Review: Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella

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. 

Review: I'm a massive Sophie Kinsella fan and so I was really looking forward to reading her latest work and I enjoy reading young adult almost as much as adult books so I was intrigued to see what this one was going to be like. I have to say I really enjoyed this, I knew that I would but it was much deeper than I was expecting it to be, dealing with issues that Kinsella has not dealt with in her shopaholic series and so this was quite a refreshing change. I would say that even if you are a fan of her adult novels, you won't necessarily be a fan of this one as it has a darker edge to it, but I am sure there are plenty of readers out there that will appreciate that darker edge as much as I did! 

I liked Audrey as a character, despite the fact that she has ahad a bit of a break down and now doesn't really deal with social situations at all she is still someone who won't give up. There are some really interesting interactions with her family and with her therapist that show that once she sets her mind to something, she really won't let it go and I like that attitude in my heroines! Her family and her brother's freind Linus are as much big characters in the novel as she is, in fact the beginning portion of the novel is very much dealing with her brother and his online gaming addiction! (I did wonder at that point why it was called finding Audrey when she didn't feature heavily to begin with!)

There are some really funny moments in this novel, Sophie Kinsella has such a way with words and writing dead pan lines it's unreal! I was laughing out loud at some points. Audrey's mum is definitely a comedy character and her addiction to what the daily mail says is seriously funny! Audrey is also a funny character and her humour really grows as the novel moves on. Linus is an essential character to Audrey's growth and towards her recovery and I would love to read something from his point of view or any kind of spin off novella, that would be great! 

Although this novel does deal with anxiety and depression and all that goes with it as well as general teen angst and the way all these things can out strain on a family, Kinsella has written the novel incredibly well. At no point did I feel the negativity seeping into my own mood and at no point did this seem like some sort of informative piece on teens in today's society. There was some comedy, some romance, some real life issues and a strong sense of family. I really enjoyed this book and hope that Sophie Kinsella does the YA novel again soon!