My Scorching Summer Diary by Kelly Ann, by Liz Rettig (Young Adult)

5th April 2012, Corgi
314 pages, Paperback
Review copy
 

Themes: summer work placement, reality at odds with initial impression, life in a hotel, severe misjudgement, lies, deception, insanely unfortunate & hilarious events, big life lessons, true friendship, overindulgence, teen romance, occasional language

Summary from Random House Children's Books 

 Seventeen-year-old Kelly Ann leaves behind her boyfriend, family and friends in Glasgow to live and work in a London hotel for the summer. But losing her luggage and fending off tube gropers on her first day isn't a good start. Almost being arrested for stealing men's underwear on her second isn't any better. However she does manages to make friends, even though, to impress her new pals, she pretends to be older and more sophisticated than she is, with a doctor boyfriend. London life is fun, even though she has to work in a steaming hot kitchen all day. But her made-up life starts to get very complicated, and she has rely on old friends to save the day.

Nayuleska's thoughts

For most of the book I thought Kelly Ann was extremely dizty, like me. As the farce continued, I realised she has a lying problem. I can understand why she did it - that's her biggest character fault, not being herself & thinking too much of how other people view her. She should have partied less & put more effort into her passion for dance. The end proves that although life can take away dreams in one breath, it can grant a different path to dreams in another. I laughed a lot and felt sorry for Kelly Ann in this 8/10 read.

For more info on Kelly Ann head over to Liz's website 

Suggested read

For another teen who loses the plot somewhat, try Rockaholic by C J Skuse