sunsetxcocktail

I've seen bloggers I love give the author of this book rave reviews, as I needed something for the Forgotten Friday square for Spring Book Bingo I had a look through the Great Imaginations blog website and came across this one, and figured, yes, okay, I'd give this one a try. 

I was not all that blown away with this particular book. For the most part, it was pretty much a two star rating. It was just okay. I gave it an extra star because the last chapter made me burst into tears. It seemed to be a whole lot of nothing happening. One thing I do appreciate it, is this is probably one of the most realistic portrait of teenage boys that I have seen in a long time. They're rude, they swear, they fart, they make stupid jokes and tease the girls. 

The heroine of the story, is trying to find her place in a group of very different girls at a boys school. She's also dealing with her mother's sudden depression and lots of different opinions from aunts and various family members on how to handle it. While her dad seems to adopt an "it'll all work out" attitude and seems to refuse to acknowledge that there is a very obvious problem that no one quite knows how to fix. And no one really listens to Francesca because she;s a teenager so what does she know? 

The family scenes were quite emotional, particularly towards the end of the book and quite moving. But the rest of it was Francesca going through every day things at school, trying to fit in with the girls and the boys, and also trying to maintain friendships with the girls from her old school who are very different from the girls in the new school. It did get rather tedious and boring. 

The character developments did improve throughout, particularly Francesca's personal growth, and as I mentioned earlier, the last chapter made me cry. I didn't think it was a brilliant novel. It was okay. I would certainly read something by this author again. 

Square crossed off for Spring Bingo 2015 - Forgotten Fridays Pick.