Chicklish loves:
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (reviewed by Alexandra)
Split by a Kiss by Luisa Plaja (reviewed by Alexandra)
Generation Dead by Daniel Waters (reviewed by Luisa)
The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen (reviewed by Karen)
On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta (reviewed by Jocelyn)
For full list of book reviews:
Hayley is overweight and lives in Southern California - a combination which doesn't make for a happy life. She's fed up with being told she has a 'pretty face', which translates as 'shame about your body'. Her mother, a born-again tofu-lover, puts constant pressure on Hayley to count calories and weigh herself, and only succeeds in making Hayley more miserable. Then her mother has a brilliant idea - she'll send Hayley to Italy to stay with an old friend. In Italy, Hayley's relationships with people, food and life are gradually transformed.
This book was easy to get into, and I empathised instantly with Hayley's misery. I loved her humour and found myself wanting to shout at her when she deliberately tried to tone it down. The descriptions of Los Angeles and central Italian towns were brilliantly observed, bringing out the contrast entertainingly. There were also some great characters - I especially liked best friend Jackie in California and Gianna in Italy. I think I liked the romance slightly less than I hoped, and it seemed to happen very late in the story. Also, I don't want to turn into one of those kinds of readers, I really don't. But, as an Italian-speaker, I found the Italian spoken by the natives was occasionally making my brow furrow. Most importantly, "bella faccia" instead of "bel viso" for "pretty face" sounded, well, a bit brash to me, especially when it was meant to sound romantic, which was possibly why I found myself distrusting the hero... but overall, it doesn't matter at all, of course.
Despite these niggles, I thoroughly enjoyed this sweet, light and funny story and its great heroine.
Alexandra and Luisa talk about Rain by Kate le Vann
When Rain goes to her grandmother's in London for the summer, she meets Harry and she finds an old diary from when her mother was her age - sixteen - the age her mother got pregnant. Together with Harry, Rain discovers her mother's old haunts. She explores a mystery that emerges from the diary pages, while her feelings for Harry grow...
A: Did I hear you read this as well? What did
you think?
L: I loved it! I thought
the characters were great and I really sympathised with Rain. I enjoyed the London
setting, too, and I could just picture Rain, Harry and Maddy hanging around in
West London.
A: The plot was really clever, I thought, mysterious
too.
L: Yes, I agree. I liked
the twists, and the way it delivered everything I expected and more.
A: Rain’s gran is great, and Harry, and I really loved
her Dad but I wanted Rain to stop crying every two chapters. Whether it
was in front of Harry, on her own, in front of strangers she just cried all the
time.
L: Oddly, I didn’t notice that,
but now you mention it, I remember! It was definitely a slightly downbeat book.
Rain was always pensive and a bit sad. She wasn’t a typical heroine, either –
she seemed so sensible and careful about everything. In some ways, she’d grown
up fast because of her mother’s death, and in other ways, she seemed immature
for her age (but not unbelievably so).
I agree about Rain’s gran; she’s
possibly one of the coolest grannies I’ve read about in a long time!
So... did you cry? I very rarely cry when I read, but I did find this
book moving, more than a lot of more obvious tearjerkers.
A: No, I didn’t, some of the shifts in the narrative pulled me out of the story I think as I didn’t attach enough to Rain.
L: What’s your verdict overall?
I’d say it was a touching and sweet coming-of-age story, and I’d definitely
recommend it. I'm giving it a 4.
A: 4 from me, too. Solid read. Have to say I definitely appreciate the way Kate le Vann explores emotional territory. I hope to read many more books by her.
Also read a review of Tessa in Love by Kate le Vann, and watch out for Alexandra's fabulous interview with Kate le Vann, coming soon!
Something strange is happening all over the United States: teenagers who die aren't staying dead. Attitutudes vary to these zombies - or rather, living impaired people, to use the politically correct term introduced at the start of this book, which later becomes differently biotic. But one school gains a reputation for treating them with respect. The undead start to arrive from across the country to attend Oakvale High. Also at this school is goth girl Phoebe and her sporty friend Adam, who's secretly in love with her. But Phoebe finds herself drawn to Tommy Williams, a differently biotic boy who's trying out for the football team. Adam's ex-friend, the aggressive Pete Martinsburg, is disgusted by the thought of zombies on the team, and even more so when he realises that Adam doesn't share his feelings. Then there's the high-functioning, short-skirted zombie called Karen, and the mystery of Phoebe's dead friend Colette. Tension at Oakvale High quickly grows to bursting point.
For some reason, I wasn't expecting to enjoy this book, but within the first couple of pages I was hooked by the witty writing and the interesting characters introduced. The book explores themes of prejudice and discrimination and there are a couple of moments where adult characters come in and make long, fascinating speeches about these issues, only to disappear again. These were slightly heavy-handed, but I found that they somehow really worked to underline the characters' reactions.
