Are you ready to be transported back to the ’90’s … those heady days of high school, teenage angst, best friends, bullies, teachers (and parents) who didn’t have a clue, and your whole life ahead of you. The Spice Girls had taken over the world, and Girl Power well and truly ruled!
Well, welcome to the world of Carmen, Laura, Jemma, Ellie and Benny! 5 besties who share the air of boring old Huddersfield where according to them, nothing exciting every happens (like, no shootings or hostage takeovers or anything like that!) … until, that is, The Spice Girls launch themselves into the stratosphere, and take the music world by storm. They capture the imagination of every single impressionable music lover in the entire universe, and our 5 protagonists are swept up in the Mania that epitomised the era!
Starting off in the present day, before taking us back 22 years to the events that happened in those last few months of high school, each chapter is narrated in the alternate voices of Carmen, Laura, Jemma and Ellie. I would have loved to hear Benny’s perspective too – I don’t know why he wasn’t included in the narrative. I adored his character!
This was a refreshing change from the abundance of dark material that I usually read, but apart from that, maybe it’s comforting to read a book like this with age on my side, being able to comfortably cringe at the antics of this bunch, who are merely attempting to navigate their way through the choppy waters of teen-hood!
My only criticism is that I think Dyson has tried to cram just about every issue she could possible think of into this one book, and in so doing, doesn’t really deal with most of them in any real depth. Don’t get me wrong. I do realise that obviously this is a light read, and not intended to be a ‘How-to’ manual on dealing with deep life problems. But if you’re going to cover issues like being unsure of your sexuality, uncomfortable with your religion, racial bias, financial struggles and infertility, they need to be dealt with sensitively and with a certain level of insight. I felt that in trying to include all of these here, they’ve all been touched on and then just glossed over.
3.5 stars for this one. As much as I enjoyed it, I felt that the author was trying to cover too much ground, and in so doing, lost some of the impact in the process. But the characterisation is awesome!! I’m positive readers won’t be able to help themselves in comparing the characters to people that they know, and they’ll have a good laugh in the process, enjoying the fact that so many of the situations are playing out on the page, and not happening to them in real life!
Thank you Tracy Fenton and Trapeze Books (Orion) for inviting me along for some Girl Power fun! Follow the Blog Tour here …
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