Blog Tour: Review, Guest Blog Post & Competition Suzy P, Forever Me by Karen Saunders (Children's, 9 years +, 10E/10E)

 January 2015, Templar, 352 pages, Paperback, Review copy

Themes: friendship, school life, bullying (including phone bullying), families, lies,

Content: oodles of humour and oh no moments, tissues needed

Summary from Karen's website (it's not yet up on Templar's)

Suzy P’s made a promise she can’t keep. Kind of a big promise. To her entire school!

Why, oh why, did she say The Drifting would be performing at the Collinsbrook fundraiser? As if trying to sort out that mess wasn’t enough, she also needs to make sure Dad’s birthday bash isn’t a total disaster – especially as he’s already showing signs of a mid-life crisis…

Suzy has her best mates helping out, but will she be able to pull off TWO parties of a lifetime?

Nayu's thoughts

With only a dim recollection due to a poor memory that I loved the other 2 books in Karen's Suzy P series, I jumped at the chance to be part of the blog tour for this 3rd book. Once I began reading I started grinning at the book because I then remembered just how much I love Suzy's crazy life. Suzy doesn't always make the best choices - certain huge lies did just fall out of her mouth - but she means well and has a good heart. She wasn't so wise to keep the bullying to herself, not really, but I promise it gets sorted eventually. I feel for Suzy when life continually gets worse, just when both she and I don't think it can. That's why her story is charming, she ends up with a load of unbelievable stuff going on, which you can guarantee eventually irons out. Well, that incident with the school fire alarm can't exactly be put right but distance will make that a thing of the past. Which Suzy probably will remember forever...

Suzy's books aren't just about herself. Not that any book is just about the main character, but I happen to be fond of a lot of Suzy's friends and family. Millie, Suzy's best friend, is a sugar addict. Watching her go through a detox just to get an ipad was a bit insane (not least because I intensely dislike anything Apple related). I felt both sorry for Mille, and in awe of her bravery to follow her mother's wishes. I was surprised at the alternative she took to jelly babies, simply because I thought sugar substitutes were still sort of like sugar. The effect of the detox is hilarious, and a total joy to read.

Next up on my favourite characters is Harry, Suzy's sister (not a brother). Harry is quite a prankster, whose antics make me cringe on the behalf of whoever is on the receiving end and smile at Harry's genius. Be warned: if you let a sibling read this book (which they so should) you could well end up having a lot of mishaps on film, should they go and copy what Harry does.

Last but not least because they are 3 characters, is Suzy's older sister Amber and her twin girls, Chichi & Uni. Those aren't their full names either. At first I was amused, but by the end they seemed entirely normal. The poo on the carpet incident cracked me up because I hear of babies who managed to get themselves & everything around them covered in poo from time to time. I better state now I don't have any children and don't have younger siblings so I haven't personally experienced this level of torture. I like the girls as smurfs! Amber, I really love Amber. She is what you could call an air-head, but the lovable kind. She lives in her own little world (like me), she mostly sees the good in situations (like me), often misses the point even when it is spelled out (sort of like me), and every now and then surprises her family by saying/doing something rather sweet, especially at the end (I like to think I do this). I don't share her numerous terms of endearment for those she loves, but it's cute to read.

Find out more on Karen's website where you can read chapter 1 for free!

Suggested read

This is a no-brainer but you must read book 1, Me, Suzy P (Children's, 9 years +, 8/10E - I suspect on rereading this the grade will change)

and book 2, Suzy P and the Trouble with Three (Children's, 9 years +, 10E/10E)

 

 Guest Blog Post: Which Suzy P Character Are you?

Nayu here! It's with great pleasure to present the following fun quiz created by Karen - I ended up as Suzy, which was a little disappointing as I am more in my own world like Amber and a bit crazy hyper like Millie, but still a good result as Suzy's cool too. Time to pass you over to Karen!

Picture by Neil Griffiths

*sounds the exciting news klaxon* There’s a new Suzy P book available RIGHT NOW! The third in the Suzy series, Suzy P, Forever Me, has just been released. This time, Suzy’s opened her big mouth and promised everyone in her school that super-famous band The Drifting will come and play at the Collinsbrooke fundraiser. Uh oh. And if that wasn’t enough to contend with she’s stuck helping plan her Dad’s surprise birthday party too. Just to make matters even worse, both parties are happening on the same day…

The Suzy books are stories about mates, boyfriends, family and finding yourself in ridiculous situations, and to celebrate the release of this latest title, we’ve got this fun quiz for you so you can find out which Suzy character you’re most like!

1. What do you like to do for fun?

A Hang out with your mates

B Leap around on your bed singing along to your favourite music

C Read gossip magazines

D Secretly film your family

2. What do you think about your siblings?

A Ideally, they’d disappear

B They’re total argumentative drama queens
C I love them, they’re my favourite people
D They’re there to be tortured as much as possible

3. Which most describes your style?

A Anything that blends in with the crowd and isn’t a dress
B Bright colours and individual
C Designer wear if possible, modelled on celebs
D Jeans and t-shirts, absolutely nothing girly

4. What’s your favourite food or drink?

A Hot chocolate with marshmallows
B Jelly babies
C Whatever my favourite celebrity is eating
D Anything and everything

5. What do you think about your boyfriend?

A He’s fab, although more affection in public would be nice
B He’s amazing, although he eats ALL THE TIME. And never stops playing football
C I love my little snoochy-poochy snuggly-wuggly pup to pieces!
D Boyfriend? Yuck, I don’t have one. Boys are gross!

6. What’s your favourite animal?

A Anything you don’t have to exercise
B Irish Wolfhound

C Chihuahua or unicorn
D Rat

Now tot up your answers…

Mostly A’s

You’re SUZY!

The heroine of the stories, you always seem to find yourself in daft situations and your mouth often goes off before your brain can engage. Luckily you’ve got a great group of mates around you to help you out when you get yourself in these pickles!

Mostly B’s

You’re MILLIE!

Suzy’s best friend. You’re a great mate, and very loyal, as well as being high energy and super enthusiastic about everything. Plus you’ve always got sweets to hand.

Mostly C’s

You’re AMBER!

Suzy’s ditzy older sister. You’re obsessed with celebrity culture and live in your own delightful fairy tale world. You’ve got a heart of gold, though.

Mostly D’s

You’re HARRY!

Suzy’s younger sister, who’s dedicated her life to annoying her older sisters. You love magic, movies and aren’t really interested in boys yet. Tormenting your siblings is much more fun!

 

Book 1, 2, and 3

Suzy P, Forever Me; Suzy P and the Trouble With Three and Me, Suzy P by Karen Saunders are available to buy online and from all good bookshops. If you’d like to find out more about the books or the author, do visit Karen online at www.karensaunders.co.uk, ‘like’ her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/karensaunderswriter or follow Karen on Twitter @writingkaren. Suzy tweets too, @suzyputtock, so don’t forget to follow her, too!

Competition Time! 

Win this!

 Nayu here! The lovely people of Hot Key Books are hosting a fun competition to win a copy of Suzy P, Forever Me. This is for UK & Ireland residents only, and ends 12pm GMT Sunday 1st February 2015.

Tweet Suzy @suzyputtock to let us know what your favourite animal is using the hashtag #SuzyPQuiz and the best answer will win a copy of the book, all cute animal pictures welcome! Good luck!