On the whole, though, this isn't a serious book, and I mean that in an entirely positive way! It's a page-turner of a story, filled with tension, violence and romance. I was rooting for Adam and Phoebe all the way through, and I was as fascinated by Karen and Tommy as everyone in the book seemed to be. I loved the Colette subplot, which I get the feeling is not entirely resolved, along with some other threads. Although it's very different, the book somehow reminded me of early Stephen King, and I wasn't surprised to read on the author's blog that King was one of his influences.
Highly recommended. I'm absolutely dying (ahem, sorry) to read the sequel, Kiss of Life.
Generation Dead is published in the UK on 7th July 2008.
Chicklish interviews Shanta Everington, author of Give Me a Sign.
What inspired you to write Give Me a Sign?
I wanted to write a love story/coming of age book and I was playing around with ideas for possible storylines. Liz just came to me the way characters sometimes do. She popped up when I was in the bath or cooking my dinner and started talking to me. I started to get to know her in my head. I knew that her dad died, I knew that she was bullied, I knew she had a difficult relationship with her mum. But I didn't know who she was going to fall in love with or how it was going to work out!
Then I got a new job and to cut a long story short, my employer swapped roles about before I started and I was chucked in the deep end and asked to facilitate a project working with a deaf production company to produce a deaf-led DVD in BSL! I had absolutely zero experience of the deaf world and I was bricking it! It was a very intensive time, meeting deaf people, learning how to work with interpreters, enrolling in sign language classes, beginning to understand about the Deaf Community and Deaf politics.
Then Doug came to me. I didn't think, 'I know, I'll have a deaf character', he just started chatting to me (in BSL of course!) So the decision was made. I don't tend to map out the plot too much to start with, I just go with the flow and let the characters do the work.
As mentioned in the review, I related to Liz's adventures in learning British Sign Language. Do you have qualifications in this yourself, and was your experience of learning similar to Liz's?
Why, yes I am the proud owner of a BSL level 1 certificate! I would love to be able to say that I took it further than that, but as you and anybody else who's learned sign will know, it's extremely difficult! A lot of Liz's experiences interacting with deaf people are based loosely on my own experiences of trying to get to grips with this whole other world. All her gaffes and goofs, yep, I've been there, worn the T-shirt! I don't think I've ever humiliated myself quite as much in such a short space of time!
Can you tell us something about the blog you have started for Liz?
I started the blog at the beginning of national Deaf Awareness Week in May as a vehicle for getting young people thinking about how deaf and hearing people comminucate and also to get people hooked into the story so they'd want to buy the book!
Liz's posts take place during the story so it's a taster of what the book covers written in a similar voice. It's aimed at young people deaf or hearing but has also attracted some interest from parents and educators.
It can be difficult to return to Liz in this format as the nature of blog communication means I have to use very bald language so it's hard to get her voice the same as in the book. Yes, the book is written in a sparing style but this takes it to a whole new level of sparingness!
What do you particularly enjoy about writing for young adults? Will you be writing more books for this age group?
For starters, I love reading YA books and I think it's always good practice to write the kind of stuff you love to read. I love the complexity of young adults. I love that it's okay to obssess about boys and pink glitter nail varnish - it doesn't mean you're shallow and you can still care passionately about what happens in the world. I enjoy the apparent paradox in that - I like being frivolous and serious all at the same time. I love that writing for YAs means revisiting my own experiences - like what was it like to fall in love for the very first time.
I'm currently putting the finishing touches to my second teen novel, whih is narrated by a boy. I can't say too much at this stage but WATCH THIS SPACE!
Thank you very much, Shanta Everington!
Read our review of Give Me a Sign.
Read Shanta Everington's website, blog and Liz's fictional blog.
Liz's mother keeps telling her, "Life's not fair... you deal with it, like an adult." Liz's life certainly doesn't feel fair, but she's not quite an adult. She's 16 and she's struggling to deal with it. She left school to escape the bullies, and now she's being bullied at college. She hates herself for being tall and having big feet. She misses her father, but her mother has a new partner and doesn't talk about him. Liz has one friend at college, but she can't really talk to her, either.
Then she meets Doug, who has recently started college after leaving a deaf boarding school. Doug is gorgeous and strong-willed. Best of all, he's genuinely interested in Liz and he asks her out. Liz throws herself into being his girlfriend, taking lessons in British Sign Lanugage so that she can feel closer to him, and trying to impress his family. But the couple start to meet prejuidice from all sides. Can their relationship survive?
I found it very hard to put this book down once I'd started reading; I immediately cared about Liz and I felt involved in her life and problems. The book touches on many issues, including coping with bereavement, bullying, love and prejudice, but these topics never swamp the story, and Liz's feelings and gradual increase in confidence and maturity are always at the forefront. Liz's adventures in BSL were fantastically described (and really struck a chord with me - I am so proud of the BSL qualification I passed that I can't resist mentioning it here, but I felt just like Liz when I was learning!) I'd also like to mention the lovely icons at the start of each chapter, which worked excellently as enticing signs of what was to follow.
Although I loved the sparing way this book was written, I did find myself wishing it had been longer and more detailed! I would have liked to hear more about Doug, and about Liz and Doug's close yet challenging relationship, and more about best friend Meiying and her own complicated home life. I even wanted to read more about the terrible bullying twins, who seemed to have interesting powerplay going on between each other. But I thoroughly enjoyed what is there, which is a consistently well-written and engaging story of first love and finding your place in the world.
