Review: My Scorching Summer Diary by Liz Rettig

My Scorching Summer Diary by Liz Rettig
Published: April 5th, 2012 (Corgi Children's)
Pages: 304
Source: for review
Challenge: none
Series: There are several other books starring Kelly Ann. The books can be read as standalones.
Buy the book: Bookdepository
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ ½

Seventeen-year-old Kelly Ann leaves behind her boyfriend, family and friends in Glasgow to live and work in a London hotel for the summer. But losing her luggage and fending off tube gropers on her first day isn't a good start. Almost being arrested for stealing men's underwear on her second isn't any better. However she does manages to make friends, even though, to impress her new pals, she pretends to be older and more sophisticated than she is, with a doctor boyfriend. London life is fun, even though she has to work in a steaming hot kitchen all day. But her made-up life starts to get very complicated, and she has rely on old friends to save the day.

This is a hard review to write for me. While I really enjoyed the writing style, I absolutely hated the main character, Kelly Ann.

Kelly Ann is going to London to work at a hotel for six weeks during the summer. The moment she leaves markes the start of six weeks of disaster, lies and awkward situations that follow up on the first two. She quickly makes friends, which makes everything a little better, but she still manages to mess just about everything up.

Let me start off by saying that Kelly Ann literally lies about everything. From why she steals the underwear of a hotel guest, to why she's late, how old she is, what her boyfriend does.. She was only honest with the hot American guy she couldn't have because she has a boyfriend. I was so annoyed by her need to lie about everything that I had a hard time trying to enjoy the book, and in the end, I didn't really like it. The writing style is hilarious and I loved it, but the characters ruined it for me.

Chris, Kelly Ann's boyfriend, isn't much better. He lets his girlfriend lie and walk all over him and then still welcomes her back with open arms. I was so annoyed that he knew she lied, and not just one small lie, but completely invented a new life, and he still welcomed her back. Why doesn't the guy have a backbone?!

There are several more diaries by Kelly Ann, but all the books can be read seperately. I've only read this one, and I could understand everything just fine. If you don't mind a main character lying all the time and love awkward situations, this might be the book for you, but personally, I wouldn't recommend it.