Charlie is happiest when biking with Max and Toby, or watching films with Allie. But when Charlie reaches year nine (age 13), everything begins to change. As her friends develop new interests, Charlie's dreams become more frequent and vivid, and a family crisis tears her away from her friends.
How will Charlie react when old family secrets are revealed? Will her life change completely when some of her dreams start to come true?
After reading Emin's first book, New Beginnings last year I was a little wary about how I would feel about this book because whilst I love Emin's creativity and how well developed her stories are I wasn't a big fan of the writing style itself.
I think I was right to be wary, this book is mostly better than New Beginnings because the way it's written actually seems more authentically thirteen year old but there were still bits where it seems stinted, like it's an adult thinking these thoughts and not a young teen which was off-putting, on a whole though the writing was much better than New Beginnings.
This book is very short and it took me maybe two hours maximum to read, which was nice because I was absolutely absorbed in the story and I didn't really have time to lose interest or want to put it down so I read it in one sitting, the storyline develops at a steady pace, making this book a gentle read: not 'edge-of-seat' reading but also not 'boring'.
I really liked the characters in this book. Charlie was so authentic in that she's going through things that most thirteen year olds go through: discovering boys, confusing friendships as well as family problems that seriously disrupt her life, I also liked all of Charlie's friends especially Allie who was also very believable as the boy-mad more girly girl out of the pair. There was some cute, completely clean puppy love in there that just made me squee with the cuteness, Max was very sweet and caring, bless him!
Overall, I really enjoyed this book much more than the authors first offering, I especially liked how relatable the characters were tough at times the writing did slip a little bit.
Overall Rating: B
Book released 28th May 2012
Book received from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Thanks very much for taking the time to read and review my book. I really appreciate your honest thoughts and constructive criticism.
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