Highly recommended.
Shanta Everington has a website, and you can also read Liz's fictional blog.
I read this book immediately before Jean Ure's Just 16, which could have been confusing as both main characters are called Sam and both stories are about love, family relationships and a boy's view of teenage pregnancy. This one also features skating (not the icy kind - see It's a 50/50 Thing by Chris Higgins for a less scathing explanation of the terminology than Sam's), a Tony Hawk poster which issues meaningful words from his autobiography at appropriate times, and... time travel.
Somehow it all works, and it combines to make this book memorable in a completely different way from Just 16. Nick Hornby's Sam is a lot less mature than Jean Ure's and Alicia is a much less sympathetic character than Priya. Sam's situation is examined in a lot more detail as the book springs backwards and forwards to show how life can play out and entertainingly answer lots of 'what if' questions. My favourite character in this book was Sam's mother, who was consistently very funny, down-to-earth and warm.
I loved this book, too! If you only read two books this year about a boy called Sam with a pregnant girlfriend, make it these two...
While Sam Virgo's friends are busy boasting about their conquests, Sam falls in love with Priya, and it's the real thing. Everything seems perfect, but their happiness is threatened when Priya finds out she's pregnant. Can their love survive?
This book was originally published nearly ten years ago, but it's been reissued with a gorgeous new cover and it feels as fresh and current now as I'm sure it did at the time of its original release. For anyone who doesn't know this already, Jean Ure is a brilliant author who captures her characters perfectly and tells the kind of stories that stay with you long after you finish the book. Just 16 is a relatively simple story, but it's beautifully and humorously told, and it looks at family relationships as well as romantic love and friendship. I loved it.
Electra Brown has an exotic Greek first name but a very ordinary English life, until her dad leaves her mum and throws the family into confusion. Things aren't what they used to be, and even Google the vicious guinea pig is feeling the strain. Electra decides to use extreme measures to find out whether her dad is seeing another woman, as some of her friends insist he must be. This involves some intrigue and a few unusual encounters with Freak Boy. But even while all this drama is going on, she can't help thinking about shallow things like eyeliner and the worry that she might develop Mighty Mammaries like her mother's.
What I love about this book is Electra's attitude to the turmoil in her life - the way she takes everything in her stride and uses aubergines to judge people. (That last bit will make sense when you read the book, honestly!) I got a bit stuck at the beginning when I heartily disagreed with Electra about the names in her friend Sorrel's family - I thought Senna had a much nicer name than her brothers. But it also proves how involved in Electra's life I felt, right from the start!
A light-hearted and amusing introduction to another fun heroine in young teen chick lit.
On the official release day of her latest novel - hurray! - Chicklish is proud to present an interview with Liz Rettig, author of My Desperate Love Diary, My Now or Never Diary and... *drumroll* Jumping to Confusions, a brilliant, funny story about romantic misunderstandings.
Hi Liz! Can you tell us whether Kelly Ann was inspired by a real teenager?
Not really, she just popped into my head one day at a creative writing class when we were asked to do a short story, a play and monologue all about the same character. Having said that, Kelly Ann’s tendency to fall for the most inappropriate males possible, and a lot of the daft things she did, do remind me of a teenager I used to know very, very well a long time ago. But I was much more sorted and sensible than Kelly Ann of course. Honestly.
Will there be more Kelly Ann diaries?
I’ve just finished writing a Kelly Ann prequel. Prequels are very tricky to do because you’re constrained by events in the future you’ve already written about so sometimes trying to get the plot to work for this book felt like attempting to limbo dance while wearing a straight jacket and Spanx pants (magic knickers tum, bum and thigh corsets – ouch!) However I’m really pleased with the result as I think Kelly Ann may be even funnier when a year younger. This will be published next year but we’ve not decided on a title yet. I’ll post it on my website as soon as I know.
Jumping to Confusions has some brilliant embarrassing moments, and so do the diaries. Is there an embarrassing moment of your own that you'd like to share with us?
One embarrassing moment? Oh God there are so many I could write a book about them. In fact, I did (but disguised my blushes using fictional characters). So fess up time? Yes, I was the teenager who smelled like a fish and chip shop after using vinegar as a hair rinse and, OK, I also used to practise kissing myself in the mirror. But I’m not admitting to caressing myself with my own hand (numbed by sitting on it for a while) and pretending it was a boy I fancied. No way.
What do you like about being a writer?
It’s only a few years since Random House published my debut book My Desperate Love Diary so I’m still totally chuffed about the whole thing. Like, for example, when I meet people for the first time and they ask me what I do, I can reply, ever so casually: ‘Oh I’m an author actually.’ However my husband has recently told me that I have to stop embarrassing him by accosting total strangers and saying, ‘Ask me what I do…go on ask me!’
