Girl Aloud by Emily Gale

In the interests of transparency , I’ll just say now that I know Emily and that we have been online buddies for quite a long time.

Okay, now that’s out of the way, I’m going to share with you my love of this book.  It wouldn’t matter whether I knew the author or not… Girl Aloud stands proud, on its own as a brilliant teenage read.

Kass Kennedy has a nightmare for a father… he wants her to enter X-Factor.  Kass can’t sing, isn’t old enough to qualify and has absolutely no desire to be famous.  All she wants is to be left to be herself.  Fat chance!  Throw in a really annoying brother, a distanced mother and a boy with brown boots… fantastic!

Girl Aloud looks from the outset as though it’s a hilarious tale about a girl fighting with her dad, falling out with her friends and lusting after a gorgeous boy.  It’s wrapped in a shocking pink cover and has shiny stuff all over it.  But I know I have taught you all better than that… never judge a book by its cover!

Girl Aloud is an incredible portrayal of a teenager living with a parent suffering from mental illness.  Kass has to deal with her father’s almost bi-polar moods and she’s teetering on a knife edge for most of the story.  She can’t just yell at him that she won’t do X-Factor because it may send him back to the pyjama wearing moper he was before… and none of the family want that!  It all rests on her shoulders, go along with his manic hare-brained scheme to keep him “up” or else disappoint him and they all have to suffer the consequences.   Girl Aloud is a dark comedy full of bittersweet self-effacing humour that I was regularly on the verge of tears for Kass and her dilemmas. The problems she has to face are so well executed that I felt the highs and lows of Kass’s problems vividly.   Not only does she have to juggle her fathers mood swings but her mother is withdrawn and as for her brother… well, he has his own troubles – and somehow Kass has to help him too!

This is an awesome novel and I was thoroughly absorbed by it (so much so, I forgot to pick my child up from school!!!).  It also features guest appearances by Simon Cowell as Kass’s dream judge… and he’s very helpful in his commenting!  It has some utterly hilarious moments as well as some heartbreaking ones – but I assure you, you’ll not be able to put it down until you see how it all turns out.

Here’s a video of Emily reading from Girl Aloud which I highly recommend you watch (she reads extremely well!)

Girl Aloud by Emily Gale. ISBN : 9781906427207.

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