I've started reading a series of Aussie YA books called Girlfriend Fiction. It's quite a long series, so I thought I'd do mini reviews of a few books at a time.




My Life and Other Catastrophes (Girlfriend Fiction #1) by Rowena Mohr
Published 2008 by Allen & Unwin
Source: purchased
Rating: 4 paws

From the blurb: Ever get the feeling your life would qualify for National Disaster Relief? Say hello to Erin Costello.Erin's pretty much your average teenage girl ... except that her mother has all the maternal instincts of a black widow spider, and her dad is out of work and completely clueless. That's probably why they're divorced. Not that anyone except Erin seems to care. Certainly not Erin's sucky little brother Ben, who's too busy making money, or her best friend, Rami, who is turning into a fanatical environmental activist - with the emphasis on mental. And definitely not Creepazoid - Erin's mum's new boyfriend - who may or may not be a drug-dealing pervert disguised as a mild-mannered PE teacher! It's an eventful year for Erin Costello, but is her imagination running wild?

My Life and Other Catastrophes by Rowena Mohr is the first book in the Girlfriend Fiction series. Erin Costello lives in fictional Aussie suburb of Wilga Heights. Her parents are divorced and her mum is now dating the new P.E teacher, Chris, at her school. For English, Erin is assigned a journal which she must write in and this is the format of the book.

Oh my goodness, Erin has to be the most-self centred character I have ever read about. And that might send most readers running, but she ended up being amusing, even though she was selfish and rude most of the time. Her best friend, Rami, is going through stuff, new boy Brendan is also having trouble, does she notice – no! She’s far too busy concocting crazy stories about Chris being a drug dealer and trying to get her mum to dump him.

It was pretty obvious what was really going on with her Chris and I thought Erin was going to blow it by meddling but the ending was really good and I was happy to see Erin gain a bit of awareness about her behaviour and what a crappy friend she was.


The Indigo Girls (Girlfriend Fiction#2) by Penni Russon 
Published 2008 by Allen & Unwin
Source: purchased
Rating: 5 paws

From the blurb: Zara, Tilly, and Mieke go to different schools and live in different social worlds. But for two weeks every summer they're the Indigo Girls—surfing, hiking, or just hanging out at the campground or the nearby resort. This year Mieke doesn't show up, and Zara and Tilly—the queen bee and the geek—are left circling each other, unsure how to relate without Mieke in the middle. Soon it becomes a summer of change and a summer of secrets; a summer for losing themselves but finding each other.

The Indigo Girls by Penni Russon is set in the fictional suburb of Indigo Bay. Each year Zara, Tilly and Mieke go camping with their families and they spend the summer together. This year, Mieke is delayed for a week, and both Zara and Tilly are worried about how they will go hanging out just the two of them, as they are very different girls.

I loved both Zara and Tilly. Tilly is the eldest child and admits to be being bossy and always wanting to be in charge. But she’s also honest and doesn’t feel that she’s as good as someone like Zara. Zara is a popular girl but she’s also insecure and doesn’t feel as though she has any true, close friends. She’s still reeling from an incident at a recent party and is receiving anonymous text messages.

Both girls admire each other’s qualities and want to be more like the other. The events of this first week together bring them closer together as they try to swap personalities one night and then go night surfing, which doesn't end well.

This book was really sweet and Tilly often made me laugh. I enjoyed watching the girls interact and figure out that they could have a good time together.



She’s With the Band by Georgia Clark
Published 2008 by Allen & Unwin
Source: library
Rating: 5 paws

From the blurb: Mia Mannix has made a deal: in return for moving from the social backwater of the Snowy Mountains to life in the fast lane in Sydney, she's promised her dad she'd give up music and concentrate on real art.But that was before she discovered new friends, a cool record store and a ridiculously hot rockstar.'She's With the Band' is for every girl who's ever wanted to start a band, had a crush on the wrong boy, or made a promise she couldn't keep.

Mia Mannix has just turned fifteen and she and her artist dad have moved from the Snowy Mountains to Sydney. Part of the deal with this move was that Mia gives up her love of music and instead take art more seriously. Mia starts a new school for performers and creative kids, learns what’s like to have people want to befriend you just to be seen, makes new friends, confesses her love to the wrong guy and falls for a local lead singer.

Mia was a lot of fun to read about. She did seem quite young, but she also wasn't used to the fast pace of life in Sydney. On her first day in the suburb she meets Justin, lead singer of a band. Her crush blooms from there. At school she eventually makes friends with Emil, Seb and Lexie. Emil has a hideaway at school and it’s where Mia goes when she needs a break from the popular kids. And soon Seb, Lexie and Mia have started a band, which she has to keep secret from her dad.

Mia got away with a lot in this book, having only one parent made it easy as well as the fact that her dad was working on new pieces and would spend a lot of his time locked away, painting. She abandons her school work in favour of hanging with Lexie and Seb and I think there probably would have been worse consequences for her than there were in the book.

There were times I wanted to shake Mia because she was chasing after the wrong guy when a much nicer guy had been there all along but it was also good to see her change over the course of the story.

The best aspects of this book were the songs peppered throughout the story, each picked to match Mia’s mood at the time. Some of my favourite bands popped up (Faker, Cut Copy) and each time a song was mentioned that I didn't know, I’d stop and look it up so I could understand how Mia was feeling.