I also really enjoy seeing my novels in the book stores and waylaying sales assistants to confide, “Excuse me but actually I’m the author of those books. Would you like me to sign them?’ Having said that, I am of course much more laid back and sophisticated about things now and the rumour that unsigned copies of my books have been hawked on ebay at inflated prices because of their rarity is just so untrue.
Another great thing about being a published writer is the awed respect with which my family and friends now regard me. Hmm… well, maybe not.
Still, there are just so many great things about being an author; the only downside really is that every now and then you do actually have to write a good book which is jolly hard work.
Can you recommend a good read (or two) to readers of Chicklish?
Oh gosh there are just so many great authors and wonderful books out there it’s hard to know where to start. However, if pushed, I’d say two of my favourites are Pride and Prejudice by original chick lit author Jane Austen and The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole 13 ¾ by Sue Townsend. These are also the books which inspired me most in my writing. If there is anyone out there who hasn’t already read these classics then you definitely have a treat in store. Enjoy.
Thank you very much, Liz Rettig!
Read our reviews of Jumping to Confusions and My Now or Never Diary.
Cat feels she can never match up to her perfect twin sister Tessa. When the attractive Josh arrives from the USA, Cat knows he's sure to be interested in Tessa and not in her. But, amazingly, Josh doesn't want to go out with Tessa, and Tessa realises he's not into girls at all. Even though Cat thinks Josh is gorgeous, she's not too worried, as she has a crush on someone else anyway. Cat and Josh become good friends, and she even considers a little matchmaking...
This is a book full of misunderstandings, and sometimes I wanted to shout pantomime-like things at the characters - "Oh no, she/he isn't!" and also the occasional "Boo! Hiss!" It's all great fun, and even if you sometimes find yourself less confused than Cat, it doesn't spoil the enjoyment at all... and anyway, you might find you've been jumping to conclusions as well! The novel is light, sweet and fast-paced, and the characters and situations are very entertaining. I loved Cat's tall friend Lindsay (five foot ten and three-quarters) and her struggle to find a boy who's taller than her, no matter what other qualities he has (or doesn't have). I enjoyed reading about Josh adjusting to school uniform and teachers in England. Cat's a great character and you'll find yourself rooting for her all the way!
A warmly funny novel with great characters. Highly recommended for summer reading.
When reviewer Jocelyn wrote about On the Jellicoe Road recently, a reader left a comment asking lots of interesting questions. I put some of these questions to the author, Melina Marchetta, who also wrote the award-winning Looking For Alibrandi, Saving Francesca and other brilliant novels.
Here are Melina Marchetta's replies:
On awards...
The thing with winning awards is the excitement of knowing your novel is out there and being spoken about. I think every writer wants to be read above everything else. I try not to pin my hopes on awards, though. Firstly, it’s very subjective and you have to remind yourself that yours is not necessarily the best book of the bunch. It just may be the book people are talking about. When I look back on it, some of my best writing has not been rewarded, while another book that I may see as flawed, has been.
On inspiration...
I think the subject material of my first two novels was very much inspired by family and my world. I always say that when I wrote Looking For Alibrandi I knew three worlds entwined: my Italian extended family, the catholic school upbringing and the city of Sydney. So that became the world of Josie. When I wrote Francesca, I was working in an all boys’ school, so that became the focus of that story and so on. With On the Jellicoe Road I had to step out of my comfort zone and go on a road trip to Taylor country. I had to work harder for that one and I think I love it for that reason.
On characterisation...
I don’t necessarily base characters, especially main ones, on one person I know. There are a bunch of boys I taught whose conversations I lifted for a scene out of Saving Francesca. They were football fans and would ask me constantly what my team was and quiz me on cultural things. Sometimes a character is made up of three or four people I know. A part of me always makes up a character, but only a small part.
Thank you very much, Melina Marchetta! You can find Melina Marchetta's website here.
This is the sequel to My Life Starring Mum, and is a story about Hollywood Bliss Winterman, daughter of pop idol Kandhi and has-been musician Pete Winterman. Holly's megastar mother decides to move to New York and Holly is forced to go with her. On the plus side, this means spending more time with her dad. But she also misses her friends, including the older boy she has a crush on, and pretty soon her mother's getting involved in an on-off fake relationship (or is it?) with another film star. This means that Holly has to spend far too much time with Shug, her annoying possible stepbrother-to-be. Meanwhile there are fun times ahead with Holly's first TV appearance, the huge dog she buys to shake her dad out of the doldrums, messages from her friends and much, much more.
This book is pleasantly entertaining from start to finish. Holly is used to the glamour of her unusual life - travelling first class, being recognised, mixing with film stars - but she's still pretty down to earth, and very funny. The other characters are equally quirky and lovable, and the building romance is great. Recommended as a light, breezy and fun read.
Chloe Rayban's latest book, Mwah Mwah, is out now.
This is a book of suggestions for fun activities, including "adrenalin-pumping action, karaoke tips for the hopeless, silly but hilariously funny pranks, good deeds to help yourself and others". Some are a bit naughty ("liven up your school play with a prank or some serious upstaging"), some are silly ("make and deploy the perfect custard pie"), some are long-term ("get a pet and look after it"), some are sporty ("play octopush"), some cost nothing ("learn mild insults in a foreign language"), some are very expensive ("visit the world's microstates" - even though it's been given a medium rating for expense).
