Wednesday 23 December 2009

Extreme Kissing by Luisa Plaja


REVIEW COPY: Luisa Plaja
From Amazon: Carlota and Bethany are best friends. Bethany is the sensible one with a long-term boyfriend, Carlota is the crazy one with a wild past and rebellious nature. All is fine in their world - apart from Carlota hating her stepdad and longing for a old flame. And apart from Bethany thinking her boyfriend is about to dump her and that her period is late...Carlota comes up with a plan to put all their troubles behind them and go on a girls-only wild day out, with only their favourite magazine to guide them through the day. If they open it on a fashion page they have to get hold of a fabulous new outfit and pretend to be models. If they open it to a page on snogging, they have to find a boy to snog. The magazine will take them everywhere they need to go - but will it help them to reveal the secrets they are keeping from each other?

This really exceeded my expectations. I had a good idea that I’d like it as it’s my kind of book but it had much more depth than I was expecting. It was really witty and good fun – I’m really taken by the whole extreme travelling and am tempted to try it myself – but in addition to that we also get some brilliant characterisation. I connected to Bets straight away and she is the kind of girl I could see myself being friends with. Carlota took a longer for me to warm to but I have the feeling that was intentional – it wasn’t until we are introduced to Yves and Zac that I really felt as if I was ‘seeing’ the real Carlota – something I felt was brilliantly executed by the author . I also have to add that I REALLY loved the character of Zac and the moments between him and Bets are some of my favourites.

The main reason I loved this book though is that it covers so many different things and you don’t even realise it. I loved getting to see Carlota’s relationship with her parents unfold, to see the girls realised that although they share a strong bond they don’t know everything about each other and to see Bets finally realise what has been going on. Which brings me nicely to the ending. I did not see it coming and it was brilliant! I won't say anymore because I don’t want to ruin it for anyone else as it was such a great moment for me.

In other reviews I have seen comparisons to Louise Rennison and liz Retting and I agree with these completely, but I would also compare it to Meg Cabot for the fun factor and to Sara Zarr for the brilliantly created characters. I thoroughly enjoyed it and am really looking forward to reading Split by a Kiss :)

4 comments:

The Sweet Bonjour said...

I really enjoyed this one too!
xx

So Many Books, So Little Time said...

I'm so glad you enjoyed this! I love Luisa and her books!

Unknown said...

First, i think I need to begin with a big CONGRATULATIONS on reaching 100 followers! Yay for I Want To Read That.

Great review. I think I shall have to make one of my new year's resoultions to read one of Luisa's books.

Tales of Whimsy said...

I am so looking forward to reading some of Luisa's work.

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...