Finding Audrey

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You adults. You think teenagers lie. You assume teenagers lie. That’s the starting point. It’s infinitely depressing." Searching for a death certificate in Scotland or Northern Ireland is slightly different. While it is still helpful to have the name and approximate date of death, rather than the location of the death you should try to discover the person’s religious denomination. The GRO for Northern Ireland only has death certificates since 1864; the GRO for Scotland since 1855. Again, it may prove easier to search the local parish records if you have a sense of where the death occurred. In true Kinsella style, it was hilarious! Throughout the whole book I was actually laughing out loud to myself. Way too many times. I loved the family. They were genuine, real, supportive and a mess. Mum and Dad are out for the day with friends at some garden show and they’ve taken Frank with them to “broaden his horizons,” so they have no idea I’m doing this. I couldn’t face the whole big deal of telling them and Mum fussing and all that palaver. So I waited till they left, got my key, got my money and the camera, and just left the house.

Instead we got one dimensional stereotyped characters, a manic pixie dream boy who changes the girl, jokes that missed their mark SO BAD that it would make you look away, prose that was blatantly written "for YA" (which never works), anxiety being "fixed" by bullshit external ways, an "incident" that was never explained (whether this was because Kinsella didn't actually know herself, was unclear), and a story with no core. Interestingly, it isn’t a story about bullying or what caused her to feel this way, but instead it focuses on healing and recovery. If you like Sophie Kinsella's previous work, and if you like YA genre, you will (probably) definitely like this book. Sophie Kinsella used to be such a guilty pleasure author for me. I haven't read one of her books in years but I always enjoyed reading about the hilarious, ridiculous and unfortunate situations her shopaholic protagonist found herself in. Episodes. Like depression is a sitcom with a fun punch line each time. Or a TV box set loaded with cliffhangers. The only cliffhanger in my life is "Will I ever get rid of this shit?" and believe me, it gets pretty monotonous.

Adorable alert! And I’m not even talking about the romance because although there may be a little romance, it’s not really romance-romance. It’s still more about friendship. You’ll understand what I mean (although I still would have better appreciated it had the main characters been a bit older) when you read the book. I've gone up a level. That's the only way I can describe it. (...) Yes, I've had one bad episode, but I didn't sink quite as low. Things weren't quite as dark."

If you didn't know, Kinsella is the one who got me into reading in the first place. With her Shopaholic series she showed me reading can be fun and now, years after reading her first book, I still enjoy spending my free time with a good book in my hands (or on my Kindle).

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Now what I thought this was going to be was a marriage between the two, because the subjects were so involved and set up in the beginning of the novel. I thought Audrey was going to be inevitably dragged into this gaming scenario, which would've been very easy for Kinsella to do. I mean it worked with her anxiety. She wouldn't be getting out of the house and she wouldn't have to take her glasses off. She wouldn't even have to do anything besides play. So I think a storyline where frank needed another gaming teammate would've been easy to integrate. Information on accessing divorce records and links to State/Territory archive collections and research guides A very enjoyable, uplifting read, with the perfect combination of friendship, anguish, romance and humour; in addition to the determined attitude Audrey takes when facing her illness. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a book that will make you laugh (and possibly cry), and leaves you triumphant at its finish. Our Daily Read Blog (US) More than anything, it’s the perfect picture of a regular mess of a family (complete with a 14 year old queen of overreaction who always wears a pair of dark glasses, a computer game 15 year old addict but a real genius called Frank, the cutest, fluffy four year old boy Felix, a loud, overly involved, hyper mom and a handsome but comic dad who always agrees with the hyper mom) that I loved the most about the novel. Stereotypes much? Maybe, but they don’t make the story less true!

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book! At first I was so excited for it because it sounded perfect for me because when I was Audrey's age, I had actually gone through something freakishly similar to her in this book! But then again, I had issues with it that I was hoping wouldn't arise but unfortunately I couldn't ignore.While Audrey was the MC, the book focused not just on her, but on her family and their ups and downs together as well. She has 2 brothers, an older one named Frank and a 4 year old named Felix. I both adored and was very annoyed by Audrey's parents. They made for some hilarious conversation. Hits just the right note, finding comedy, without making light of the issues its characters are facing. Newcastle Herald (Australia)

A terrific blend of comedy, romance, and psychological recovery in a contemporary YA novel sure to inspire and entertain Children's Books Council (US)Audrey's family is another thing I loved. Her anti-video game mom, her lovably naive little brother, her clueless father, and her video game obsessed brother were absolutely wonderful. Not only in their endless support of Audrey, but in their dynamic. They seemed like a real family. Hell, they kind of seemed like my family, and in more ways than one. Author Luke Palmer introduces his new book, Play (Firefly Press) about four boys growing up together, the challenges, the friendships, and what hap... Dad: When he was EIGHT. Anne, do you know what teenage parties are like? What if they knife each other and have sex on the trampoline? Night Mayor Franklefink has vanished from the Transylvanian Express - and it's up to you to solve the case! Part of the Solve Your Own Mystery seri... I’ve come to think of my lizard brain as basically a version of Felix. It’s totally random and makes no sense and you can’t let it run your life. If we let Felix run our lives, we’d all wear superhero costumes all day long and eat nothing but ice-cream. But if you try to fight Felix, all you get is wails and screams and tantrums, and it all gets more and more stressy. So the thing is to listen to him with half an ear and nod your head and then ignore him and do what you want to do. Same with the lizard brain.”