Mundie Moms

Friday, May 20, 2011

Book Review- Friendship On Fire


By Danielle Weiler
Published by SID Harta
Released on March 2011
Source- book from author to review
3 stars- it's a good read

The first few days of year 12 are disastrous for school captain Daisy Brooks.

But Daisy’s life takes a sudden turn when she is dared by Skye, the leader of the Blonde Brigade, to meet the mysterious, drop-dead gorgeous stranger, Nate, from rival school Addison Grammar. Daisy’s instant attraction to him disrupts her world. But what about her best friend Roman? How will he respond to this intruder?

Daisy is a vulnerable, yet fiery girl going through the chaotic phase between teenage and adulthood. She is about to discover the complexities of relationships, the etiquette of friendship and, most of all, her development as a woman.

Is it too late for Daisy to realise that the choices she makes shapes who she is and who she will become? (quoted from Goodreads).

Friendship On Fire's main character Daisy is someone a lot of readers will be able to relate. Being in her 12th year of school she's trying to find her place in the world as she learns more about herself, falls in love for the first time, deals with a broken heart, learns a lesson about friendship, and struggles to keep her head above the water with all her responsibilities. In the process of it all Daisy loses herself for a bit and struggles with being true to herself or giving into the feelings of a first love. She makes real choices, and mistakes that many teens will be able to relate too. A few times I found myself wanting to remind her to listen to her inner voice and not make the mistake she was about to, but that's only because I've been in her shoes before. Who hasn't? Being teen is a fun, and challenging time and I thought Danielle did a great job at portraying that.

I also liked the characters around Daisy. She has a very close knit family and I loved how protective her big brothers were of her. There were a few things her parents did or allowed her do that made me scratch my head in wonderment. Is guess because I'm a parent I expected them to be a bit more observant of their daughter, her struggles and what she doing. There were plenty of times I got frustrated with Daisy, especially when so many people around her who really knew her and cared about her kept telling her Nate was bad news, and she ignored them all, even her best friend Roman. Nate himself was written in a way that made it obvious he wasn't necessarily a guy you'd want to bring home for mommy dearest to meet, but for Daisy who was so infatuated with him, he swept her off her feet.

I liked that Danielle brought a lot of issues teens deal with to life in her story, and I liked her character development. I thought the story was good, but there were times I found myself not able to get into the story and really feel like I was apart of Daisy's world, despite the fews times I was able to relate to what she was feeling. There were a lot of little details that took away from Daisy's story, and that turned me off of the book through out the story, which I think that was my biggest struggle. Aside from that I liked the setting. Being set in Australia it was fun to get glimpses of the culture and learn some of the slang, though I had to look up what certain words meant. Over all I think this a book many teen girls would relate to, as Daisy deals with many of the same things they're going through. There is some language, sexual references and a scene in the story, making this a book I'd recommend to older teens.

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