The emphasis is always on fun activity and the book is an entertaining read in itself, full of cartoons, jokes, funny facts and web links. There are ratings for cost, courage, effort and feelgood factor as well as alternatives for those who want easier or cheaper options, and the book is designed as one big game as a whole, with readers encouraged to build up a "TK rating" by completing tasks.
A fun activity book for younger teenagers.
This is the second adventure of Maddy Blue, magazine addict, and her friends Scott and Starr. In this 'issue', she buys a magazine called Lost Soul and begins to "explore the world of dreams, destiny and darkness" by embracing her inner Goth and dabbling in love spells, tarot, dying her hair black, changing her name to Madalena Velvetcrush and trying for a starring role in a Gothic Romeo and Juliet directed by Maddy's new crush, Casper LeStrange. Will it end in true love?
This is a light-hearted and quick read with a simple storyline. There are plenty of amusing incidents, and I didn't once tire of Maddy's Goth jokes (not even the way she kept exclaiming, "Omigoth!") as she gets increasingly involved in her own idea of the magazine's world. Entertaining and funny and recommended for younger readers.
We've interviewed fabulous author E. Lockhart on Chicklish before, about Dramarama and The Boy Book. But, following the recent UK release of Fly on the Wall (reviewed here), we've managed to track her down again and ask her a few Fly on the Wall-type questions...
Hello, E.! Do you have a favorite superhero?
Absolutely Spidey. I used to subscribe to the comic book. He's my favorite because he's so angst-ridden and sarcastic. Batman takes himself way too seriously.
Did you do any research for the boys' locker room, er observations? ;)
I read books about masculinity and sports culture - even though the school in Fly on the Wall isn't actually very sporty. It was interesting reading, and informed the book in terms of bullying, homophobia, etc.
But no - I've never been in the boys locker room. I just have a vivid imagination.
I love your use of language in Fly on the Wall - "gherkin", "biscuits" etc. - and the way all the characters used the same terms. Is this something you developed just for this book?
Thank you - and yes. In each book I try to give the universe of that particular story its own vocabulary - and part of that is the slang the teenagers use. If I attempted to replicate what's "current with today's young people," I would just fail miserably and everything would be out of date before the novel got published anyway. So I make up slang.
Did you read graphic novels and/or comics when you were writing Fly on the Wall? Is there a particular graphic novel you'd recommend?
I read a ton of old Spider-man comics. I bought them on eBay. I'm not much of a graphic novel reader, I have to admit. I know there are amazing things out there, but I am no expert. I did read The Plain Janes by Cecil Castelluci (out in the US from DC Comics imprint Minx) [and reviewed by Chicklish here] - and I really liked it. Four girls band together and make strange public art that revolutionizes their town.
Thanks very much, E. Lockhart!
I've reviewed Asboville by Danny Rhodes for Vulpes Libris.
"After sixteen-year-old Londoner JB is served with an Anti Social
Behaviour Order, he's sent away to live with his uncle. Under the
conditions of the ASBO, he must spend the summer painting beach huts,
one per day, and be back at his uncle's caravan by seven every evening.
He settles reluctantly into a task which allows him a lot of thinking
time, and also enables him to observe and eventually meet the local
teenagers, including a gang like the one he was in back home, and Sal,
a girl with problems of her own...
Asboville effectively combines realistic characters and scenarios with social commentary, mystery and a touching love story. I found it a thought-provoking and original read."
I can't believe we haven't reviewed this book here before. The US version was one of my favourite reads of last year, and possibly of this year too. (I've read it more than once!) And I happen to know that other members of the Chicklish team also loved it. (See the comments on Diane's review on Trashionista.)
It's out on 1st May 2008 - TODAY! - in the UK, with a brand new cover design.
Fly on the Wall is the story of Gretchen Yee, a girl who feels ordinary in a performing arts school where everyone is talented and 'different'. She loves art but it seems to be the wrong sort of art for her school - she draws perfect cartoons of Spiderman, and she dreams of being an action hero instead of a spineless girl who is confused by her parents' imminent divorce, whose best friend seems to be busy all the time and who is too afraid to act on her crush. One day she wishes she could be a fly on the wall of the boys' locker room so that she could learn more about guys. And the next day... she is. She wakes up in the body of a fly, and now she can find out all kinds of things about boys, and also a few things about herself, and life in general.
I don't know where to begin praising this book! I loved it! The story is fairly simple - an ordinary girl goes through an extraordinary experience which helps her sort out some aspects of her life, and helps her see things differently. But there is a lot more going on. The love interest is gorgeous and fascinating, seen through Gretchen's eyes (even when she's a fly), and there are issues in his life which Gretchen sees played out before her. The nitty-gritty details of the locker room are also pretty, um, interesting too. I also loved the language used - from 'gherkins' to 'biscuits' to 'milkshake'. And there were frequent references to Kafka and superheroes thrown into the mix.
