Book Review; The IT Girl by Katy Birchall

Summary:
Everybody wants to be a famous It Girl. Don’t they?

Anna Huntley’s aims in life:

1) Must keep my two lovely new (and only) school friends by not doing anything in usual manner of socially inept dork and outcast.

2) Train Dog (my labrador) to high-five. This is probably the most ambitious life goal on this list.

3) Do not set the school’s Deputy Queen Bee mean girl’s hair on fire (again).

4) Work out whether 2) and 3) constitute being socially inept or outcastish.

5) Go to Africa and give out rice.

6) To hide in a cupboard FOR LIFE with Dog now Dad is engaged to one of the most famous actresses EVER, the paparazzi want to spash my face all over the papers and everyone in school (and The World) is soon to discover the level of my social ineptitude.

7) Is rice a bit done now? Maybe I can give out chocolate in Africa too. I do like chocolate. Must work out how to do it from the cupboard…

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It’s Time To

At a blogger event I was given the opportunity to listen to an extract of this book and it had me giggling very quickly – along with many other bloggers and thus I knew it was one that I would inevitably pick up and read all the way through. While this book was entertaining and it did make me laugh throughout, it still felt like there was just something missing. The plot was quite predictable and it was a story line that has been done a fair few times before but there wasn’t anything new about it. However, I still enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it.

Learn Who

If you’ve read The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot then you are very likely to enjoy this story. Just like Mia, Anna is a nobody at her school, she is clumsy, a little bit crazy and not very well liked. Then one day she is seen as royalty. (Though not literally in this one!). While I did like how the book played out, I couldn’t help but feel that there wasn’t enough uniqueness to this story to keep me captivated throughout. To be honest, the plot really lets this story down.

To Be

On the other hand, I found the characters to be a breath of fresh air. With characters that are fun, full of flair and interesting to hoot, it is the main reason I continued reading until the very end. In fact, I would even go so far as to say that Anna was like a little mini Bridget Jones – in that she was constantly making a fool of herself and pining over the wrong guy. She definitely makes this book shine. On top of that I loved Marianne, Jess, Danny and Connor. I thought they were all fantastic characters that I very much enjoyed reading about.

In The World

It was the characters in this story that really made it for me. They were just so great to read about and made it easier to overlook the predictable storyline. I did love that the book was a mix between Bridget Jones and Princess Diaries and love that it celebrates being yourself over being someone else – even if you are essentially crazy and over the top. After all, if you are that way, you make us laugh and we think you’re wonderful because you’re passionate and sensitive and fun. This book could have been better but it does work the way it is. I know that this review may have seemed negative but I promise that I did enjoy reading it and am very glad I did. I will definitely be picking up the next book in the series and if you’re looking for an easy and fun read, then you should give this book a try!