Happy Girl Lucky by Holly Smale

The basic premise of the book is about growing up within an insanely famous family - not just your parents but your grandparents.  A whole acting dynasty to live up to and live with (think The Richardsons of the Foxes).  Quite a good idea on the face of it, unfortunately the execution doesn't quite match the promise.

The story focuses on the youngest daughter, 15 year old Hope and her frustrations at not being allowed to do anything "fun" with her older siblings, her desperate need for love and her sheer selfishness.  She sees her life as a film script and gets supremely frustrated when real life doesn't match her script.  Throw in an absent mother, a father working thousands of miles away trying to extricate himself from his dynastic marriage and a very unsuitable boy and Hope's naivety is thrown in to sharp relief.

I know this is a YA novel but I think your average teen would probably find this as frustrating as I did.  I spent most of the book wanting to slap Hope and give her a wake up call and the other half feeling desperately sorry for her as surely the problems were not really of her making, her secluded and sheltered upbringing was responsible for that.  On the whole though the humour present in the book doesn't really compensate for the almost tedious nature of the story - Hope scripts her preferred day, things go badly wrong so Hope blames everyone for not following her imaginary script and then does it all again tomorrow.  Fortunately it's a very quick read so you soon get to leave it behind.

Although targeted at the aforementioned YA market, it does feel somehow more suitable for a pre-teen to young teen demographic.  Not that they are less discerning but that Hope's naive actions will probably be less galling and maybe even have a salutary effect on their perceptions of the world.  There is humour in the book but most of it is directed at Hope rather than being generated by Hope so it does feel a little uncomfortable at times.

Overall a light, quick read that does entertain but not necessarily in a good way.  A bit like a multi-car pile up you don't really want to look but you can't help but turn your head for a good gawp.

THIS IS AN HONEST REVIEW OF A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK RECEIVED VIA AMAZON.CO.UK