Finding Audrey - Sophie Kinsella

5 Stars!!!

ABOUT THE BOOK -

An anxiety disorder disrupts fourteen-year-old Audrey’s daily life. She has been making slow but steady progress with Dr. Sarah, but when Audrey meets Linus, her brother’s gaming teammate, she is energized. She connects with him. Audrey can talk through her fears with Linus in a way she’s never been able to do with anyone before. As their friendship deepens and her recovery gains momentum, a sweet romantic connection develops, one that helps not just Audrey but also her entire family.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR - 
Sophie Kinsella is the author of the bestselling Shopaholic series as well as the novels Can You Keep a Secret?, The Undomestic Goddess, Remember Me?, Twenties Girl, I've Got Your Number, and Wedding Night. She lives in England.

Visit her website - HERE 



MY THOUGHTS -
Well everyone knows who Sophie Kinsella is. I'm pretty sure even if you haven't read at least one of her books (you should!) you've heard of her. She is definitely on my list of authors I want to read more of. I don't actually have such a list, but I should! If fact I'm gonna go make one now (well after I finish this review).

So Sophie has given us yet another character to fall in love with, and that I did - hook, line and sinker. I don't know if she plans a follow-up book, but I wish she would! There are a few unanswered questions and I would really like to see where Audrey goes from here (and Frank, her brother).

So the whole book is centered around this "thing" that happened in school, a very bad thing, that flings Audrey spiraling into this social anxiety disorder. BUT... we never do find out what happened. That irritated the heck out of some reviewers, but I was OK with it. Sometimes you don't need to know everything. The book focused on Audrey, her illness and her slow climb up the mountain to recovery. This was enough for me.

The character development was excellent!!! Like, really excellent! Of course I loved Audrey right from the get-go. She was very real (all the characters were). But I also loved her older brother, Frank. He started out just this typical teen boy and ended up pretty amazing! I would actually love to read more about him and what happens to him. Also, I absolutely loved Linus (horrible name, wonderful person!), sweet, accepting, supportive, caring, Linus. He is like every parent's dream boyfriend for their daughter. I loved this whole flirty, cute, slow teen romance. I especially love the note writing back and forth. OMG! it was so freaking adorable!

Here are a few quotes from the book -

"Felix (her little brother) is the only one I can cope with looking at, eye to eye. My parents' eyes - forget it. They're full of worry and fear and too much knowledge. And kind of too much love, if that makes sense? If I look at them, it's like it all comes flooding back over me in a gush - mingled in with their anger, which is pretty righteous. I mean, it's not directed at me, obviously, but still. It feels toxic."

"Is that QVC?"
"Yes. I find the conversations soothing."
QVC is the most calming TV I know. You have three people in a studio and they all think the moisturizer is great. No-one argues the point or raises their voice. No-one discovers they're pregnant or gets murdered. And there's no studio laughter, which believe me, can sound like a drill in my head."

And, the best -

"I've been thinking a lot about everything. And I guess Mum was right about the jagged graphs thing. We're all on one. Even Frank. Even Mum. Even Felix. I think what I've realized is, life is all about climbing up, slipping down, and picking yourself up again. And it doesn't matter if you slip down. As long as you're kind of heading more or less upwards. That's all you can hope for. More or less upwards."  :-)

Great book - period!

Thanks Penguin Random House for sending me this great book for my honest review!

Order your copy from Amazon - HERE