February 2014, Hot Key Books, 288 pages, Paperback, Review copy
Themes: lies, living with a grandmother,
matchmaking, strange food habits, alcoholic mother, trying to stay sane
Content: lots of weirdness, occasional humour
Summary from Hot Key Books
Beatrice has got a deadbeat mum, an addiction to online messaging and an
aversion to the sun. If she could stay inside all summer she most
absolutely would. Except she's being shipped off to stay with her
'Grummer' - a grandmother she barely knows - while her mum has another
go at rehab. If Beatrice is going to have any chance of having some
peace she will need to distract Grummer with a husband. Unfortunately
there aren't many eligible bachelors hanging around this cranky old
dorp.
Her plan is simple: identify the target, establish contact and ensure eternal love. But all does not go to plan for control-freak Beat. Suddenly she finds herself ditching the factor 50 for freckles from swimming in the reservoir; her cucumber and tea-only diet is overtaken by peanut butter sandwiches, and the very important 'rely on no-one' policy has to make room for Toffie; a boy with a bike, a shock of red hair and a love for the natural fauna of South Africa.
Beat always knew that love was found in unexpected places. She just never thought that it might find her.
Her plan is simple: identify the target, establish contact and ensure eternal love. But all does not go to plan for control-freak Beat. Suddenly she finds herself ditching the factor 50 for freckles from swimming in the reservoir; her cucumber and tea-only diet is overtaken by peanut butter sandwiches, and the very important 'rely on no-one' policy has to make room for Toffie; a boy with a bike, a shock of red hair and a love for the natural fauna of South Africa.
Beat always knew that love was found in unexpected places. She just never thought that it might find her.
Nayuleska's thoughts
I really didn't heart Beat at all. It sounded
fun with Beat matchmaking her grandmother. I think it would have been fun if I
could understand what Beat thought and said. It wasn't just the Africaan words
(which I didn't realise were explained at the back of the book) that foiled me,
it was the strange way Beat changed how she pronounced words and her deranged
way of thinking. I think she was anorexic, but I'm not entirely sure as that
part of the plot was hard to grasp. I didn't share her need to puke after eating
peanut butter sandwiches to hide them from her grandmother-her grandmother
doesn't have x-ray vision!
I did enjoy the grandmother/granddaughter
differences especially when it came to dress shopping, and some of Beat's
reflections were funny, when I understood them. I guess this just isn't my kind
of book, and others will love it.
Suggested read
For more another teen girl feeling out of her depth check out Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins (Young Adult, 8/10E)
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