The novel is fantastically inventive and still somehow down-to-earth. Thoroughly recommended. Read it!
Candy Careless is the daughter of a has-been punk musician and is a star of reality TV, or rather, "genre-defining, reality-based dramedy". She escapes to London, desperately seeking a career in fashion (and a life away from her self-obsessed mother). Granted an internship with the up-and-coming, and frankly weird, designer Alfie Tanner, she tries to make her mark but just succeeds in alienating everyone, including Alfie and all three of her flatmates. Like she cares...
This is the fourth (and last) in the Fashionistas series, and I thought it contained the most interesting and most lovingly described would-be career. Removed from the bright lights of modelling and celebrity, Candy's hard work in fashion design and production is fascinating to read about (and there's a glossary at the back with terms like 'rickrack', 'pinking shears' and 'Pantone', for those who want to know more). Her life in general is car crash reading, though, and I found myself cringeing a lot on Candy's behalf. She's as bolshy as Irina but without the ice queen veneer; her heart is on her sleeve throughout and it was easy to care about her even when she was in the middle of a massive tantrum. Alfie is a wonderfully eccentric character and I loved the way his relationship with Candy developed, even though readers might be several steps ahead of Candy when it comes to understanding Alfie's motives.
The other three Bayham Street flatmates featured at intervals, and it was great to read about how they were all getting on. Everyone was brought together fabulously and fittingly at the end. Hadley is still my favourite character overall, and if it wasn't a total reviewing sin to quote from the last part of a book, I'd paste in one of the best Hadley quotes ever... Never mind, you'll have to read it!
This is another witty and enjoyable read from Sarra Manning. I'm going to miss 37 Bayham Street, but I'm looking forward to whatever the author writes next.
Don't forget there's still a chance to win copies of Candy and Irina - more information here.
Catherine Forde is the author of several novels, including Fat Boy Swim, SKARRS, The Drowning Pond and Sugarcoated. We asked her a few questions...
Hello. Can you tell us something about what inspired you to write Sugarcoated?
The idea for Sugarcoated is stolen from real life. I heard about a similar attack outside the optician’s practice in my local shopping centre, but because I didn’t actually see it for myself, I started to imagine the people involved and their reasons for using violence.
Our reviewer described Sugarcoated as "fiction with steel toe caps and chocolate". Would you say that you're attracted to writing about the darker side of life?
I love that description of Sugarcoated and I suppose I am attracted to the dark side; fluffy perfect and soppy doesn’t interest me. But fluffy and perfect isn’t realistic either, and I like to try and write about things that might actually happen: life is dark, after all. But funny too. I always like to inject humour into the situations my characters find themselves as that also reflects in real life.
Is there a book you can recommend to readers who have enjoyed Sugarcoated? (It can be another of your own!)
Try Black Rabbit Summer and The Road of the Dead by Kevin Brooks or God’s Own Country by Ross Raisin.
If you want to try another of mine there’s The Drowning Pond and SKARRS.
What kinds of books did you like reading when you were a teenager?
There were no Young Adult books about when I was a teenager in the Dark Ages, so I read historical fiction and crime novels – Agatha Christie, Neville Shute, Georgette Heyer etc.
Have you always been a writer?
I have always loved writing and dabbled a bit with short stories and dire poetry when I was in my twenties. I didn’t start writing the way I do now till I had children. My sons’ lives and their behaviour and their preoccupations inspired me, especially when they became teenagers.
Thank you very much.
For more about Cathy Forde, see the FAQ on her website.
Marsha and her friend Faith are keeping count of the number of boys they have sex with, competing with each other for the highest total. Marsha is comfortable with boys - she knows what they want from her, and how to give it. So when Faith bets Marsha fifty quid that she can't get shy, sweet boy Rich into bed, Marsha doesn't think she'll have any problems winning the bet. But she soon finds that Rich doesn't want a one-night stand, and she has to take her time and go on dates with him. She begins to form a very different sort of relationship from the ones she's used to, one which leads her to challenge her outlook on life and her opinion of herself.
I have to admit that I didn't think the cover and title of this book matched the contents. The zany typeface of "Screwed" suggested a comedy to me, but this is a serious story about promiscuity, one which concentrates on being as down-to-earth and honest as possible. However, I didn't find it gritty or bleak, and there is humour in the banter between Marsha and her friends. Marsha's innocent new friend Beth allows the softer side of Marsha to be shown quite early on in the book, and Marsha's feelings for Rich as their relationship develops are far more romantic and Beth-like than she'd probably ever admit. The focus is always on the girls and their emotions, although the boys are three-dimensional too.
The novel clearly portrays the frequent communication difficulties and misunderstandings between friends, members of the opposite sex, and family, and it focuses on issues such as low self-esteem and peer pressure. Although it does show some negative consequences of casual sex, it doesn't moralise. The fast-paced dialogue, realistic characters and strong plot made it a very enjoyable read; one of those books where you feel completely absorbed in the characters' lives.
With themes that overlap with those of Good Girls by Laura Ruby and A Bad Boy Can Be Good For a Girl by Tanya Lee Stone, and a storyline that occasionally reminded me of Let's Get Lost by Sarra Manning, this is an equally highly recommended read.
