The Second Summer of the Sisterhood

The sequel to the Travelling Pants, and rumoured to be a film waiting to happen. I have to say that I enjoyed the Second Summer much more than the first. Bridget finds that her Dad has hidden letters from her Grandmother. She decides to go down to stay with her Grandmother for the summer, but she doesn’t let her Grandma know she is coming. Tibby goes to film school for the summer and has to decide what she wants to do with her life. Lena struggles with the after-effects of what happened in Greece the year before and tries to uncover a secret that her Mom has been keeping.  Carmen now has to deal with her feelings as her Mom starts to date again.

The stories are all very interesting although Bridget’s was the most compelling. I started to get annoyed with Carmen, although I think that may be because I’m getting old. This is definitely a good summer read with just the right amount of serious conflict.

Angus, Thongs and Full-frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson

The first of the series this book introduces us to Georgia Nicolson. Georgia is a pretty standard Brit teen with an embarrassing family, funny friends but no guys in sight. As Georgia tries to figure out the opposite sex she gets stuck with a variety of problems. The guys don’t seem to do anything other than make out (snogging). All this time Georgia tries to catch the eye of the older Sex God, brother of the guy her best friend is in love with.

Told in a diary style I really enjoyed this book. The situations that Georgia gets herself into are quite amusing, although usually more of the embarrassing sort of amusing.  I wanted Georgia to get the Sex God but I have the feeling (being older and wiser then I was at 14) that it will end badly. A very typical British sense of humour is expressed in the book and a helpful glossary is given at the back “for American readers”. I was familiar with some of the terms and the other ones I got used to pretty quickly. There isn’t any message in this book which is great, it is just a fun read. I look forward to checking out other books in the series.