful to read about and the plot and other characters in this novel are engaging and very realistic.

Compelling and very original, highly recommended.

Review by Alexandra

GIVEAWAY: WAGS' World: Playing the Game

Promising "bling, boys and (Gucci) bagfuls of glamour", WAGS' World is a new British teen series about the sixteen-year-old girlfriend of a teenage footballer.

Here's the low-down on the first book, Playing the Game:

"An ordinary girl thrown into an extraordinary life... Amy, sixteen, has moved to London for the summer to be near her boyfriend, Damien. He's just been signed to a top premiership football club and is getting a taste of the no-limits lifestyle – and he wants Amy to come along for the ride. She soon learns that the other wives and girlfriends are playing games too, but theirs are strictly off the pitch... Will a normal girl ever be able to cope in this fast and furious WAGS' world?"

The book is out on 5th March 2009, and it's published by Penguin so you can find out more about it on their fabulous Spinebreakers site.

We're giving away copies of Playing the Game to readers chosen at random. For a chance to win, email us and write WAGS in the subject line. The competition closes on 23rd March 2009 and we'll contact winners after that date. Good luck!

REVIEW: Swimming Against The Tide by Helen Bailey

Review by Hannah

This is the third instalment in the 'Electra' series. The first book (Life At The Shallow End) is reviewed here and the second book (Out Of My Depth) is reviewed here.

In this book, everyone's loved-up... except for Electra Brown. That's right. Lucy's had a summer fling with a French boy. Sorrel's flirting with the waiter at Macky D's (obviously, she's not just there for the free burgers). And her Dad's latest woman (The Kipper) is evil and has got it in for her. Worst of all, Miss Teen Queen Maddy is coming, and she has to get glammed up in a matter of weeks. Welcome to Electra's VERY shallow world!

I've read the first two books, so I couldn't wait to read the third book. I still don't know which one is best. They all are! I loved it. Electra put herself in a mess (again) with just one email. I loved all the same characters, and learnt more about them. Isn't Maddy just the perfect cousin; I actually thought (like Electra) she was going to be a snooty cow. But I was still busy hating other characters like The Kipper, those QB girls and... The Ginger Gnome! Other characters just suprised me (Freak Boy)... A interesting, fashion-focused, funny and cool story with quirky, funny, chav-like characters! I recommend it to everyone but kippers and ginger gnomes with smelly breath! A must-have for 2009!

Review by Hannah, aged 13

Comments

A few people (including me) are having trouble commenting on this site right now. We're looking into it! In the meantime, you can always email us.

And I'm sorry if I don't reply to all your comments - I really want to but it's not working! Sigh.

LATER NOTE: Comments are working again!

REVIEW: Bloom by Elizabeth Scott

Everything should be great for Lauren - after all, she's going out with Dave, a guy who's perfect in every way. What's more, he's absolutely devoted to her. So why does she feel so strange around Evan, a boy from her complicated past? Slowly Lauren starts to realise that she's been holding back; that when she's with Evan everything feels different and she likes the person she is around him. But how can she give up the loyal and caring Dave, the boy everyone wishes was theirs?

I loved the central premise of this book - the way that many relationships are not what they seem on the surface, both for Lauren and the supporting characters. It's unusual to read about a boy character who's so consistently respectful and nice to everyone around him, the way that Dave is, but it still came across clearly that he wasn't right for Lauren. Lauren's friendship with Katie was also very interestingly developed. I thoroughly enjoyed the way Lauren gradually began to understand relationships and make new friends. But most of all, I enjoyed the Evan scenes, which were often swoonworthily romantic.

INTERVIEW: Simmone Howell

Luisa interviews Simmone Howell, author of Notes From a Teenage Underground (our review is here) and Everything Beautiful (our review is here).

Do you set out to write about particular issues or do they arise from the characters and situations they create? Or from locations?

The issues come from character. I always like to write about outsider types, and try and get under their skin and find out why they are the way they are, but I would hate to write a straight 'issues' book. I mean, people don't only have ONE issue. (Well, I don't!) Riley in EB thinks she can count her problems back to her mother dying -  but she's proof of how people change because of what they experience ...

Re: the locations. The idea of Riley trying to 'heal' Dylan wasn't in my original story plan, it came about when I changed the location from the beach to The Little Desert. I found the Colin Thiele book in an op shop (called The Little Desert) and it had that line about the desert once being under the sea. For some reason, I really liked that, and it was enough for me to change the location of Spirit Ranch. I have only been to the Little Desert once, it was forty degrees every day and the only water around was bore water. But I got to see the pink salt lake, and quite possibly the finest sunset of my life.

I really love your use of film quotes and film references in your books. Again, do these come about organically as you write, or do you know in advance that you want to use a certain quote or reference?

A bit of both. Often it's just to do with what I'm reading/watching/listening to, as I'm writing. Or when I start a project I usually have a song lyric (or quote) floating around that sets the tone. For EB I had a line from Neil Young's Comes a Time (You and I, we were captured, we took our souls and we flew away ...) I wanted to put that in a campfire scene but sometimes putting quotes in is more trouble than it's worth. NFTU had way more movie references in the first draft, but they had to be pared back because, basically I just got too excited and was putting in really weird movies that Gem could in no way access, realistically. The book that I'm writing at the moment is set around an old song that I can't get out of my head...

Is there a character from Notes From a Teenage Underground or Everything Beautiful that you identify with more than others?

Hmm. I think I was a bit like Riley when I was younger - I could be kind of forceful and I liked to think I could stage an uprising or two back in high school. But the revolution only ever happened in my mind!

What are you working on next? And are you still film-making as well as writing?

Another YA novel, a noir set in St Kilda (the Blackpool of Melbourne!). I'm writing a script for Notes from the Teenage Underground VERY slowly.

Thank you very much, Simmone Howell!

Simmone Howell's website
Simmone Howell's blog

NEWS: Lola Love writing competition

Over on Lisa Clark's Pink World right now is a fabulous writing competition featuring Lola Love. Full details are on the site, but here's an extract:

HOW TO ENTER: Write a short story of 1,000-1,500 words, starring Lola Love. It can be about absolutely anything, but if you need inspir-o you can find Lola and her Pink Ladies over at: www.Lolasland.com - I’ve also written a guide to writing fab fiction which is filled with hints and tips, find it on page 46 of Mizz magazine along with a money off voucher for your Lola books in WHSmith - fun times! -- Lisa Clark

Our review of the first Lola Love story is here.