Book Review: London Belongs to Us by Sarra Manning

Trust me, Edinburgh is the UK capital you want to accidentally to strand yourself.

Twelve hours, two boys, one girl . . . and a whole lot of hairspray. Seventeen-year-old Sunny's always been a little bit of a pushover. But when she's sent a picture of her boyfriend kissing another girl, she knows she's got to act. What follows is a mad, twelve-hour dash around London - starting at 8pm in Crystal Palace (so far away from civilisation you can't even get the Tube there) then sweeping through Camden, Shoreditch, Soho, Kensington, Notting Hill . . . and ending up at 8am in Alexandra Palace. Along the way Sunny meets a whole host of characters she never dreamed she'd have anything in common with - least of all the devilishly handsome (and somewhat vain) French 'twins' (they're really cousins) Jean Luc and Vic. But as this love-letter to London shows, a city is only a sum of its parts, and really it's the people living there who make up its life and soul. And, as Sunny discovers, everyone - from friends, apparent-enemies, famous bands and even rickshaw drivers - is willing to help a girl on a mission to get her romantic retribution. A fast-paced, darkly funny love letter to London, boys with big hair and the joys of staying up all night. 

This is an alright contemporary, I liked the main character Sunny better than the protagasist from the previous books I've read by Sarra Manning. That being said the main characters from Adorkable made appearances in this book, but Sunny hates them so that makes her relatable straight away. I found her to be a lot less cliché and didn't belong some fashion moment.

 Things do seem to be include just because they are cool and hip other than fitting in with the story. Example, being drag queens because RuPaul Drag Race is the big thing right now, as well as the the side-characters being a roller derby team. They are stereotypes of Roller Derby girls, this could just be lazy short hand. This more obvious from previous books of Manning's and I think it why I pick up on it.

Every chapter takes place in a different part of London and we get info about each part of London. These were nice to start with but I did find myself skimming them as they got to be bit long and I was more interested in the story than two paragraphs factoids about London. The chapters were also separated by documents from Sunny, e.g. pie chart of her mind and lists she made, sometimes with other characters from the book. I liked this, but don't think it really added anything.

The main plot of this novel is Sunny chasing her lying boyfriend which gets to unrealistic level quickly and the character justification fizzed out quickly. Its fine if you don't think about how you would be carrying a boom around the city, standing for that length of time. They also a slight side-romance; it was treated in a nice realistic way. The characters are realistic for the most part, they just live in a fantasy version of London (with the same public transport).

Overall, I give this book 3/5 stars for hot wings. After starting with Adorkable, I don't think I'm ever going to love Manning's books, but for the most part they are enjoyable quick reads.

I received this book for review off NetGalley and it was published by Hot Key Books on 2rd June 2016.  

Book Review: The Worst Girlfriend in the World by Sarra Manning

In the friendship type more than anything.  

My best friend was now my deadliest enemy, the one person I'd hate beyond all measure for the rest of my life . . .

Franny Barker's best friend, Alice, is the worst girlfriend in the world according to the many boys of Merrycliffe-on-Sea. She toys with them, then dumps them. But she'll never dump fashion-obsessed Franny. Nothing and no one can come between them.

Not even tousle-haired rock god, Louis Allen, who Franny's been crushing on hard. Until Alice, bored with immature boys and jealous of Franny's new college friends, sets her sights on Louis. Suddenly, best friends are bitter rivals.

Is winning Louis's heart worth more than their friendship? There's only one way for Franny to find out.

This is a book is more about friendship than romance, but of course there’s a romance. There is always a romance.  It nice romance, a slow develop romance.

Fanny is just a terrible name to give anyone; fictional or not. I didn’t care that much for the characters. I don’t why but with Manning books that fact that I don’t like the characters doesn’t really effect my enjoyment of them. It’s rather weird for a contemporary. There nothing about these characters that I particular dislike but there nothing I love either. There are dull cookie bunch. I did identify with Alice being jealous, so I guess there were relatable.

This books deals with a lot of themes, such as slut shaming, jealous and Mental illness. Fanny is generally resentful, of her mother and the rest of her immediate family because there don’t have to deal with her mother’s depression. She left alone to deal with her mother alone. I think it dealt with quite well.

Overall, I gave 4 out of 5 stars for messed up dummies. I enjoyed reading this book and that’s all that matters. I don’t know what I’m saying. It’s a fun, light read that has friendship as the main focus which is something I like.

Book Review: Adorkable by Sarra Manning

 I hate both the main characters, they're both prejudice, shallow and their judgement is always questionable.Still its a very readable book.

Jeane Smith's a blogger, a dreamer, a dare-to-dreamer, a jumble sale queen, CEO of her own lifestyle brand, and has half a million followers on Twitter.  

Michael Lee's a star of school, stage, and playing field. A golden boy in a Jack Wills hoodie.  

They have nothing in common but a pair of cheating exes. So why can't they stop making out?

I like to start out by saying that this is how Jeane Smith describes herself (in third person because that what you do on the internet)on her blog. She describles her self as "a dreamer" and "a dare-to-dreamer". This really bugs me as there the same thing, to be "a dreamer" you've got to "dare" to be one and it just adds nothing.

This is obvious YA Romance novel, so mainly about the Jeane and Michael relationships. So the characters should make the book. To be bluntly honest, before I even finish Chapter One my opinion was that they're both deserve each other as they're both arseholes. Jeane little Goth comment was really where I got my distaste of her. You know she meant to be an outcast but makes fun of other outcasts. She sort of does that a lot. She also is very much not a dork. She seems rather fake in her weirdness. I mean I just don't buy it all.

Michael is petty much the popular cliché. Likes only people who wears labels.

 Also there was no cheating exes. Basically, their girlfriend and boyfriend at the start of the novel, like each other and because frankly the starting relationships were in terrible states, they broke up and start seeing each other. The exes are both rather boring and I didn't care if they show up again. Jeane attitude as having made her ex-boyfriend is my favourite thing that made her so very unlikeable.

Oh, If you wondering, I still think they're both petty much arseholes after reading the whole book.

However, even though the main characters are completely unlikeable -Actually the only characters I like is Michael's family. How could they have gone so wrong with Michael?- This book is really readable, it like you just need to know what these idoits are going to do next.

Also there actually a few good things about this book, such as the point of view changes each chapter between Jeane and Michael which really work for this book. You also get to see how they lie to themselves straight away with conflicting versions of events.

 It also petty realistic portrayal of teenage life (once you get past Jeane is big deal on the internet and the Guardian is meant to really like her). There's sex, underage drinking and a really boring party.

So I gave this book a 3/5 stars because I did enjoy reading it. So I guess I recommend this to anyone who likes observing idiots and doesn't care if the main characters are that likeable.