Twelve hours, two boys, one girl . . . and a whole lot of hairspray.
Seventeen-year-old Sunny's always been a little bit of a pushover. But when she's sent a picture of her boyfriend kissing another girl, she knows she's got to act. What follows is a mad, twelve-hour dash around London - starting at 8pm in Crystal Palace (so far away from civilisation you can't even get the Tube there) then sweeping through Camden, Shoreditch, Soho, Kensington, Notting Hill . . . and ending up at 8am in Alexandra Palace.
Along the way Sunny meets a whole host of characters she never dreamed she'd have anything in common with - least of all the devilishly handsome (and somewhat vain) French 'twins' (they're really cousins) Jean Luc and Vic. But as this love-letter to London shows, a city is only a sum of its parts, and really it's the people living there who make up its life and soul. And, as Sunny discovers, everyone - from friends, apparent-enemies, famous bands and even rickshaw drivers - is willing to help a girl on a mission to get her romantic retribution.
A fast-paced, darkly funny love letter to London, boys with big hair and the joys of staying up all night.
My thoughts
Fabulous stuff. I am an unashamed Sarra Manning Fan Girl. I have adored her work since her J17 days and I am so pleased that I got the opportunity to read this book.
I really loved loads of things about this book
I loved how diverse the characters were. The main character Sunny is mixed race and it was really interesting to see the impact that has on the way in which she is treated by some of the secondary characters in a world that should be well past making racist assumptions about others.
Special shout out has to go to Sunny's roller derby team. I love that there is a UKYA book out there with a roller derby team featured.
I enjoyed that the book plays out almost in realtime making it a really intense adventure which you live along with the character as each event plays out. I also really enjoyed The Tour of London you get across the evening as each part of the book takes part in different parts of the city. The story captured those differences well and showcases the real diversity that can be found in one city. The real geeky part of me really loved the facts about the different areas that prefaced each section.
All in all a really exciting adventure which I really enjoyed.
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