Release Date: 4th June 2015
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
My Rating:
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Shopaholic series comes a terrific blend of comedy, romance, and psychological recovery in a contemporary YA novel sure to inspire and entertain.
An anxiety disorder disrupts fourteen-year-old Audrey’s daily life. She has been making slow but steady progress with Dr. Sarah, but when Audrey meets Linus, her brother’s gaming team mate, she is energized. She connects with him. Audrey can talk through her fears with Linus in a way she’s never been able to do with anyone before. As their friendship deepens and her recovery gains momentum, a sweet romantic connection develops, one that helps not just Audrey but also her entire family.
This was such an interesting read for so many reasons. The simple fact it approached an issue such as social anxiety and mental health in general is great because it is most certainly an issue that there is a need for awareness particularly in the UK I think.
I have always been a fan of Sophie Kinsella so to see she was writing a YA book meant I knew I wanted to read it. When I first read the blurb I was uncertain, it sounded interesting but I've never been a huge fan of YA issue books because they always felt too much like those episodes of tween dramas that were trying to teach you something. I've never been a fan of being preached at. This is written so well though that I really enjoyed it, it wasn’t so much an ‘issues book’ as a well written YA journey about a girl that has depression and social anxiety and her journey to find herself again and to readjust to life with her family.
My first thought, when I began reading, is that the tone of the writing reminded me so much of Louise Rennison and her Georgia Nicholson stories. She writes with the same kind of humour, something I really enjoy in a book. There isn’t the same kind of slang and general craziness of Georgia Nicholson, but there is a similar writing tone and her family is very reminiscent.
The highlight of this book is not any kind of romance or anything like that, a strange concept for me, instead it is Audrey’s family. They are hilarious and a bit crazy, something that everyone’s family is.Her mom is obsessing over her brother’s playing video games, her dad is struggling to work and appease her mother. Frank, her brother, just wants to play Land of Conqueror's and hang out with his friend Linus to try and win a £6 million prize. All of this makes her family dynamic fun and hilarious, they are dysfunctional to the extreme, but that’s what’s makes them likable.
I enjoyed seeing Audrey’s growth as she recovered from ‘the event’ and was beginning her journey of recovery. It was interesting to see how people interacted with her, like Linus was so very understanding and it was sweet. The there was Natalie and her hilarious attitude to Audrey, which was the exact of Linus. And her family, they were just happy to see Audrey coming out of herself again.
I would definitely recommend this book to others, it was a fun and interesting read if you get the chance pick it up. It is about the growth of a person and her journey with accepting her illness and her unwillingness for it to define her as a person.
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