14 year old Audrey is not like other girls. She’s got an anxiety disorder that keeps her at home for the time being, while the world continues to move on around her.

Audrey prefers to wear dark sunglasses at all times, even when she’s indoors. She doesn’t like having contact with other people, other than her family.

But then one day all that begins to change when her older brother’s friend, Linus, comes over to play video games. He treats Audrey like everyone else and soon Audrey can begin to see herself thawing, bit by bit, as her and Linus become friends.

But the road to recovery isn’t a simple or easy one, as Audrey discovers. It’s sometimes one step forward, and one step back.

It’s book review time! Whoa, it’s been awhile since I’ve done one of these days. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been reading. I just haven’t really loved anything in awhile.

But this was such a fun read that I had to share it with you all!

As many of you know, I love Sophie Kinsella. I’ve been reading the Shopaholic series since I was in high school, and so I really love her books. Not many books compare to Shopaholic, but I always give her books a read anyways since I find her writing hilarious and so relatable.

Finding Audrey was no different. It’s Kinsella’s first YA or teen novel, and as usual, her writing was light, without being flippant, and the book was enjoyable from start to finish.

Audrey’s voice read like a 14 year old, with all the humour and wit of other Kinsella characters. I was a bit worried because it’s a bit on the lower end of the teen spectrum than I usually read, but it was a fun read.

Audrey suffers from an anxiety disorder, and KInsella decides to give us snippets of the story that took place before the book, rather than the whole picture. This was an interesting decision, because, as a reader, I was constantly wanting to know what exactly happened to Audrey that made her retreat into her bubble. After awhile, you can sort of guess, but there’s never a huge tell-all or flashback like in many other books that gives you all the details. It makes you feel like you’ve just witnessed one episode in this family’s life. There’s a beginning, but we’ve missed it.

As usual, the stars of any Kinsella book are the characters! Kinsella has such an incredible talent with creating real, down-to-earth, wonderfully witty, hilarious characters and this story was no different. I love how the heroine’s family features just as much as the heroine in her novels, and Finding Audrey was no exception. Audrey’s mum, her dad, and her brothers are all people you feel like you’ve met.

But the real star of the show? Audrey’s older brother Frank. He made me laugh out loud so many times I lost count! He’s in a constant battle with his mother over his obsession with video games and it’s hilarious to watch him outmanoeuvre and outsmart her. I loved the constant bickering between mother and son; it made my family seem normal!

Finding Audrey was a quick, light read, with a great cast of characters, and, as usual, humour that’ll make you laugh out loud.

So for that: 4/5.

Thanks for reading,

Ikhlas