Bea thinks she's the most boring seventeen-year-old in the world. She's not pretty or popular or funny, unlike her mother who had Bea when she was 17. The only glamorous thing about Bea is the French father who left before she was born and lives in Paris. She yearns for la vie Parisienne every moment of her dull existence.
So when Ruby Davies, the leader of her school's most elite clique picks Bea as her new best friend and asks her to go on holiday with them, she's wary but delighted. If nothing else it's two weeks away from her over-protective mother . But when the gang arrive in Spain, Bea is crushed to realise that Ruby and her posse have simply been using her.
Bea wreaks vengeance on her so-called friends, and plans to decamp to Paris to find her father. But when she falls asleep on the train and wakes up in Bilbao, she meets a group of American students who are backpacking around Europe and bonds with them straight away, especially the gorgeous Toph, who helps heal Bea's hurting heart. And though Bea has a shock in store when they finally get to Paris, the 'City of Lovers ' really works it magic on Bea and Toph, who spend a week wandering the sun-dappled streets of Paris, talking, holding hands and falling in love.
When it comes time to go home to confront her Mum about her mysterious father, the new version of Bea is determined that she 'll never go back to her old, boring way of life - she's no longer Nobody's Girl; she belongs to herself and to Toph...But with an ocean between them, will he wait for her?
My Thoughts
Where do I start with the gushing about how much I loved this book because quite honestly I don't think I can say enough good things about it.
I loved nobody's girl and I think a bit reason why I did was because I really 'got' Bea. Quite honestly the way she describes her life, her social situations etc this book could have been lifted from pages of my diary at the same ages (had I kept one that is). She was brilliantly written and I thought this was especially the case when you saw the way in which Bea interacted with both her friends but also with the popular girls whom she wanted to accept her. She just captured the way in which at 17 you think everything going on around you is so vitally important but yet at the same time it really isn't and it said a lot about the fragility of the popularity hierarchy in your average high school where the nasty bitch queen bee rules and others just try to survive without incurring her wrath and yet as soon as you are out of the situation it no longer matters.
Without going into too much detail about the storyline things really kicked off more me once Bea had the chance to be her own person more and you could really see her grow as a character. I loved seeing her becoming the person she wanted to be rather than the person she was expected to be or told to be and I loved seeing her gain that confidence she had never had before.
This ramble on wouldn't be complete without a Toph mention. That boy *sigh* ....... Anyways I loved him lots especially when you saw the influence his presence had on Bea and the way in which that moulded Bea becoming the character she was by the end of the book.
I also loved the brief Jeane (from adorkable) cameo in a super geeky way!
A fab read which I completely enjoyed. A perfect YA read.
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