Finding Audrey

Product Information

I think the reason she was hiding behind the dark glasses was justified and I liked that part about her. Sparkling dialogue, carefully developed characters, great parent-child interaction . . . all join to demonstrate the author’s expertise in developing a compelling story.”— School Library Journal

still more precariously on the windowsill and Dad flinches. ‘Sweetheart, I’m just thinking about the car . . . We’ve only Sophie Kinsella used to be such a guilty pleasure author for me. I haven't read one of her books in years but I always enjoyed reading about the hilarious, ridiculous and unfortunate situations her shopaholic protagonist found herself in. But it was hilarious, it was messy, the parents were irritating beyond belief but I adored them. The social anxiety rep was okay. I did want more focus on it, but I appreciated that we also got to see Audrey in her own messy element, with her family and challenging her social anxiety.

Deaf people?” Mum explodes. “Deaf people? I don’t need you to read to deaf people! You’re the bloody deaf one around here! You never hear anything I say! You always have those wretched earphones in—” When I came up with the idea for Finding Audrey I had three characters: Audrey, a teenage girl with social anxiety; Frank, a boy obsessed with computer games; and their mother, just trying to keep everyone together. Once I had conceived those characters Audrey’s voice just came to me and the story unfolded. From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Shopaholic series comes a terrific blend of comedy, romance, and psychological recovery in a contemporary YA novel sure to inspire and entertain. Of course she’s called Rhubarb,” chimes in Linus. “Hey, Rhu, do you want anything to eat? You want a muffin, Rhu?”

This is probably the easiest and hardest thing I've ever had to write. Easy, I know exactly what I want to write. Hard, because what I want to write involves sharing a very personal part of my life with hundreds of strangers on the Internet. So. Here goes nothing: Mum : But you need it! There's plenty of [add some information about how it's gonna boost my health] in it. I saw this [show/paper/documentary] the other day and [add some descriptions about how freaking amazing this stuff is] Linus was an okay character. Very patient and likeable but I wish there were just something more about him that would make him more distinguish from all of love interests I was reading about in other books. I feel like I'm still missing that final touch that would make him get under my skin. Audrey’s very wry and I love her observations on family life. That’s certainly one of the reasons why it was great to have her speak to the reader directly. I also wanted readers to realise that what you see on the outside of a person can be very different from the inside. If you saw Audrey from the outside you’d see a shy recluse, hiding from the world in dark glasses. But inside, she’s as feisty, brave, funny and forward-looking as anyone could be. This was such a fun book! I honestly didn't expect any less from Sophie Kinsella but I was a bit hesitant because of two reasons, one being that this is her first try at writing middle grade books, and another being that I never really enjoy middle grade books. The first reason is that I really hoped Kinsella's humor will translate through such a young protagonist (and oh boy, did it ever!) and the other is that I often find MG characters too immature for my taste, but Kinsella's magic did it again and totally made this book and character relatable, fun, and all with an important message delivered to the readers.But despite all of that, I was a very anxious kid. Overly-anxious. No one really noticed then - I didn't even notice myself. But I can remember all of my irrational fears, how long it would take me to calm down once I was scared, and how the smallest, most insignificant things would affect me greatly.

One of my favourite things about this book is that it's about one of those families - loud, crazy, often torn apart by arguments, but ultimately very close and loving towards one another. The dynamics Kinsella creates between the members of Audrey's family make this book very funny (and sometimes touching too). Even with such an emotionally challenging subject [Sophie Kinsella] still manages to infuse her unique brand of humour Sun

You adults. You think teenagers lie. You assume teenagers lie. That’s the starting point. It’s infinitely depressing." Audrey and I have the same young age, but she already has a boyfriend, and that her boyfriend, Linus, was the one who kinda cured her. Even though this sounded utterly ridiculous, I can't help laughing. Frank the gamer : I feel you. Go explain to people that no, gaming doesn't make you crazy. Sigh. He completely won me with his witty comments. In true Kinsella style, it was hilarious! Throughout the whole book I was actually laughing out loud to myself. Way too many times. I loved the family. They were genuine, real, supportive and a mess.