SweetFreak by Sophie McKenzie

This is very definitely a book for teenagers and it has a very strong moral - a bit like a fairy tale for the modern day.  It certainly follows that basic outline with our heroine, Casey, being accused of something she just didn't do.  This leads her to lose friends and to suffer bullying at school, even her mother doesn't believe her.  As things escalate she runs away on a quest to prove her innocence, meeting Blue and Seti on the way who prove to be both help and hindrance.  Culminating in her finding the protagonist and returning home to be forgiven and assimilated back in to the fold.  Fairly standard story arc really.

The characterisation is fairly good but I did find it woefully one dimensional in some instances - the best friend Amber is one such character, she just didn't live on the page the same way Amber, her sister Poppy and brother Jamie did.  Even Blue and Seti have more about them (characterisation wise) than Amber.  The plotting is adequate but it is overlong in some areas and feels rushed in others.  This is why it only got 3 stars from me - not because I am way older than the author's target market.

If you have a child starting Secondary School this is a very good book for them to read - it spells out the dangers of Social Media and how things can escalate extremely rapidly from friendly joking to out and out bullying.  Although, these days maybe that starts even earlier but some of the scenes in the book are not suitable for younger audiences.  It did leave me feeling relieved that there was no such thing as Social Media when I was at school and glad I more or less keep it at arm's length now.

**Review originally published January 10th, 2018**