Irina is spotted by modelling scouts when she's on a designer clothing shoplifting spree in one of Moscow's best stores. She's not completely sure about being shipped to Britain to become a model, and especially not when she meets the people she's supposed to live with in London. When things don't work out for her with Russian flatmates, she's moved to live with Laura, Hadley and Candy at the 37 Bayham Street home we've come to know and love. (See our review of Laura and Hadley, and Candy will be following soon.)
Irina is determined to get to the top in her career, and won't let anyone get in her way - not supermodel Caroline Knight, not the gorgeous Javier that she's more than slightly involved with, and not her awful flatmate Laura who beats her to the Siren campaign. But her tough, no-nonsense approach and her temper soon earn her a reputation as a diva, and things take a turn for the worse in Irina's life.
Just like the previous books in the series, this is a very well-written and engaging account of one girl's journey. Despite Irina's abrasiveness, it's easy to identify her and root for her through all the ups and downs. I loved the witty descriptions and use of language throughout, for example the influence of rap songs on Irina's English, and lines like: "He loved hearing stories about Irina's life back in Russia, but she couldn't imagine why because they all sounded like an episode of EastEnders scripted by Dostoyevsky." My favourite moments were when her life crossed with the other flatmates' lives - this story moves quite a bit further forward in time than Laura and Hadley, and I'm now absolutely dying to read Candy.
This is a must-read for Sarra Manning fans, who will instantly spot the cameo role by an important character from one of her other books. (Actually, the role is much bigger than a cameo, and it was great to encounter this character again.)
I'd also highly recommend the book to anyone who enjoys reading witty, insightful fiction which looks honestly, though fairly cleanly, at the world of fashion and celebrity, or to anyone who loves a good coming-of-age love story.
Katie Ellison is practically perfect. She's top of the class, a member of the A-list, and her boyfriend is the boy everyone wants to date: Seth Turner. Seth is a Quahog, a player for the winning local team, and a VIP in their small town. But somehow all this (and Seth) isn't enough for her. When Tommy (now Tom) Sullivan comes back to the town that hates him, Katie's in trouble. Just being seen with him is enough to ruin her life and her chances of becoming a Quahog Princess. But it's even worse that she now finds him extremely attractive, and she's becoming increasingly aware of all the lies she's been telling over the past four years, ever since the events that led to "Tommy Sullivan is a Freak" being spray-painted on the outside wall of the school gym.
This book was called Pants on Fire in the USA, and it works pretty well for a UK audience too as Meg Cabot explains the dynamics of Katie's small Connecticut town and the meaning of 'quahog' in some detail. (I kept forgetting that the town in this book was called Eastport and not Quahog, like the town in Family Guy, but I got over it eventually!)
It's a standalone novel that received mixed reviews in the USA, and I have to admit that it took me a while to get into it. But once I did, I found it a charming and funny love story, with many engrossing and very satisfying twists and turns. It's perhaps more of a pure romance novel than some of Meg Cabot's other books, but it's no less entertaining for it. Highly recommended.
Get your entries in and win a copy of this book!
You can read an extract here.
Hurray! Holly and her best friend's brother, Luke, are going out together. The only problem is that Holly can't quite find the right way to tell her mum... so she doesn't. After all, she can just say she's going to Poppy's house when she goes to see Luke, and it's not a lie. But Poppy starts to feel left out and miffed at being used as cover, especially without notice. And suddenly arch-enemy Claudia is back on the scene, being ultra-nice to Poppy... and then to Holly. Somehow, Holly's relationships are in danger of being sabotaged - but who exactly is responsible?
This is the third book in the Holly Stockwell series, after Does Snogging Count As Exercise? (reviewed here) and Does Glitter Count As Camouflage? (reviewed here), and it describes Holly's further adventures in friendship, dating and coming to terms with her place in a sporty family. It's as warmly hilarious as the other two books, with the return of the usual fabulous characters (Sasha in particular was on top comedy form in this book), and slightly more time given to Holly's not-all-she-seems older sister Ivy. This book also plunges Holly into deeper self-questioning than ever before, and there's a definite sense that Holly is maturing as the series progresses. The fantastic French lessons of previous books seem to have been replaced with equally brilliant PE lessons, and I enjoyed them a lot.
Fans of the previous books, or anyone who enjoys a sweet and very funny read featuring loveable characters, will not be disappointed with this tightly-plotted and throroughly entertaining novel.
Serafina67 has a 'happiness deadline' - a date by which she will complete all the things on her list, leading to instant happiness. She shares her progress with her friends on her new blog, but within the first few posts, her relationships start to change dramatically. Meanwhile there's a budding romance and a new friendship or two developing for Sera, not to mention various family troubles such as a dad who's about to marry a Monster and a mum who sends her to see Crazy Pete, Brain Prodder.
