Sophie Reads YA: Sophie Kinsella

Waiting on Wednesday: Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella

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ARC Review: Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella

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Finding Audrey
Series: None
Author: Sophie Kinsella
Published June 4th 2015 by Doubleday Childrens

Goodreads Synopsis
A laugh-out-loud romance from the bestselling author of the Shopaholic series.
Meet Audrey: an ordinary teenage girl with not so ordinary problems.
Aside from her completely crazy and chaotic family, she suffers from an anxiety disorder which makes talking to her brother's hot new best friend a bit of a challenge.
But Audrey has a plan to help her face her fears and take on the world again. First stop: Starbucks.
Goodreads

Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

Going into this book I wasn't entirely sure what it was all about. To me, the synopsis was slightly misleading, but I still adored the book nonetheless.

Finding Audrey tells the story of Audrey, a teenager suffering from social anxiety, trying to deal with day to day situations that the majority of people would have no problem with. I especially enjoyed the way Kinsella dealt with this issue, as it was never sugar coated or glossed over with; she went right into the nitty-gritty of the situation.

The family dynamic was downright beautiful, as it showed each of the five family member as their own individual person, with their own issues and personalities, that mesh together really well. I found the mam slightly annoying at first, but the more we got to understand the whole situation, I realised that what I'd originally disliked was actually her coping mechanisms, and, therefore, I valued her difficulties even more. Frank and Audrey's brother-sister relationship is just what I'd imagined it would be - the big brother trying to protect his baby sister - and I again felt like this was dealt with perfectly.

Considering all this, I loved the romance even more than anything else. Linus was just the love interest Audrey needed, he pushed her just far enough that she could succeed, but was there for her to fall back on if it all got a bit too hard. What was especially amazing was how Kinsella made the romance important, but not to the detriment of Audrey's character. Audrey was strong enough to succeed on her own, but she had no problem to turn to the people around her to help.

UKYA is a particular soft spot for me, and the Britishness of this book made it feel so much more relatable, as if I could understand the bulk of Audrey's situation, though I've never faced something as painful as having anxiety. I could relate to the horrors of being a victim of bullying, as I had been at school, and whilst the full events of what happened to Audrey remain a mystery, I felt this was, again, something dealt with perfectly.

I can not recommend this book enough, and I seriously hope Sophie Kinsella writes more YA Fiction in the future.

Dates Read:
April 29-May 1 2015

Rating
5 Stars