Told completely through Serafina67's fantastically funny and often moving (or maybe just a bit emo) blog posts, combined with comments from various interesting characters, Big Woo! is a brilliant and well-balanced exploration of the pros and cons of internet friendship and the type of honesty that it's easier to show online than in person. It's also a great story of one girl's struggle to carve a certain level of happiness out of the craziness going on around her. It's completely hilarious at times - I honestly don't think I've ever laughed so hard while reading as I did at the haiku comments - and it contains some wonderful characters. *loves patchworkboy* And the suspense builds brilliantly as you start to read between the lines of the comments and question what's really going on. *loves this book*
Totally lolarious and very highly recommended (and sorry I've gone a bit Serafina67 in this review but I challenge you to read it and not start thinking/writing like this yourself!)
Check out Susie Day's website for more information and also note that this book will be released under the title Serafina67 *Urgently Requires Life* in the USA in August 2008. The UK release date is 7th April 2008.
Tessa is 16 and has lived with leukaemia for four years, but she has recently found out that it's terminal. She draws up a list of things she wants to cram into the time she has left, and asks her wild friend Zoey to help her. In the weeks that follow, she works through her list, changing her relationships with friends and family and exploring a love she thought she'd never have time to find.
It's easy to get into Tessa's head and empathise with her as she copes with her diagnosis. The writing in this book often borders on poetic, and holds nothing back as it shows the rage and passion that Tessa feels. I found reading this book tough at times - there were moments when I needed a break from its intensity. The exploration of the brother-sister relationship is particularly powerful and well-drawn. The romance is also wonderful, with all the emotions of a new relationship heightened and sped up.
This book leaves you with a lasting message about living life to the full. A beautifully written, moving and worthwhile read.
Read our interview with Jenny Downham below.
Eva lives in LA and is all set to be the star of a hit TV show. This will involve unwelcome kissing scenes with her aunt's boyfriend, but also extremely welcome ones with the hottest Aussie bad-boy heart-throb in town, Teague Archer. Even though Eva hasn't really got over her breakup with Danny, she's very tempted by Teague off-screen, too. Meanwhile, her mother is also complicating life in her usual way, and then there's the long-lost brother and the drama queen roommates to contend with...
This is the third in the 310 series about a girl who moves from the East Coast to track down her superstar mother and ends up being a rising star herself. I hadn't read the other two, Life as a Poser and Everything She Wants, but I found it didn't matter, as I quickly picked up information about the story and characters, and this novel was self-contained and interesting in its own right.
I found this book very entertaining, and Eva was a great character who kept me interested in her life and her exploits. I love the way she stayed in control even when she seriously doubted herself. The other characters are interestingly drawn too, and the only person I had trouble picturing was the ex, Danny, who was a shadowy figure in this book, but presumably featured more in the previous books. This novel was well-written and intriguing enough to make me want to read the series backwards now! Recommended to people who love reading about superstar lifestyles but who still like to keep their feet on the ground!
In this sequel to Six Steps to a Girl, reviewed by us here, Luke and Eve go on holiday together - well, sort of. They'll be working on Eve's dad's resort in Spain, and it sounds idyllic. But it soon becomes obvious that Eve's dad will do everything in his power to keep Luke away from Eve. Luke, who's been struggling with jealousy, finds his summer turning into a nightmare, especially when Eve starts spending a lot of time with the amazing and talented Alejandro...
I loved visiting the world of Luke, Eve, Chloe and Ryan again, and this was a story as gripping as Sophie McKenzie's other novels. It explores the theme of jealousy brilliantly and in depth, and once again it was great to read a boy's point of view of romance. Sophie McKenzie doesn't just write about romantic love,though. The love between often dysfunctional family members was also perfectly captured, and the characters' friendships are well developed. I warmed to Ryan even more than in the previous books, and once again the brother-sister love-hate dynamic between Chloe and Luke was fantastically shown. This was an entertaining and realistic read and I'm really looking forward to reading more about Luke in the future.
Our interview with Sophie McKenzie is here.
When ordinary, average Jane gets a chance to be one of the school elite, known as the Bitches, she can't believe her luck. Even when she hears rumours that there's some kind of dark witchcraft behind their popularity, it doesn't really put her off. And when she's accepted as one of the four - well, she just has to do what's expected of her, even if it means trampling invisibly all over the hopes and dreams of others...
This is the first book I've read by Lauren Myracle that isn't written in the form of instant messages (I'm talking about TTFN, TTYL and L8R G8R, reviewed here). I loved those books, but I loved this one even more. I found the storyline intriguing, with all its hints at past dealings with darkness, and the characters fascinating. Reading it gave me a brilliantly creepy, spine-tingling feeling, as feral cats popped up all over the place and frequent references were made to slimy toads. I thoroughly enjoyed its take on popularity, bullying and peer pressure. I'd recommend this book to anyone who has ever wondered about school (and life) hierarchies.
The book also left me aching to know the full story of Lurl the Pearl. Which is great, because when we interviewed Lauren Myracle, she said, "I'm working on a prequel to Rhymes with Witches, called Meow. It's about popularity and ideals and whether the two can intersect... and it's also about how a creepy character named Lurl the Pearl becomes creepy Lurl the Pearl. Heh heh heh..."
Can't wait.